Shoshana Damari - Biography

Shoshana Damari (born 1923 – died February 14, 2006) was a Yemenite-Israeli singer known as the "Queen of Hebrew Music."

Biography

Shoshana Damari was born in Dhamar, Yemen. The family immigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1924 in the wake of growing persecution against the Jews, and settled in Rishon LeZion.

At a young age, Damari played drums and sang accompaniment for her mother, who performed at family celebrations and gatherings of the Yemenite community in Palestine. At 14, her first songs were broadcast on the radio. She studied singing and acting at the Shulamit Studio in Tel Aviv, where she met Shlomo Bosmi, the studio manager who became her personal manager. They wed in 1939, when she was only 16.

Musical career

In 1945, Damari joined Li-La-Lo, a revue theater established by impresario Moshe Wallin. The group performed light entertainment and satire as a counterweight to the serious theater of the time. Damari became known for her distinctive husky voice and Yemenite pronunciation. Her first record was released in 1948 and her best-known song Kalaniyot (Anemones), by Moshe Vilenski, dates from that period. She was especially popular among Israeli soldiers, for whom she frequently performed.

In the mid-1980s, Damari teamed up with Boaz Sharabi for a duet that brought her back into the limelight. She was awarded the Israel Prize in 1988 for Hebrew song and a Life Achievement Award by the Israeli Composers and Publishers Association (ACUM) in 1995.

In 2005, aged 82, she recorded two tracks for the Mimaamakim album by Idan Raichel's Project and participated in some of their live performances. The two had been slated to begin another joint project.

That year, she was voted the 78th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.

She died in Tel Aviv after a brief bout of pneumonia. She breathed her last breath whilst Kalaniyot was sung by her family and friends who had been sitting in vigil during her final few days.

Film career

• Hill 24 Doesn't Answer
• Be'Ein Moledet

See also

• List of Israel Prize recipients

External links

• Jerusalem Post "Renowned singer and cultural icon Shoshana Damari dies" February 14, 2006
• Jewish Virtual Library article on Shoshana Damari