When you hear that Tomer Yosef of Balkan Beat Box produced their debut album, you know straightaway there is a good chance that A-WA will be the next big thing from Israel. The three sisters intersperse music from their Yemeni roots with modern beats to create an infectious mix of Arab folk songs and hip hop, reggae, and electro.
Tair, Liron, and Tagel Haim grew up in a little village called Shaharut in the Arava valley in southern Israel, but their roots lie a good bit further south, in Yemen. “Our grandparents immigrated from Yemen to Israel,” we were told by the singer Tair Haim, the eldest sister. “That migration brought a lot of beautiful traditions to Israel: dance, music, and colourful ceremonies. With us, it is the women who sing, in the special Arabic dialect of the Yemeni Jews,” added Tair, who is the spokesperson for the band, which, as well as the three singing sisters, includes four musicians on bass/violin, drum/loops, keyboard, and electric guitar.
They absorbed the roots she talks about with their mother’s milk. “We grew up in a musical family: we have been singing and performing our whole lives; we wanted to give our roots a modern revamp,” explains Haim. They launched A-WA four years ago, with the goal of reaching as many people as possible, all over the world. “We started uploading simple little films on YouTube, songs in Hebrew and English, with Yemeni influences. And some Yemeni folk songs too.”