Yemen Blues, a contemporary band from Israel is all set to bring to India, a unique blend of Yemenite and West African music with contemporary grooves of Jazz.
The group which is in India for a five-day tour from October 9, which includes performing at the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur at the Rajasthan International Folk Festival (RIFF)
Excited about their performance at the festival, Ravid Kahalani, writer-singer and founder of the group says it will be “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for the band.
A Yemenite Israeli by origin, Kahalani recalls the formation of his band amidst troubled times, lack of money and support. He says he left his home at the age of 15 to “follow the food for his soul-music.”
“I was studying Yemenite culture when I left home. It was because my parents’ rigid religious views and it would have been very tough to make them understand what I wanted to do,” Kahalani said.
The band’s lead vocalist says he is familiar with some music from India as well as Indian musicians especially Anoushka Shanker, daughter of Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar and Sukanya Shankar, whom he counts amongst his favourite artists.
“I have heard beautiful stuff from India and I love Indian scales, although I never tried it. Given a chance, I would definitely like to work with Anoushka Shankar,” Kahalani added.
Asked about the origin of his interest in music he said, “I had it in my blood. I remember singing gibberish to myself all day since I was just four years old but I discovered the big world of music only when I left home.”
The formation of the band gave a new direction to Kahalani’s career and it wasn’t survival was not easy for him, he said.
“I was very independent and was looking for trouble, I think…But music is something that kept me on the same direction all the time. I was also acting a little bit due to lack of money. I would just wonder around many times. It wasn’t easy to be independent, but I had no choice because for me to do something else was not possible,” Kahalani said.