Sarit Hadad soars over a garbage dump
Beloved local singer wows 2,300 in an ‘extended’ set at Hiriya
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Maybe everyone has to go to a Sarit Hadad concert at least once to experience the love her countryfolk lavish on this Afula-born singer.
Raised in an Israeli family with ties to the Jews of the eastern Caucasus, Hadad was recognized as a child prodigy who taught herself how to play the piano, guitar, accordion, organ and darbuka, and snuck out of her house as a young teen to play at local clubs.
Now 34, Hadad sings in Hebrew, Arabic, Circassian, French and several other languages, does not perform on Shabbat and Jewish holidays, and is considered one of Israel’s most popular female singers. Voted best female singer of the 2000s by Israeli music TV channel 24, she is also one of the judges on the Israeli version of the television show “The Voice.”
At a concert Thursday night held in Park Ariel Sharon, the ecological park being constructed on the former Hiriya garbage dump off of Route 4 in the country’s center, her audience of 2,300 fans seemed to know every word of every one of the songs Hadad chose… from her 21 albums. All she had to do was sing, ask how the crowd was doing and mention the fact that the weather is definitely getting cooler to cue delirious adulation.
As for her long, flowing, blond locks, this reporter happened to catch a glimpse of Hadad getting her hair and makeup done before the show, and now knows that she uses extensions. That said, she evidently didn’t mind using the offices of the park as her dressing room for the evening. She’s a hometown kind of gal.
