Orphaned Land is an Israeli heavy metal band, formed in 1991 under the name Resurrection (changing their name in 1992 to the current name), that combines

Israeli Jewish Israeli Jews or Jewish Israelis ( he, יהודים ישראלים, translit=Yehudim Yisraelim) are Israeli citizens and nationals who are Jewish through either their Jewish ethnicity and/or their adherence to Judaism. The term also includ ...

, Mizrahi, and other West Asian influences. They are considered the pioneers of oriental metal. The band has gone through several lineup changes over the years, but has retained two of the founding members, Kobi Farhi (

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

) and Uri Zelcha (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

). They are joined by Matan Shmuely (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

), Chen Balbus (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mu ...

) who replaced co-founding member Matti Svatizky in 2012, and Idan Amsalem (

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

) who replaced co-founding member Yossi Sassi in early 2014. Their lyrics promote a message of peace and unity, particularly between the three main Abrahamic religions (

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

, and

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

History

In 1992, the band changed its name from the original Resurrection to Orphaned Land. Orphaned Land fuse progressive,

doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher * ...

, and

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, fe ...

as well as Middle-Eastern

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

and Arabic traditions in a form of Oriental metal. Each album has some concept related to two extremes: a meeting of

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

and

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

past The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience ...

and

present The present (or here'' and ''now) is the time that is associated with the events perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is a period of ...

light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 t ...

and

darkness Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low ...

, and God and

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehoo ...

. 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 Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day' ...

as a plea of forgiveness. It also included songs with traditional oriental Jewish ''

piyyut A ''piyyut'' or ''piyut'' (plural piyyutim or piyutim, he, פִּיּוּטִים / פיוטים, פִּיּוּט / פיוט ; from Greek ποιητής ''poiētḗs'' "poet") is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, ch ...

'' 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 (

, and

). The third album, '' Mabool: The Story of the Three Sons of Seven'' (the Hebrew name for the Deluge, depicted in the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

and

Noah Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5� ...

's story), released in 2004, was seven years in the making. It tells the story of three sons (one for each

Abrahamic religion The Abrahamic religions are a group of religions centered around worship of the God of Abraham. Abraham, a Hebrew patriarch, is extensively mentioned throughout Abrahamic religious scriptures such as the Bible and the Quran. Jewish traditi ...

) 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 Shlomit Levi ( he, שלומית לוי) is an Israeli singer. She is a member of the folk metal group Orphaned Land, performing on their albums '' Mabool'' (2004), '' The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR'' (2010) and ''Unsung Prophets And Dead Mess ...

, 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 Mount Ararat or , ''Ararat''; or is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in the extreme east of Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. Greater Ararat is the highest peak in Turkey and th ...

. Despite their songs drawing on biblical themes, the band have said that they are not religious, with the majority of the band members identifying as atheist or agnostic. On January, 2010, Orphaned Land released the follow-up to ''Mabool'', entitled '' The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR''. ''ORWarriOR'' means "Warrior of Light", and the concept is the battle between light and darkness. The album has a different sound than ''Mabool'', and was mixed by Steven Wilson of

Porcupine Tree Porcupine Tree are an English rock band formed by musician Steven Wilson in 1987. During an initial career spanning more than twenty years, they earned critical acclaim from critics and fellow musicians, developed a cult following, and became ...

. The first single from the CD was titled "Sapari" and was put on Myspace with two other tracks, "Vayehi OR" and "Disciples of the Sacred Oath II". In early 2011, ''ORWarriOR'' was rated the Metal Storm number one progressive metal album of 2010 by users with 421/1130 total votes. In 2008, Orphaned Land was featured in the documentary '' Global Metal'', a film by the creators of '' Metal: A Headbanger's Journey''. On May 22, 2010, Orphaned Land performed as the opening act to

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

's show in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Following this, the band went on a festival tour in the summer of 2010, promoting their latest album, ''The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR'', with appearances at such festivals as

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and subgenres of hard rock and metal are ...

Summer Breeze Open Air Summer Breeze Open Air is an annual German heavy metal music festival. It was first held in 1997. The festival had been held in Abtsgmünd until 2006 when it was moved to its new location of Dinkelsbühl, Bavaria. The festival draws around 40,00 ...

, Sonisphere Festival,

Gods of Metal Gods of Metal is the biggest Italian metal festival, held annually since 1997. It takes place in early summer, usually on the first or second weekend of June. It is most often held at venues in or near Milan, but took place in Bologna three ti ...

Rock Hard Festival Rock Hard Festival is a heavy metal festival organized and sponsored by the '' Rock Hard'' magazine. First established in Lichtenfels, Bavaria, Germany, in 1990 on an irregular basis, mostly for magazine anniversaries, it is held annually in Gelse ...

and more. After the summer festival tour, the band will go on a North American tour in support of Katatonia, along with

Swallow the Sun Swallow the Sun is a Finnish death-doom band founded in 2000 by Juha Raivio. Their death-doom style emphasizes melody and atmosphere, and occasionally steps into gothic and black metal territory. They have released eight full-length albums, on ...

. This will be followed by a tour of Europe supporting Amorphis along with

Ghost Brigade ''Ghost Brigade'' is a 1993 American supernatural horror film set during the American Civil War and directed by George Hickenlooper. Starring Corbin Bernsen, Adrian Pasdar, and Martin Sheen, the film was also released under the alternate titles ...

