Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Ofra Week



I love the various Ofra Haza DJ remixes I've been coming across (audio and video) and I'm continuing to enjoy the energy. I feel like a plant soaking up water after a drought. The pumping song featured in the above video is a remixed DJ version of Ofra's "Love Song" (see/hear her singing the acapella version (live) here). I love the energy in this remix. It feels like European techno club scene meets sacred Goddess and goes driving to Toco with windows down, wind blowing, sun, smell of sea and salt, blasting Ofra on a fantastic sound system with lots of bass pumping (... so clearly not the system in my car, which doesn't even work). The above video is also a visual remix, using images from another video of hers (see below for that full video with original use of the footage for a completely different song).

A friend of mine commented to me yesterday that Ofra's music is 'an acquired taste'. Granted, as with anything else, there are some who won't take to it ... but I definitely do. An unexpected and indescribable seed of inspiration was planted in me yesterday via her offerings and I'm going to step away for a while to quietly nurture it, let it gestate, see where it takes me creatively ... whether specifically in relation to the current video project or whether for something completely different ... or both!

(Refer to below note ... which will appear at the bottom of all posts for this week).

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Note:
I'm enjoying the (re)discovery of the inspiring Ofra Haza and finding so many great links to her music and some videos. I'll be taking a few days 'break' from blogging ... but will share the Ofra links in blog posts which will still be appearing daily (thanks to scheduled future-dated blog posts). Let's just call this Ofra Week.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the pleasure I had in reading your passion for this artist and for the work some admirers do to keep her legacy alive. It's a vibrant shrine and yes, there is much, much, much to explore with Ofra's legacy, her songs are so different, touched by numerous style but one thing never changes, it's how her voice can move us through our heart and soul. Great to have read your post.

Anonymous said...

It's so interesting to me that your friend called Ofra Haza's music an aquired taste. I don't think I've ever heard anyone reference her voice as such. I think that is probably due to the lack of hearing how diverse our dear Ofra Haza was. It always takes some sort of aquired taste to truly love any artist when I think of it. Once you hear that one song that gets you it seems everything else about the artist falls into place doesn't it? Ofra was a very very special gift to the world. You should drop by and see us some time! We have a group called Ofra-Haza@yahoogroups.com please come see us, you'll love the friends there, and let's not forget the new Fanzine that is coming out next week called Touched By The Hand of Ofra Haza. www.myspace.com/ofrahazafanzine
Thank you for sharing all of this with us!

Elspeth said...

Anonymous - what you said about her voice moving the listener through heart and soul is true. That is how
I've been experiencing it.

And Ofra Haza Fan, you also said something insightful ... sometimes it just takes the one song that 'gets you', to make everything fall into place. Thanks for your comments.