Ofrin
Temper and timelessness...
Young and beautiful Israeli singer Ofri Brin and her band Ofrin are about to find their way into yourears...their distinctive, loungy avantgarde pop is here to stay.
Watching Israeli singer Ofri on stage for the first time leaves you with that rare sensation of feeling that you have just witnessed something very special, precious and unique.
No wonder, as Ofrin comes with a sultry voice of velvet and music that is hard to categorize...some kind of avantgarde pop that easily combines nostalgia and modernism and simply makes everybody in the audience listen up and swoon.
25-year-old Ofri Brin, Ofrin's singer, seems completely at ease and in her natural element when performing, exuding lots of energy und bewitching with her souly-jazzy and distinctive voice. She possesses qualities seldom found in pop music today: class,
grace and warmth, enveloping everybody in her presence, bending, shaking, twisting her endless long red curls up and dropping them once again, in time with the music. Her appearance - somewhere between fairy and temperamental beauty from another era - adds to the timeless quality of Ofrin's music. But there is no arguing that it is today, here and now, that Ofrin is about to enter a career in pop, as it is Eddie Stevens, Moloko and Zero 7 keyboarder, who is about to produce Ofrin's upcoming album.
But let's start at the very beginning. Ofri Brin's love affair with music started early, back in Israel, where she was picked after a strict series of auditioning to sing in a choir for the army. Ofri, self-trained and having no classical background,caught the attention of KD (Oded Kaydar), who played piano in the same band. When Ofri left Israel for a stint in the UK, they lost sight of each other, only to be reunited after KD visited Ofri in Brighton and musical sparks flew. Ofri packed her bags and joined her musical partner in crime in Berlin, where he had moved to study. Since 2005, the two have been writing songs and producing under the name of Ofrin, KD composing, Ofri writing the lyrics and performing. "KD is my perfect musical match," Ofri says, "he uncovers sides of me that I never even knew existed,"
They gather a band of German musicians: Marco Bruckdorfer, Dirk Homuth, Sven Mühlbrandt and Susanne Ocklitz. The two Israelis love Berlin's creative and free atmosphere and when working with their band stress the "family" aspect of Ofrin.
Their first album, "Rust and Velvet", becomes an instant respectable success, the band tours through Europe, Israel and quickly finds a fan following. Their key to success - apart from their musical quality - are what they stand for - deep-rooted values and a strong belief in what they do is what triggers Ofrin
and makes the band so authentic. Apart from Eddie Stevens, other music industry heavyweights become interested: Marc Chung, renowned German
music industry executive and formerly of bass player fame of legendary band "Einstürzende Neubauten" as well as PR strategist and networker Birgit-Linda Müller and last but not least manager Dominique Golbach in Berlin seem a guarantee for Ofrin's success.
Ofri says that writing the songs is what she finds most rewarding, even when having to write the songs beforeher partner KD writes a single note can sometimes be stressful. She takes her inspiration from life as such; the lyrics of her last album, "Rust and Velvet" had a lot to do with the experiences she made when living abroad for the first time and coming to terms with new experiences in a foreign country. Living in the vibrant and buzzing German capital of Berlin now, she feels as if she had come up from the water to finally breathe through, "so "Coming Up From The Water" is what I hope the new album will be called." Often, Ofri takes her finding metaphors from water, her favourite element. "I just love it, especially the sensation of being submerged in it and the quiet and peace you find below the water surface", she says. Even though a liquid quality runs through her lyrics and her being, her goals are very down-to-earth: "All I really want is to be able to live respectably from my music." The first step, obviously, has been made in sealing the deal with Zero 7-keyboarder Eddie Stevens, an absolute music pro who has already worked with renowned and exceptional female vocalists such as Sia or Roisin Murphy (Moloko). But it is a male music legend who is supposed to bring Ofrin success: Leonard Cohen, whom Ofri adores, and she has come up with a wonderful version of his "I'm your man" ("I'm your girl") which is due to be released as single. Personally, Ofri loves to be creative in every which way she can, be it by trying her hand at stage design, creating Ofrin's own logo, or painting. Generally, self-confidence and standing on her own to feet are values taught to her by her parents that she still adheres to. Asked about her wishes for the future, she simply says: "Carrying on with being creative. I feel that there is this fountain inside of me that still has a lot of water to give."
©Annette Franklin-Stokes 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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