Ofra Haza
Yemenite Songs

Calling a spade a spade: from what I've heard, Ofra Haza is a bit of a letdown. Was I too hasty in my judgment? Perhaps; her career spanned about twenty years, and I've only been able to listen to four albums, including this one. In Israel, she is considered a national legend, the quintessential pop star, and between the '80s and '90s, she managed to gain recognition outside the Middle East, earning (unpleasant, superficial, and anything but encouraging) comparisons with the Italian-American entrepreneur known as Madonna. The albums that earned her this reputation, "Shaday," "Desert Wind," and "Kirya," combine typically Middle-Eastern atmospheres and instrumentation with the synth-pop and dance sounds that were all the rage at the time, with results that were occasionally very pleasant but mostly tacky and decidedly forgettable: Middle Eastern music as imagined by the average listener, with strings, sensual rhythms, and vocalizations everywhere, accompanied by a plastic and trendy aftertaste; add to that a very fawning Anglo-Arabic-Hebrew language mix and there you have it. My advice is not to waste your time as I did unless it's for some episodic flashes of brilliance like "Fata Morgana" or "Innocent," but perhaps "Yemenite Songs" deserves a bit more attention.

An album from 1984, therefore preceding the aforementioned international successes, it is a collection of traditional melodies from the Yemeni Jewish community, from which Ofra Haza herself originates, with lyrics adapted from the works of Shalom Shabazi, a 17th-century poet. It's still an attempt to fuse native sounds with contemporary instrumentation, and overall "Yemenite Songs" is certainly not an album that makes me shout for joy, but unlike later works, it has a much more valid reason for being than simply riding the wave to make as much money as possible and listening to it turns out to be much more interesting. Vibrant atmospheres, full of light and colors, lovely melodies, and the presence of strings and winds are perfectly integrated into a context of natural belonging, not a decoy for yuppies in search of ready-made exotica. The best of "Yemenite Songs" is in episodes like "Yachlivi Veyachali", "Tzur Menati", and "Lefelach Harimon", which have rhythm, joy, and vitality as their salient characteristics; a perfect musical background for the frenetic and cosmopolitan hustle of a port city in the Persian Gulf.

Yet, I just can't bring myself to go beyond an average rating: there are truly too many limitations, firstly a general impression of relative one-dimensionality despite only eight songs being offered, then there's Ofra Haza's voice, in my opinion, a rather modest performer lacking particular charisma, who gets carried away by the melodies (for a great singer, it should be the exact opposite) without managing to imprint her own personality. My citing the livelier and more upbeat tracks as the highlights of the album implies an important downside, "Yemenite Songs" is surely a pleasant and even fascinating listen but overall I'd say that it remains at a relatively superficial level, it fails to dig deep, to offer emotions that go beyond mere pleasantness and enjoyment. Unfortunately, I'd call it a minor disappointment, a compromise, and untapped musical potential; premises and ideas remain excellent, the musical roots are certainly of great value, but the final realization leaves something to be desired.