Two Israel-based musicians to open for Radiohead on world tour
Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis to accompany the Brit band in US, while Shye Ben Tzur heads to England, Ireland and other cities
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
It’s a Sabra kind of summer for British band Radiohead.
Not only are the wildly influential alt-rockers due to play Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park this summer on July 19, but they’re also collaborating with two different Israeli-based bands for their European and US tours, the band announced on its Twitter feed Tuesday.
Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis will join Radiohead in the US, while Shye Ben Tzur and the Rajasthan Express will open for the band at several performances in Europe.
All this Israeli interaction is nothing new for Jonny Greenwood, Radiohead’s lead guitarist and keyboardist, who is married to, and has three kids with, Israeli visual artist, Sharona Katan. Radiohead also has a huge following in Israel, and has had for most of its career.
Still, Tassa and Ben Tzur offer an alternative sound to Radiohead’s edgy compositions and lyrics.
Dudu Tassa & The Kuwaitis will support Radiohead on their US headline dates, beginning in Miami on March 30th. https://t.co/Jruhgermro
— Radiohead (@radiohead) March 21, 2017
The Iraqi-Jewish Tassa explores his musical roots in his cross-cultural, Jewish-Arabic project that revives the music of the Al-Kuwaiti Brothers, popular Iraqi composers from the early 20th century who were his grandfather and great-uncle.
The group has released two albums, led by Tassa and his musical partner Nir Maimon, integrating Iraqi themes with rock style, in Iraqi Arabic, and hosting Israeli Jewish and Arab singers and musicians.
On this tour, Arab singer Nasreen Qadri will join the Kuwaitis as well. Qadri came to the stage by way of reality TV show “Eyal Golan is Calling You,” and is known for being an Arab woman who mostly sings in Hebrew. She has performed with the Kuwaitis before.
Shye Ben Tzur, an Israeli singer and musician who splits his time between Israel and India, composing in Hebrew, Urdu and Hindi, has collaborated with Radiohead before.
Magical evening junun pic.twitter.com/6woh6oGC7E
— Sharona Katan (@KatanSharona) November 4, 2016
He recorded his album “Junun” in 2015 with Greenwood and producer Nigel Godrich, and a group of Indian musicians called the Rajasthan Express. The recording session was filmed by director Paul Thomas Anderson and released as a film under the same name.
Greenwood often collaborates on different music projects, including classical compositions for several orchestras and has also worked with Anderson on several film scores.
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