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Idan Raichel (Hebrew: עידן רייכל, born September 12, 1977 in Kfar Saba, Israel), is an Israeli singer and musician widely acclaimed in Israel for his Idan Raichel Project (Hebrew: הפרוייקט של עידן רייכל), distinctive for its fusion with ballads, electronics, and incorporation of the voices of the new Ethiopian immigrant community in Israel.

Prior to the Project, Raichel worked as a highly-regarded keyboardist, although he played the accordion as a child. He had achieved fame for his work with popular singer-songwriter Ivri Lider.

Biography

Early Life

Idan Raichel was born into an Eastern European family in Kfar Saba, Israel. Although music was an important part of his upbringing, his parents did not place much emphasis on performing music from his own cultural background. Idan started playing the accordion at 9 years of age, and was attracted to the exotic sounds of Gypsy music and tango. As a teenager, Idan began playing the keyboard, studying jazz in high school. This improved his skills at improvisation and working with other musicians.

Military Service

At 18, like all Israeli teenagers, Idan was conscripted into the Israeli army. It was in this military setting that Raichel developed musical skills that later proved vital. For his service, Idan joined the Army rock band, touring military bases performing covers of Israeli and European pop hits. As the musical director of the group, he became adept at arrangements and producing live shows, skills which also later became important for him.

Counselling Career

Following his military service, Raichel became a counselor at a boarding school for immigrants and troubled youth. The school was filled with young people from Ethiopia who were part of Israel’s growing community of Ethiopian Jews. It was here that he became familiar with Ethiopian folk and pop music. Whilst many of people in the school rejected their own cultural traditions in an effort to assimilate into mainstream Israeli society, a small core of teenagers remained fans of Ethiopian music, passing around cassettes of songs from artists like Mahmoud Ahmed, Aster Aweke and Gigi. After hearing this, Raichel started going to Ethiopian bars and clubs in Tel Aviv.

Musical Career

At the same time, Raichel had become a successful backup musician and recording session player for some of Israel’s most popular singers. After a few years of this he decided it was time to pursue a project that reflected his musical ideals, and began working on a demo recording in a small studio he set up in the basement of his parent’s home in Kfar Saba. He thought it would be a good idea to invite a number of different singers and musicians to participate, in order to better demonstrate his different styles and the ways in which he worked with a variety of artists.

Raichel had long been fascinated with the diversity of Israel and sought to celebrate his appreciation and respect for different cultures through his music. Because of its open door to immigrants from Jewish communities around the globe, Israel is home to a stew of cultures and traditions.

Idan invited over seventy of his friends and colleagues from Israel’s diverse music scene to participate in his recordings. While most of the Israeli labels considered his work too “ethnic” and too outside of the norms of the formulaic Israeli pop scene to have any hope of success, one A&R man, Gadi Gidor at Helicon Records, instantly heard the potential in Idan’s work and quickly signed him on to the roster. The subsequent album was an immediate hit.

Idan Raichel’s Project (2002)

Helicon Records released Idan Raichel's first, self-titled album in 2002, with Raichel composing and arranging many tracks, as well as performing vocals and on the keyboard, while collaborating with numerous other artists for vocal and instrumental parts. Hit singles include Boi (בואי / "Come"), Im Telech (אם תלך / "If you go") and M'dab'rim B'sheket (מדברים בשקט / "Speaking Quietly"). The popularity of these tracks within Israel also brought the artist to fame among diaspora communities, particularly the youth.

While Raichel sings the majority of his songs in Hebrew, a few are entirely in Amharic, while others include small samples sung in the Ethiopian language, both by male and female voices, setting traditional-sounding tunes to modern music. Love-songs predominate in his Hebrew lyrics, including Hinech Yafah (הינך יפה / "Thou art Fair") based on the Song of Songs, while the opening track also reaches into the depths of Jewish liturgy, with B'rachot L'shanah Chadashah (ברכות לשנה חדשה / "Blessings for a new year") sampling voices reciting traditional Jewish blessings.

Following the popularity of the Project, demand for live shows increased. Raichel was asked by the prestigious Opera House of Tel Aviv to give a performance. Given the number of musicians who participated in the recordings, it would have been impossible to have them all appear on stage, so Raichel to selected seven members in addition to himself who were both versatile and strong individual artists in their own right. The live show became symbolic of the album, as it brought together a group of people of different backgrounds but each is equal to the other.

Participants in the Project

In its recordings or on stage, The Idan Raichel Project has featured a fascinating array of participants.

