Idan Raichel
Following the first successful local tour (more than one hundred shows), “Idan Raichel’s Project” had embarked on an extensive 18-date long tour of the USA (partially sponsored by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, January-February 2005). The response of the American audiences was no less than overwhelming!
The second local tour is even more successful then the first one, the premier was at the 1st of April 2005 and more then a year into it the performances all over Israel are all “sold-out”. Overseas, “Idan Raichel’s Project” is keeping on growing: WOMAD England (July 2005), WOMAD Singapore (August 2005), Cervantino festival in Mexico (September 2005), Kodak theater in LA (November 2005), Canada & NY (November 2005).
One of the most thrilling moments in the short life of the Project was on January 2006 when the Project had performed in Ethiopia, the birthplace of several of the singers and the source of inspiration for Idan’s music. Two of the lead singers in the band came to Israel as children during the legendary migration of Ethiopian Jews to their Jewish Homeland in the 1980s. This was their first time returning to their roots, and the first time Israeli performers appeared in Ethiopia. The band felt at home as they learned that their hit songs Out of the Depth and Boi (Come on Over) receive a good share of airplay on local radio. Idan Raichel’s Project opened the Fifth Ethiopian Music Festival in Addis Ababa, sharing the stage with top Ethiopian performers, including the legendary Ethiopian singer Mahmoud Ahmed. An Israeli TV crew accompanied the band on their journey, which will be made into a documentary film and shown on Israel TV (Channel 2) later this year.
