Her Versatility...

The more Ofra evolves in her music, the more styles she touches. Aside from her experience in the independant rock (The Sisters of Mercy), her experiences with the greatest composers such as in "The Governess", she knows how to marry style and evolve them, enhance them.

We can say without mistakes: traditional chants, fusion, pop, dance, aramaic, Hebrew, arabic, English, French, children, German, Industrial rock, Independant Rock, Classical and more, and more, and more... Hence, the main problem a journalist will face as trying to put her in a category is his hopeless attempts to do so, during an interview. Eventually, he'll classify her as "World Music" for lack of better classification. And you bet! Ofra defies classification!!! Of course, we know her Hebrew pop songs, we know her fabulous ballads and her marvellous Yemenite Songs which made her a Worldwide star, but there is so much to it. Ofra can't be put into one single category, no way, and one has to be really skilled to achieve that. Ofra was. This tendancy to defy and to try new paths has greatly improved during her last decade, her worldwide recognition helped it a lot. Everyone wants to work with Ofra. But then again, who doesn't? Ask, it's hard to get a no. Even when it comes from the most unusual path. The Heavy Rock Japanese Band, "Hotei" proved it in having Ofra to participate in one of their ballad in 1998.

First of all, Ofra is a singer who contributes a lot in the creation, texts and/or music. Later in her career, texts with a strong meaning have made her wanted by many great composers who wished to compose for her or have her in their composition. Ofra has gone beyond the borders of the countries, but she has also gone way beyond the boundaries of her music of origin, always up to try new genres (hence it's what launched her international career in the first place). This is how Ofra came to work with Edward Shearmur on the soundtrack of The Governess in 1998, which action takes place in the XIXth century, going for Ladino for that one (I said Ladino, not Latin, huh... Ladino is a dialect derivated from Spanish which is spoken by the Sephradic Jewish). The Governess, it's a clever combination of classical music, traditional music and Ofra's out-of-this-world-voice. Ofra can also go Medieval with La Reine Margot, that was in 1994 but I believe one of her best achievement was for the Prince of Egypt.

Ofra was also well known for being an Ambassador of Peace and for talking about serious subjects which shouldn't happen. And this was present in all of her music, no matter their genres nor the year she wrote them. At a first glance, "Middle East" in 1989 about the terrorism, "Daw Da Hiya" in 1992 about the death of Women for having emancipating and much more. In The Prayer Cycle (1999) she joins her voice to the great Pakistanese Ali Akbar Khan for a powerful Hebrew and Islamist musical legacy. Before that, she sang at Oslo for the Peace Process in December 1994. But all of this is only the top of the iceberg and there is much more we are not all aware of for not having been all the time around Ofra. However, I believe over time, we'll gather more and more information, one has to be patient, a legacy can't be built in a day, it takes time to do so. What we know for sure, what we can't deny, what we are confident in, on the other hand, is her ability to not only express her feelings and emotions, but to pass them on so one gets the chill. Ofra knew how to speak to our soul, how to feed it, how to twist our belly so much the emotion is intense, Ofra knew how to take us to that place of rest, how to put our life on hold to reach that heavenly place where we feel warmth, happiness, heaven, almost as if we were touching the Hand of God (and that is to say coming from someone who is atheistic so far). It's probably that ability that made her so popular, beyond the Eastern/Western world blending, that's also how she got all these awards around the world, and at home.

Since her debut in the Shechunat Hatikva Workshop Theatre, Ofra's notoriety has been deeply anchored. And from her first solo album in 1978, she never stopped climbing the stairs of success without ever thinking reaching such a level. The list below is far from being complete, but I don't have much more information, however what follows shall give you enough to make your own idea on how popular Ofra was, and still is nowadays. I'm part of the yahoo group on internet created by Kaylene, and regularly we have new members who discover Ofra for the first time and fall under her powerful spell of kindness.

."Eurovision" 1983: second
3 Grammy in Israel in the early 80's
"Tokyo International Music Festival" 1989: first
"New Music Award for the International Album of the Year" (New York) 1989
"Tigra Award" (Germany) for best performer of the year 1989 and for best song of the year 1989
"World Music Award" (Monte Carlo) 1990
Montreux Jazz Festival: Ouverture (Switzerland) 1990
Nominee for"Grammy Award: World Music" (USA) 1993 Kirya
Nobel Peace Prize perfomance (Oslo, Norway) December 1994

Let's not forget the numerous golden and platin discs in Israel and the USA, but also in Germany. And even after Ofra has left us, she continues to impress people, her Greatest Hits volume 1 published in 2000 won a Golden disc in Israel. Shaday and Desert Wind leave a permanent footprint on the collective memory of the Western World for having being many weeks on the Charts and for their recognition..