Cabra Casey is a singer of Ethiopian heritage who was born in a refugee camp in Sudan during her parent’s journey to Israel. She grew up in a diverse immigrant community in Southern Israel, and met Idan when they were both serving in the Israeli Army.
Mira Anwar Awad who sings on the dramatic Arabic-language track “Azini,” is an Arab Israeli who grew up in the northern city of Haifa. Awad is a well-known singer and actress, who has participated in numerous musicals and theatrical productions in Israel.
Sergio Braams sings on the dancehall inflected track “Brong Faya” (Burn Fire), immigrated to Israel from the country of Suriname on the Caribbean coast of South America. Braams has been one of the key-infusers of the spirit of Caribbean music into the Tel Aviv scene, and was the leader of a reggae band for which Idan played keyboards. Braams is a cofounder of and performer in the popular musical review called Mayumana, the Israeli equivalent of the percussion show Stomp.
Shoshana Damari was an Israeli singer of Yemenite heritage who had been one of Israel’s most beloved singers for decades. Damari passed away in 2006 at the age of 83, after making her last recordings as part of the Idan Raichel Project and participating in a number of live concerts with the collective.
Yihia Tsubara is a 76 year-old who originates from a Yemenite community that has staunchly maintained their traditional way of life. He sings alongside his son (Shalom Tsuberion) in “Im Tachpetza” (If Thou Wisheth) along. The appearance was unique because not only did these firm guardians of ancient tradition allow their music to be blended with modern electronic beats and mixes, but they agreed to perform new Westernized versions of lyrics from the Diwan, the traditional Yemenite prayer book.
Bongani Xulu is a South African singer who performs on the last track of the project. Xulu happened to see Project perform during a trip to Israel and came up to Idan after the show expressing how much he loved the performance. Idan invited him to participate on the moving anthem “Siyaishaya Ingoma” (Sing Out For Love). The song symbolizes the global reach and relevance of The Project's underlying message.
Gilad Shmueli is a respected producer of many popular Israeli artists who played an essential role in the development of The Project.

Impact of the Project

The huge interest propelled the Idan Raichel Project album to sell over 120,000 copies (triple platinum). In November 2005, the Idan Raichel Project headlined at the renowned Kodak Theater in Los Angeles and gave two well-received shows at the famed Apollo Theater in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood. While in New York, Idan and members of The Project visited a number of schools and churches in Harlem as one of many regular bridge-building efforts the group has undertaken.

In January, 2006, The Idan Raichel Project traveled to Ethiopia, the land that had inspired so much of its music. Two of the lead singers of the Project came to Israel as children during the migration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in the 1980s. The trip marked the first time they had returned to the land of their birth, and was also the first time an Israeli artist had performed in Ethiopia. The story of the Project’s emotional trip to Israel was filmed for a forthcoming documentary which will be released in early 2007.

Mimaamakim (2005)

Idan Raichel released his second album, Mi'ma'amakim (ממעמקים / "From the Depths") in 2005, having released the title track at the end of the preceding year. This first track, reminiscent of the opening of Psalm 130 (traditionally recited by Jews in times of distress), attracted similar airplay to that of his previous singles.

The first and last tracks on the album feature the popular Israeli singer Shoshana Damari.

In addition to more catchy tunes in Hebrew and Amharic, Raichel adds Arabic (in Azini), Tigrinya (in Siyaishaya Ingoma), Hindi (in Milim Yafot Me'ele), and Yemenite Hebrew to his linguistic repertoire.

International Release (2006)

File:Idan Raichel.JPG

Idan Raichel at a Concert at the Central Park SummerStage in June 2007

In November 2006, a compilation of hits from the previous two albums was launched to target an international audience. The Idan Raichel Project is single CD album published by the new record label Cumbancha and shipped outside Israel to an international audience for the first time. The liner notes contain English translations of some of the songs while the enhanced CD contains the band's music videos.The release was coordinated with a special Putumayo World Music collection featuring Idan Raichel entitled One World, Many Cultures. A portion of the proceeds for One World, Many Cultures will go to support the nonprofit organization Search For Common Ground (www.sfcg.org), which works to transform the way the world deals with conflict - away from adversarial approaches and towards collaborative problem solving.

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	Israel Certificate
2002	Idan Raichel’s Project	3x Platinum
2005	Mimaamakim	2x Platinum
2006	The Idan Raichel Project (International Album)	N/A

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-'''Idan Raichel''' ({{lang-he|'''עידן רייכל'''}}, born [[September 12]], [[1977]] in [[Kfar Saba]], [[Israel]]), is an [[Israeli]] [[singer]] and [[musician]] who reached enormous fame and popularity in Israel with his ''Idan Raichel Project'' (Hebrew: הפרוייקט של עידן רייכל), distinctive for its [[Jazz fusion|fusion]] with [[ballad]]s, [[Electronic music|electronics]], and incorporation of the voices of the new [[Ethiopian]] immigrant community in Israel.
+'''Idan Raichel''' ({{lang-he|'''עידן רייכל'''}}, born [[September 12]], [[1977]] in [[Kfar Saba]], [[Israel]]), is an [[Israeli]] [[singer]] and [[musician]] widely acclaimed in Israel for his ''Idan Raichel Project'' (Hebrew: הפרוייקט של עידן רייכל), distinctive for its [[Jazz fusion|fusion]] with [[ballad]]s, [[Electronic music|electronics]], and incorporation of the voices of the new [[Ethiopian]] immigrant community in Israel.
 Prior to the ''Project'', Raichel worked as a highly-regarded [[keyboardist]], although he played the [[accordion]] as a child. He had achieved fame for his work with [[popular]] [[singer-songwriter]] [[Ivri Lider]].