Idan Raichel (part 0)

I'm not even sure where and when I first heard of Idan Raichel and his Project. I only know that at first, I liked just a few of his/their songs and that in time, as I listened more often, I grew to appreciate the talents, and more songs, albeit not all.


Idan Racheil used to play the keyboard and accordion for artists, such as Ivri Lider, a famous singer in Israel, sadly a bit of a pariah because he's gay ; Riki Gal, and Eran Tsur. 

Idan Raichel continues playing the keyboard, also playing the piano, and expanded his works composing lyrics as well as melodies, producing, and occasionally singing. 

The music of Idan Raichel and his Project is a fusion of electronics, traditional Hebrew, Arab and Ethiopian texts and music.

Idan invites numerous vocalist, who write or co-write the songs, and though each album has a guiding line, each song is mostly a stand-alone. Albums don't always have a cohesive sound, as the Project's music styles and genres are rather varied - as varied as the number of musicians and vocalists invited and who participate for one or several pieces, with sounds from various countries. 

Main genres are world music, pop and rock. 

Idan has thus far 2 types of album releases : Solo, or with others. These can be detailed actually as 4 compositions since 2002 (first album with the Project, which is the main form), one album with a band called "Boten Matok baKirkas" (which means Sweet Peanut in the Circus) ; 2 as The Touré-Collectice and 2 solo albums.

Let's see these releases :

Boten Matok's first album was called Kol Ma Shenishar (everything that remains) on which Idan lends vocals, and plays keyboards. It was released in 2003 and contained 15 songs, all in Hebrew. I never listened to it as I didn't even know of this band. Idan didn't return to their subsequent albums. 

The main form is with the Project, releases (all of these tend to mix songs in Hebrew and other languages) : 

2002/2006* - The Idan Raichel project. There are at least 3 versions of this album. I'll discuss them in the album entry. 12 songs, with variations for all versions, and one of them has a DVD bonus. (= the international version was released in 2006 and corresponds to 5 songs from the native version and 7 from the 2005 album explained hereafter) 
2005- Mi'ma'amakim (= from the depths). There seems to be only one version, with 13 songs. 
2008- Ben kirot beyti (within my walls). 1 version, 3 editions though!
2011- Habayta, Haloch, Chazor (litteraly "Home, going, coming back". It was released internationally as "Travelling home"). It's a live collection of 3X Cd's of 16+10+12 songs. 
2013- Reva le-shesh (Quarter to six). 16 songs.
2013 - An instrumental version of Quarter to six, available only as a download. 

Touré-Raichel Collective (with "Vieux Farka Touré"):

2012- Tel Aviv session
2014- The Paris session 

Solo: 
2015 - Ha'yad ha'chama. (literally the warm hand. Released internationally as At the edge of the beginning). 
2017- Raichel -Psanter (= Raichel piano). Live piano versions of selected songs. 

This anglophone wiki page shows sales and certificates for most of these albums (X Platinum...).

Idan, as a person, won several Israeli local cultural awards for his music and individual songs, receiving awards such as song of the decade, or singer of the decade. 

In 2016, he was awarded an award called "Martin Luther King Unknown Hero" (alongsside Anat Saragusti and Pnina Tamano-Shata) by Luther King's son for his human rights activities, with an emphasis on activities for Ethiopian immigrants and for bringing together sectors in Israel ; as well as an honorary award from a Museum ; and a special award, both for his contributions to the arts in Israel and around the World, and for connecting and promoting the diaspora. This read as "The world-wide collaborations that Idan created throughout his career have made him a cultural ambassador to millions of fans for a hopeful world in which musical collaborations remove barriers between people from different backgrounds and cultures." 
I thought this was an important award to give to a person, whose collaborative nature does indeed remove a lot of barriers, in sociopolitical backgrounds, as he invites people from many places and languages. 

This will be the first time that I send to a documentary  about an artist. I do so because it goes in line with the previous statement. Title is Idan Raichel - a bridge of hope. It was produced by CBC/ radio Canada.

Official links :

Website  available in English (as linked) and in Hebrew.
Youtube channel
Spotify  ;  Deezer      (for those who have accounts)