Fadaytak

The Israeli-Yemeni singer SHIRAN clearly loves to mix things up. The list of sub-genres that have been associated with her music includes Arabic pop, hip-hop, Afrobeats, 808s and electro. She and producer Ron Bakal have dubbed it ‘electro hafla,’ a reference to the music and dance-filled celebrations.

SHIRAN has said that her inspiration to write and sing comes from hearing about the Yemen Aliyah (known as Operation Magic Carpet), where 50,000 Yemeni Jews were airlifted to Israel. Her fount of information was her own grandmother and she describes her approach as ‘a very female-centred concept.’ You wouldn’t necessarily know it, however, from these up-tempo tracks made for the dance floor (with the exception of the gentle ‘Fuadi’), but there’s no reason beats can’t have deeper meaning. This album is very different from the stripped back acoustic release that was a Top of the World in August/September 2020 (#160). It is also a change from the more original sound of her earlier work. As the album progresses, the Middle-Eastern flavour gets stronger and it feels less like a standard fusion project, but the mix of elements can be too strong for an original sound to come through.