Israeli Songs

• Track Listing

The present release is a choice album for those eager to listen to authentic Israeli music. Throughout the centuries, wherever they found themselves in the world, Jewish people never ceased to sing, dance, and rejoice in spite of dark periods of persecution. Not only were they influenced by the customs, language and lifestyles of their surroundings, but they borrowed musical styles too from the countries where they lived. Hebrew, the language of the Bible and the Prayer book and now the modern language of Israel, has always been an integral part of the Jewish heritage. From the time of the first Jewish settlers in Israel at the end of the 19th century, a great number of songs have been created, composed, adapted, and sung- the folk songs of modern Israel. Founded in 1997, Shir is a popular Jewish music quartet. Although often called a klezmer group, Shir describes themselves as playing "Complete Jewish Music"- Israeli, Ladino, Yiddish, Mizrahi, Sephardi, simcha as well as klezmer and even liturgical. Co-leader and singer/guitarist Ivor Goldberg explains, "We started out with the styles that we knew and had grown up with, more the Ashkenazi side. But there is such a huge variety of Jewish music with influences from all over the world that we felt restricted within that area. As musicians we also needed the musical variety that the Sephardi and Mizrahi sides offer."