יזהר אשדות
Izhar was born in 1958 in Jerusalem.
As a child he dreamt of becoming a pilot, but, at the age of 11 he discovered music, and decided to become a musician.
He constantly listened to the charts, bought pop magazines and started playing guitar.
With money he had from his "Bar-Mitzvah" Izhar bought an electric guitar and an amplifier, and started his first band , The Red Dogs, in his native town Nof Yam. As a son of a Israeli civil servant Izhar spent most of his childhood in foreign countries, such as France, Cambodia and Greece, but the most meaningful period was in Holland where he lived from the age of 15 till the age of 18. There, Izhar, played in various bands and was constantly exposed to the concerts and records of the time.
It was there where his musical identity was forged. In 1977 Izhar was recruited to the Israeli army and was positioned in Galei Tzahal, the army radio station, serving as a musical programmer. Simultaneously he continued to write music and recorded his first version of Tslam's "Lirot Ota Hayom" (See her Today) then titled "Nothing has Happened" (lyrics by Izhar and his mother) at Kolifon studios in Jaffa.
While listening to the song in Galei Tzahal he met a soldier-engineer, Yair Nitzani, who also happened to be a musician. They both hit it off immediately, as friends as well as musical partners.
Danny Bassan, a soldier-singer who came to Galei Tzahal to record with the Air force Musical Quartet, met Izhar and together started a disco company, working as DJs. Yair Nitzani and fellow engineer Yoav Gera, ran a similar company, and when Ashdot and Nitzani amusedly wrote a song about their occupation saying: "I don't want no disco, I can't take it any more, gimme, gimme Rock'n'Roll…", it evolved into a special relationship that later gave birth to Tislam.
Tislam was first introduced to the Israeli awareness at the end of 1980 with its first single, Loud Radio, and two months later released an album by the same title. Yoav Kutner writes in Moma: "Tislam was the most successful band in the early 80's. This was a time when Israeli music in general, and Rock music in particular, matured and developed professionally".
Tislam's first tour started in March 1981 and created an unprecedented hysteria in the Israeli youth. By year's end the band had won every possible award including Band of the Year, Song of the year (See her Today) and the LP went platinum. After releasing 3 albums, Tislam split in October 1983.
Izhar decided to devote himself to writing and record production. During the 80's he became one of the leading, influential and successful producers in Israel. As such, he worked with many artists, among them, Boaz Sharabi, Natasha's Friends, Si Heiman, Adam, Korin Alal, Alon Olearchik and Ofra Haza.
The musical collaboration between Ofra and Izhar led to one of the highest peaks of the Israeli music in general, and Izhar as a musician, in particular. It started in 1984, when Yair Nitzani then head of A&R at Hed Artzi records, initiated a Remix of Galbi, a Yemenite song sung by Ofra, to be produced by Izhar.
3 years later Izhar produced the remix of Im Ninalu, another traditional Yemenite song. The single went on to become Europe's no.1 hit in 1988 and was no.1 in most of the countries of the continent. Ofra's album, Shadai, to a large extent produced by Izhar, became an international best selling LP.
Today, Izhar is credited as one of the forefathers and creators of the musical genre which combines pop and ethnic music, largely known as World Music. In 1990 following the successful reunion of Tislam, Izhar took a further step in his career and started producing his first solo album that was released in 1992.
While working on his album Izhar met Raviv Gazit. He, then, teamed up with fellow Tslam member Tzuf Filosof (bass) and young drummer Eran Porat (who both play with Izhar to date). Together they worked out an album which introduced a number of big hits such as Chocolate Man, Our Nights, What Will You Say, Noa of the Sea and which quickly reached Gold status. Two years later Izhar recorded his second solo album. He teamed up with co-producer Moshe Levi and musicians Tal Bergman (drums) and Yosi Fine (bass) who arrived from the USA to play on the record.
The album included hits My Hiroshima and The Shadow of a Summer Day which was also Izhar's first video. During the follow up tour in 1994, Ran Efron, guitarist and keyboards player, joined the band. Izhar's band joined him on a special acoustic concert at the Hard Rock Cafe in Tel Aviv on January 22, 1995
. This performance led to the release of Izhar's most successful album to date. The album Live at the Hard Rock Cafe, released in 1995, contained new versions of many of Izhar's hits, a duet with Korin Alal and 2 new songs: Hatchalot (Beginnings) and Every Time I fall in Love with You (Again).
Alongside with his career as a singer-songwriter, Izhar continued to work with other artists and produce their albums successfully.
Friends of Natasha (Radio Bla Bla 1994), Alon Oleartchik, Micha Shitrit, Eti Ankri (Despite and Because of, 1997) are among them. He was also involved in Beri Sacharof's album Negiot. In 1998, Izhar's and Alona Kimhi's son Ilai was born. later in that year Izhar started recording his fourth album, Magic Time, released in 1999.
Working with Beri Sacharof, they co-wrote and recorded 3 songs including the album title, Zman Kesem, lyrics by Shahar Ariel, son of legendary Israeli songwriter Meir Ariel who wrote the lyrics to Lama Lo (Why Not) on the same album, a month before his tragic death. The album was the first to be recorded in Izhar's studio. Izhar stands a one of the first Israeli artists who used computers in the creation and production process, and was the first to set up a Web site, back in 1995. In 2000, Izhar helped to launch the first music download service in Israel, with a compilation album called Follow your Heart, sold only on the internet. The album included live performances, and Izhar's first version of Rega (Moment) which he wrote for Sacred Cow.
The first years of the 21 century are characterized by Izhar's intensive work in his studio. He produced David Broza's album, It's Every thing or Nothing, and Monika Sex's 3rd LP. At the same time he started fulfilling another dream of his, starting an independent label that encourages and supports new and talented artists. Working with Rona Kenan since she was 17, Izhar chose Rona to be the first artist on his Izhar Ashdot Music label. In May 2004, her debut album, Breathing down to Zero, was released.
The next artist to be signed by the label was Peter Roth who is about to release his debut album in early 2005. In early 2003, Izhar started writing new songs. A single-room apartment on Sheinkin street was turned into his creative spot.
Alongside his studio and label work, Izhar spent almost a year writing and pre-producing his first studio album in 5 years, Bemerhak Negia Mikan (A touch away). Moving to his studio to record, Izhar teamed up with Moshe Levi (artistic advisor), Peter Roth (bass, guitar and backing vocals), and Tal Bergman (who arrived especially from the USA). The title track, Bemerhak Negia Mikan (A touch away), is already a huge radio hit and the album is scheduled to be released on January 9th, 2005. To be continued...
For most of 2007 - 2008 Ashdot has been preforming with Black velvet, an ensemble of Israeli musician that play Irish music. Little dance is the name of the tour and the live C.D album they released at the end of 2007 Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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