Rotem Or (; born October 13, 1985) is an Israeli singer-songwriter and electro-pop musician, created in recent years under the stage name Totemo.

Early life and career

Or was born in a family home at

Tel Nof Airbase Tel Nof Airbase (, English: Lookout hill) , also known as Air Force Base 8, is the oldest and main base of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) located 5 km south of Rehovot, Israel. Tel Nof houses two strike fighter, two transport helicopter and a ...

. As a child she wandered between the air force bases, Tel Nof and Nebatim, because her father served as a fighter pilot in the army. From a young age, she posted songs and doodles for the website "Bama Hadada", which eventually led to her recording an album. In 2003, during his military service, he released his first EP, "Lightly Easy", on the Jerusalem independent record company Fact Records. Musical influences can be heard on the album from both veteran producers such as

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

, Simon Wegerfunkel and

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...

and newer names in the music world such as

Fiona Apple Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She released five albums from 1996 to 2020, all of which reached the top 20 on the U.S. Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 chart. As of 2021, she has sold over ...

, Tanya Donnelly and

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. In 2004, Or recorded a Hebrew version of the song "One of Us Can't Be Wrong" as part of the music magazine "The Blind Server's" Foreign Song project. In 2012, 9 years after the EP's release, Or released his debut album, "Hard Magic". On this album, Or did almost everything alone: writing, composing, recording, producing and playing most of the instruments. He recorded and edited the entire album in his own home. Musical influences on this album were more recent producers such as James Blake, Feist and

Laura Marling Laura Beatrice Marling (born 1 February 1990) is an English Folk music, folk singer-songwriter. She won the Brit Award for Brit Award for British Female Solo Artist, Best British Female Solo Artist at the 2011 Brit Awards and was nominated for th ...

. The album received praise and media exposure in the Israeli press and media websites and on various banda blogs abroad. Totemo has toured the world performing at festivals such as the Milege World Music Festival in

Entebbe Entebbe is a city in Central Region, Uganda, Central Uganda which is located on Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda pri ...

Uganda in November 2017, the annual InDnegev festival in Israel and

Zandari Festa Zandari Festa is a three-day music festival and showcase held in various live music venues and other locations in the area around Hongik University in Seoul. Every year, it offers around 100 music acts from Korea and around the world, as well as ...

in Seoul in South Korea. Totemo has worked with other Israel artists including Amit Erez, Alon Lotringer, Roey Avital, Mo Kolours and shared stage with a multitude of other Israeli artists. In March 2019, his first full album called Totemo, "Everything Happens Only Once" was released, a direct continuation of his collaboration with producer Roy Avital. The album contains 10 songs that Or wrote and produced in collaboration with Avital. The album also features Ran Yaakovovich on percussion and drums and Eden Barkat on saxophone and clarinet. The editing and order of the songs on the album was carried out by his ex-partner, Kwamy.

Personal life

Both Rotem's parents used to work in the Israel Air Force. Rotem grew up on a military base for most of her childhood until she was 12 when her family moved to Modiin. Rotem Or did her mandatory military service after high school and went on to join the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

where she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Psychology majoring in Brain Science. In 2014 she contracted

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

, from which she recovered.

Discography

Albums

References

External links

Totemo Discography (Discogs)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Totemo Living people Musicians from Tel Aviv Dream pop musicians Israeli electronic musicians 21st-century Israeli women singers Israeli women singer-songwriters Israeli singer-songwriters Israeli pop singers 1985 births Israeli record producers 21st-century Israeli guitarists 21st-century women guitarists