“I remember learning to cut olive branches to prepare the trees for next year. Months went by and the songs were still slowly mutating. They were cut, groomed, thrown away, replanted. It seemed like the presence of nature and silence around him were seeping into his art.
While previous albums such as Different Pulses or The Reckoning were penned down in a matter of weeks, something was changing now. The process would prove to be very different from the past. A lot of green fields and olives, a lot of blue skies, and a lot of quiet and seclusion. The setting he chose was an old farmhouse in Italy that had been turned into a recording studio/writers-retreat. To live differently and to write differently. To experience time and space in a different way than during those years of endless movement and changing views. Transcending from ignorance into knowledge.Īfter a 10-year non-stop touring regimen, Asaf, approaching his 40th birthday, decided to take “at least one year off the road”, and reflect upon his life, career and art. That moment, which through the unveiling of a previously hidden element of a story’s plot, the character is confronted by his or her true identity. Avidan was photographed hobnobbing with celebs like Penn, actress Charlize Theron and U2 at the Beverly Hills event, but he’s staying grounded ahead of the tour.Anagnorisis is a literary term, coined by Aristotle, for that sudden moment of revelation of a character. The Boston Globe named him one of “music’s rising stars for 2014” and actor Sean Penn reportedly sought him out for last month’s annual Help Haiti Home gala, a charity effort to aid the country still recovering from a 2010 earthquake. This may be Avidan’s first full-fledged North American tour, but that doesn’t mean he’s an unknown in the United States. I’m an artist, and there’s no relevance to what my passport says.” I don’t try to hide it I don’t change my name or shy away when someone asks me about it, but I don’t put any weight to it. “My parents were both diplomats, and I certainly have no wish to be one. “I always say, I’m an artist from Israel, not an Israeli artist,” he says. But don’t count on hearing any reggae-inflected tunes, either: He’s previously said he was too young to have been influenced by the music while living on the island.Īvidan doesn’t necessarily view himself as a second-generation diplomat for Israel. His solid English vocabulary (and accent) may also have to do with the fact that his parents were Israeli diplomats stationed in Kingston, Jamaica, when Avidan was aged 7 to 11. “I read almost entirely in English and listen to English-spoken music, so it’s natural to me that, when I need to write a song, it evolves in English in my head.” “I’d sing in ancient Greek if I would feel it expresses my thoughts and emotions well,” he says. Unlike other popular Israeli musicians, Avidan writes and sings solely in English. If you’re considering checking out his show because you want to brush up your Hebrew, you may be disappointed. The remix was also featured on the soundtrack of the recent HBO documentary “The Crash Reel,” but that doesn’t mean Avidan has warmed to it: He’s told multiple interviewers he’s still not a huge fan, but he certainly recognizes how the remix has helped his career.ĭon’t expect Hebrew lyrics (or reggae sounds) 1 in 14 countries and the video went viral on YouTube, where it’s been viewed more than 119 million times. Avidan tried unsuccessfully to get that version pulled, ultimately allowing it to be officially released after pressure from his former label, Sony. Avidan & the Mojos released their melancholic “Reckoning Song” on the 2008 album “The Reckoning” – only to have a young German producer who goes by DJ Wankelmut give it a clubby remix four years later and upload it to Soundcloud.