. They performed on June 19, 2011, at the French Metal Festival Hellfest held in Clisson, near Nantes. In February 2011, they performed at the Riviera cultural festival at VIT University,

Vellore Vellore (English: ), also spelt as Velur (), is a city and the administrative headquarters of Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Palar River in the northeastern part of Tamil Nadu and is separa ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. And in February 2012, they performed at the festival Alcheringa at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT),

. On June 11, 2012, guitarist Matty Svatitzky announced his departure from the band, due to personal issues. Matti Svatitzky was replaced by Chen Balbus, a young musician who was a replacement guitar player for some live shows, before he became an official member. Chen instantly became an integral part of the composing, writing, producing and recording of the new album, " All Is One." In 2012 there was an online petition for Orphaned Land to be awarded a Nobel Prize for their commitment to allowing the Arab World to listen to their music despite bans on such a thing from Arab League countries. Orphaned Land's fifth album, entitled All is One, was released on June 21, 2013, and worldwide on the 25th. The previous vocalist, Shlomit Levy did not perform on this album, so female vocals were performed instead by Mira Awad. Despite its optimistic title, the band considers it their darkest album thematically, albeit musically their most accessible, being nearly devoid of death metal influence. On January 7, 2014, Orphaned Land announced on their

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

page that it had parted ways with guitarist and co-founding member

Yossi Sassi Yossi Sassi (Hebrew: יוסי סאסי), born 5 February 1975) is an Israeli guitarist and producer who merges traditional and contemporary music. He is the inventor of the "bouzoukitara" musical instrument. He is known for pioneering oriental ...

. He was replaced by guitarist Idan Amsalem. Orphaned Land recently won

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...

award for "Global Metal Band of the Year 2014". The band also released a new music video for the track "Let the Truce Be Known" which is directed by Vadim Machona. In 2017,

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

guitarist Steve Hackett called Kobi Farhi. He was looking for artists that work for peace between people, and unsurprisingly, he chose Orphaned Land. The two sides immediately clicked and started collaborating. Together with the highly acclaimed Israeli-Arab singer, Mira Awad, Farhi sings on Hackett’s album, “ The Night Siren” and on the song, “West to East”. Later on, Hackett continued to work with Orphaned Land and recorded a guitar solo for the band’s new album, which was released on January 26, 2018, entitled ''Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs''. In September 2018, Orphaned Land won the 'Video Of The Year’ award At the Progressive Music Awards 2018 in London, for their video, “Like Orpheus".

Band members

Current members * Kobi Farhi – lead vocals (1991–present) * Uri Zelcha – bass (1991–present) * Chen Balbus – rhythm guitar, piano, Bouzouki, Saz, Oud, xylophone, backing vocals (2011–present) * Matan Shmuely – drums, percussion (2007–present) * Idan Amsalem – lead guitar, bouzouki,backing vocals (2013–present) Former members * Matti Svatitzki – rhythm guitar (1991–2012) * Sami Bachar – drums, percussion (1991–2000) * Itzik Levy – keyboards, piano (1991–1996) * Eran Asias – drums, percussion (2000–2004) * Eden Rabin – keyboards, backing vocals (2001–2005) * Avi Diamond – drums, percussion (2004–2007) * Yatziv Caspi – percussion (2004–2007) *

– lead guitar, oud, saz, bouzouki, cümbüş, backing vocals (1991-2014) Former touring members * Steven Wilson – keyboards (2010) *

– female vocals (2004–2012)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:120 top:0 right:50 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1992 till:01/01/2023 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals id:lead value:teal legend:Lead_guitar id:guitar value:brightgreen legend:Rhythm_guitar id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:keyboards value:purple legend:Keyboards id:Studio value:black legend:Studio_album ScaleMajor = increment:3 start:1992 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1992 BarData = bar:Kobi text:"Kobi Farhi" bar:Yossi text:"Yossi Sassi" bar:Idan text:"Idan Amsalem" bar:Matti text:"Matti Svatitzki" bar:Chen text:"Chen Balbus" bar:Uri text:"Uri Zelcha" bar:Sami text:"Sami Bachar" bar:Eran text:"Eran Asias" bar:Avi text:"Avi Diamond" bar:Matan text:"Matan Shmuely" bar:Itzik text:"Itzik Levy" bar:Eden text:"Eden Rabin" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Kobi from:start till:01/07/1997 color:vocals bar:Kobi from:01/07/2001 till:end color:vocals bar:Uri from:start till:01/07/1997 color:bass bar:Uri from:01/07/2001 till:end color:bass bar:Yossi from:start till:01/07/1997 color:lead bar:Yossi from:01/07/2001 till:01/02/2014 color:lead bar:Matan from:01/04/2007 till:end color:drums bar:Chen from:01/03/2012 till:end color:guitar bar:Idan from:01/02/2014 till:end color:lead bar:Matti from:start till:01/07/1997 color:guitar bar:Matti from:01/07/2001 till:01/03/2012 color:guitar bar:Sami from:start till:01/07/1997 color:drums bar:Itzik from:start till:01/07/1997 color:keyboards bar:Eran from:01/07/2001 till:01/02/2004 color:drums bar:Eden from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2005 color:keyboards bar:Avi from:01/02/2004 till:01/04/2007 color:drums LineData = at:25/11/1994 color:black layer:back at:18/07/1996 color:black layer:back at:23/10/2004 color:black layer:back at:25/01/2010 color:black layer:back at:24/06/2013 color:black layer:back at:26/01/2018 color:black layer:back

Discography

Studio albums

Demos

EPs

Live albums

Other albums

Music videos

References

External links

*
Lyrics and chords of Orphaned Land's music on utab
{{Authority control Israeli progressive metal musical groups Israeli death metal musical groups Jewish heavy metal musicians Oriental metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1991 Musical quintets Century Media Records artists 1991 establishments in Israel