Orphaned Land
Orphaned Land at Summer Breeze Open Air, 2007
Background information
Also known as	Resurrection
Origin	Petah Tikva, Israel
Genres	Oriental metal, progressive metal, folk metal, death/doom[1]
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Century Media
Associated acts	Crossfire Mahavatar
Website	www.orphaned-land.com
Members
Kobi Farhi Uri Zelcha Yossi Sa'aron Sassi Matti Svatizky Shlomit Levi Matan Shmuely
Former members
Sami Bachar Avi Diamond Eden Rabin Itzik Levy Yatziv Caspi Eran Asias

Orphaned Land are are an Israeli heavy metal band formed in 1991, combining Middle-Eastern, and Jewish/Arabic influences.

Contents 1 History 2 Discography 2.1 Demos 2.2 EPs 2.3 Studio albums 3 Videography 4 Band line-up 4.1 Current members 4.2 Former members 4.3 Featured musicians and other personnel 5 External links 6 References

[edit] History

In 1992, the band changed its name from the original Resurrection^[1] (not to be confused with Resurrection, a Floridian death metal band) to Orphaned Land. Orphaned Land fuse progressive, doom, and death metal as well as Middle-Eastern folk music and Arabic traditions in a form of Oriental metal. Each album has some concept related to two extremes: a meeting of east and west, past and present, light and darkness, and God and Satan.^[2]

The band’s first album was Sahara (1994) which was originally released as a demo. The second album, El Norra Alila (1996), had many eastern/oriental influences, such as "El Norra Alila" ("Illustrious God"), based on a poem sung during Yom Kippur as a plea of forgiveness. It also included songs with traditional oriental Jewish piyyut and Arabic melodies. The album explored the themes of light and darkness, as well as conveying the message of commonality between the three main Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Islam, and Christianity).^[3]

The third album, Mabool: The Story of the Three Sons of Seven (the Hebrew name for the Deluge, depicted in the Bible and Noah’s story), released in 2004, was seven years in the making. It tells the story of three sons (one for each Abrahamic religion) who try to warn humanity of a flood coming as punishment for their sins. Musically, the album contains oriental instruments, two choruses, traditional Yemenite chants sung by Shlomit Levi, and quotes of Biblical verses from the story of the deluge, read by vocalist Kobi Farhi. After Mabool, Orphaned Land released an EP, Ararat (2005) named after Mount Ararat.

Orphaned Land recently finished working on the follow-up to Mabool, entitled The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR. OrWarrior means "Warrior of Light," and the concept will be the battle between light and darkness. The album will have a different sound than Mabool, and was Mixed by Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree.^[4] First single from the album, calles [Sapari http://www.mako.co.il/music-news/singles/Article-72f33ab20f09521006.htm].

In 2008, Orphaned Land was featured in the documentary Global Metal by the creators of Metal: A Headbanger's Journey.^[5]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Demos

• The Beloved's Cry (1993)

[edit] EPs

• The Calm Before the Flood (2004)
• Promo Split MCD (2005) – (with Sentenced)
• Ararat (2005)

[edit] Studio albums

• Sahara (1994)
• El Norra Alila (1996)
• Mabool (2004)
• The Neverending Way of ORwarriOR (2010) – ( to be released Jan 25th in Europe, Jan 27th in Japan, Feb 9th in USA)

[edit] Videography

• "Ocean Land" (2004) – Mabool
• "Norra El Norra" (2004) – Mabool

[edit] Band line-up

[edit] Current members

• Kobi Farhi – vocals
• Yossi Sa'aron Sassi – lead guitars, oud, saz, bouzouki, chumbush, choir vocals, piano
• Matti Svatitzki – rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar
• Uri Zelcha – bass, fretless bass
• Matan Shmuely – drums

[edit] Former members

• Eden Rabin – keyboards, backing vocals
• Yatviz Caspi – percussion
• Itzik Levy – keyboards
• Eran Asias – drums
• Sami Bachar – drums

[edit] Featured musicians and other personnel

• Sahara album:
  • Itzik Levi – Keyboards, sampler, piano
  • Hadas Sasi – female vocals
  • Amira Salah – female “Arab” vocals
  • Albert Dadon – Tarbuka, darbooka
  • Abraham Salman – Kannun
  • Background vocals by “Neve Israel” Synagogue
• Mabool album:
  • Shlomit Levi – Yemenite female vocals
  • Moran chorus – female background chorus
  • Avi Agababa – extra percussion
• The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOr (not yet released):
  • Shlomit Levi – Yemenite female vocals
  • Steven Wilson – production

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Orphaned Land at MySpace
• Century Media Records site
• Holy Records site
• Orphaned Land at Last.fm

[edit] References