Deep in my soul, I've got nothing to hide

It's almost that time - and after a busy week, I have never needed a weekend so much...

Time for a party, and who better to provide it than this Eurodance combo? Thank Disco It's Friday!

Strike - My Love Is For Real

In case you're wondering, dear reader - here is the "original" source of that 90s mega-dance-hit, Miss Abdul's version (with our Patron Saint of Yemenites Ofra Haza):

Paula Abdul feat. Ofra Haza - My Love Is For Real

Have a great weekend, dear reader!

Aha we aha we

After a lovely - but tiring - overnight visit to Portsmouth for Mother's 90th birthday party yesterday (back home late), it was straight back to work today for another day of unbridled joy. Dammit. To top it all, I have to do a presentation at a webinar tomorrow morning at 9.30am!

Here's an appropriate number, methinks...

Ofra Haza - Wish Me Luck

What will be tomorrow?
Aha we aha we
Happiness or sorrow?
Aha we aha we
Who will open up my door?
Aha we aha we
Inshalla

Wish me luck
Wish me luck
Wish me luck
Wish me luck

Ah ah ah...

Indeed.

[NB: It would have been the birthday of the very lovely Ofra Haza (for it is she; a house fave) yesterday.]

Im nin'alu daltei n'divim

Trawling back through my posts from years ago, as I am at the moment, it is amazing to recall some of the people, places - and the music - that I have featured in the long history of this blog... Not least today's birthday girl the very lovely Ofra Haza, Israel's national treasure, whose untimely death of AIDS-related complications in 2000 led to public mourning on a scale only usually devoted to heads of state.

I wrote of my adoration of Miss Haza on the occasion of what would have been her 50th and again here. Inevitably, between them I managed to feature two of our favourite tracks of hers, notably her most enduring Im Nin'Alu and the dance hit Wish Me Luck. From her magnificent album Yemenite Songs, here is another:

Ofra Haza - Galbi

From the sublime to...

...Eurovision! Miss Haza came a close second to Luxembourg, remarkably, despite those (ahem) dancers:

Ofra Haza - Chai (Eurovision Song Contest 1983)

In the mid 80s to early 90s, a trend towards incorporating World Music into house and dance choons evolved (with the likes of Mory Kante and Natacha Atlas and sounds from Cuba, Brazil and India pervading the mix). Ofra's vocals were remixed by DJs, and used or sampled by (among others) Eric B. & Rakim, Black Dog, Madonna and Sarah Brightman; she also collaborated with a mixed bag of artists including Thomas Dolby, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Sisters of Mercy and Hans Zimmer.

And Iggy Pop...

Ofra Haza feat. Iggy Pop - Daw Da Hiya

Such a multi-talented woman. Such a loss.

Ofra Haza (born Bat-Sheva Ofra Haza-Ashkenazi, 19th November 1957 – 23rd February 2000)

Happiness and sorrow

Earlier this month was the 53rd anniversary of the birth of Yemenite Jewish megastar Ofra Haza, who died far too young of AIDS-related complications in 2000.

Revisiting blogs from the past I came across this tribute I posted on what would have been her 50th birthday, from which I omitted to post the video of (possibly) my favourite of her numbers.

So here is the sublime dance mix of Wish Me Luck. Sumptuous...

Ofra Haza - Wish Me Luck

Ofra Haza (born Bat-Sheva Ofra Haza-Ashkenazi, 19th November 1957 – 23rd February 2000)

She transcended the cliché

Today, that most magnificent of Middle Eastern divas Ofra Haza would have been 50 years old. It is impossible to realise what an incredible influence this woman had as a singer throughout the troubles of the Arab-Israeli conflicts - she was (quite rightly) adored by both sides, yet was resolutely (despite her Yemeni origins) a Jewish patriot.

I first encountered her luscious voice on a remixed house track called Wish Me Luck in the early 1990s, but got to know her and to love her music more than a decade after that - her albums Kirya and Yemenite Songs are still favourites today!

Here is just a snippet from a tribute written by journalist Eric Silver at the time of her death in 2000: "With her striking, Middle Eastern beauty, she was the sister every Israeli would like to have had: talented, warm, spontaneous, unspoiled. She was a cliché - the ninth child of poor Yemenite immigrants, a star who made it from the back streets of South Tel Aviv to Hollywood, then came home. But she transcended the cliché.

"Ofra was Israel's pop star laureate. Her fans spanned generations and ethnic divides. She was chosen to sing in Oslo when Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat received the Nobel Peace Prize. She sang again at the memorial concert after Rabin's assassination. Ehud Barak and Bibi Netanyahu paid public tribute after her death. Peres eulogized her at the graveside.

"Her 13 days in intensive care were a national drama. Television cameras hovered at the Tel-Hashomer hospital. Every change (or non-change) in her condition was reported on the hour. Admirers recited psalms. A bearded elder delivered an herbal cure. A Yemenite rabbi changed the mezuzah on the door of the emergency ward. Channel 1 television broke into an international basketball match to announce her death."

Such was the impressive respect that Ofra Haza had! - and for very good reason. She was indeed a sublime talent, and one the like of which we will never see again... Rest in peace.

Ofra Haza - Open Your Heart

Ofra Haza - Im Nin'Alu

The orginal Eric Silver article

Ofra Haza on Wikipedia