Orphaned Land is an Israeli heavy metal band formed in 1991. They combine

Mizrahi ''Mizrachi'' or ''Mizrahi'' () has two meanings. In the literal Hebrew meaning ''eastern'', it may refer to: * Mizrahi Jews, Jews from the Middle East and North Africa * Mizrahi (surname), a Sephardic surname, given to Jews who got to the Iberia ...

and

Maghrebi Jewish :''See Mizrahi Jews for more information about the Eastern Jews.'' Maghrebi Jews ( or , ''Maghrebim''), are a Jewish diaspora group with a long history in the Maghreb region of North Africa, which includes present-day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, ...

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

, and other

Middle Eastern The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

North African North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

musical elements, with metal (with particular influence from

Yemenite Jewish Yemenite Jews, also known as Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ; ), are a Jewish diaspora group who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. After several waves of persecution, the vast majority of Yemenite J ...

and, in their early years, Moroccan Jewish music), as well as from

Sephardic music Sephardic music is an umbrella term used to refer to the music of the Sephardic Jewish community. Sephardic Jews have a diverse repertoire the origins of which center primarily around the Mediterranean basin. In the secular tradition, material is u ...

, and other sounds from the Mediterranean Region. They have also included "metalized" versions of various

piyyut A piyyuṭ (plural piyyuṭim, ; from ) is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during religious services. Most piyyuṭim are in Mishnaic Hebrew or Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, and most follow some p ...

im in all of their albums since '' El Norra Alila''. The band are considered pioneers of

oriental metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for example ...

. Orphaned Land have gone through several lineup changes over the years, but have retained two founding members of the band,

Kobi Farhi Kobi Farhi (; born 8 September 1975) is an Israeli musician, the lead singer and founder of Oriental metal band Orphaned Land. Life and career Farhi was born in Jaffa, the oldest neighborhood in Tel Aviv, Israel. At a young age, Farhi, who alre ...

(vocals) and Uri Zelcha (bass). Other members are Matan Shmuely (drums), Chen Balbus (guitars/ saz) who replaced co-founding member Matti Svatizky in 2011, and Idan Amsalem (guitars/

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute fam ...

) who replaced co-founding member

Yossi Sassi Yossi Sassi (; 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 rock, as well as being th ...

in early 2014. Their lyrics promote a message of peace and unity, particularly between the three main

Abrahamic religions The term Abrahamic religions is used to group together monotheistic religions revering the Biblical figure Abraham, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The religions share doctrinal, historical, and geographic overlap that contrasts them wit ...

(Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). The name "Orphaned Land" comes from the lyrics of a

Yehuda Poliker Yehuda Leon Poliker (; born Leonidas Polikaris; 25 December 1950) is an Israeli singer, songwriter, and musician. Poliker first became known in the 1980s as the lead vocalist for the band Benzene. In 1985, after Benzene broke up, he began a sol ...

song and reflects "a paradox" to the term "

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

". Four of their six albums are

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

s relating to the concept of light and darkness. Despite Orphaned Land's songs drawing on biblical themes, the band have said that they are not religious, with the majority of the band members identifying as

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

, and ambivalent towards organized religion, blaming it as the cause of bloodshed and hatred. Orphaned Land's frontman Kobi Farhi claims that metal is a kind of "religion". Orphaned Land has developed a large following across the

Middle East and North Africa The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), also referred to as West Asia and North Africa (WANA) or South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), is a geographic region which comprises the Middle East (also called West Asia) and North Africa together ...

as well as Iran, and have been described as "ambassadors of peace" for their message of unity. In 2013, Orphaned Land toured Europe with the Palestinian band

Khalas Khalas () are an Oriental metal band, formed in 1999. The name of the band means "enough" in Arabic. In 2013, the band embarked on a tour across Europe along with Israeli band Orphaned Land, an event which brought coverage to the band in Wester ...

which Farhi claims proved that Jewish-Muslim coexistence is possible. The two bands issued a split album with each other in 2021, entitled ''"The Peace Series Vol 1''."

History

Resurrection (1991-1992)

At the start of the band's formation, they played "regular"

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, 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 death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

under the name "Resurrection", with the goal to sound like

At the Gates At the Gates is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. The band was a major progenitor of Gothenburg-style melodic death metal alongside In Flames and Dark Tranquillity. Prior to their first disbandment in 1996, At ...

Morbid Angel Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida, formed in 1983 by guitarist, primary composer and sole remaining original member Trey Azagthoth, vocalist and bassist Dallas Ward, and drummer Mike Browning. Widely considere ...

Death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

Deicide Deicide is the killing (or the killer) of a god. The concept may be used for any act of killing a god, including a life-death-rebirth deity who is killed and then resurrected. Etymology The term deicide was coined in the 17th century from ...

, and other similar sounding bands, and sang about topics like "death from radiation decay." They quickly realized, however, that they are "from a different place, a place with different temperature, culture, and colours, that is also the source of all the monotheistic beliefs", as explained by

frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

. The band chose to write music that better projected this, incorporating

and

melodies and folk rhythms into their sound. In 1992, they changed their name to "Orphaned Land", believing that this name better suits their newer, more melodic style, which they dubbed

. This new style fused

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

and melodic death-doom with elements of

progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...

, incorporating

and

musical traditions as well as those of

, and

origins, which has been described as a kind of early

folk metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for example ...

Sahara, El Norra Alila, and hiatus (1993-2001)

In 1993, Orphaned Land released their demo ''

The Beloved's Cry Orphaned Land is an Israeli heavy metal band formed in 1991. They combine Mizrahi and Maghrebi Jewish, Arabic, Turkish, and other Middle Eastern and North African musical elements, with metal (with particular influence from Yemenite Jewish and ...

'', and in 1994, they released their first album '' ''Sahara'''', in which the band reworked four of the demo's six songs and wrote four new ones. In 1996, they released their second album '' El Norra Alila'', their first

, in which they amplified the "oriental" elements. The name of the album is based on the

of the

same name ''Same Name'' is an American reality television series in which an average person swaps lives with a celebrity of the same first and last name. It premiered on July 24, 2011 on CBS. The series received low ratings, and CBS pulled it after four-ep ...

, which is recited during

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...

as a plea of forgiveness, but also acts as a play on words using both

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and

, and can be translated as "God of Light, Evil of the Night," referring to the album's concept. The album also includes traditional

piyyutim as songs, as well as sporadic use of

Jewish liturgy Jewish prayer (, ; plural ; , plural ; Yinglish: davening from Yiddish 'pray') is the prayer recitation that forms part of the observance of Rabbinic Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the '' ...

, with heavier emphasis on Arabic melodies from their previous release. It explored the themes of light and darkness, conveying the message of commonality between the three main

(

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

, and

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

). This is a theme they would continue to use throughout their next three concept albums, as well. After the release of ''El Norra Alila'' in 1996, Orphaned Land went into "this unknown hiatus", during which "nothing happened". However, in 2001, Farhi received an email from a

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

ian fan who sent him a video of himself revealing a

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes ...

of the Orphaned Land

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

on his arm. Farhi, who was "shocked" by this, given the geopolitical circumstances, considers this the motivating factor to get the band back together, and began recording their next album. They played several shows in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

and one in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, their first show abroad. The Jordanian fan who sent Farhi the video came to the show in Turkey, where he brought an Arabic book written by an

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian

sheikh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

about

Satanism Satanism refers to a group of religious, ideological, or philosophical beliefs based on Satan—particularly his worship or veneration. Because of the ties to the historical Abrahamic religious figure, Satanism—as well as other religious ...

. The book, which detailed how to avoid Satanic groups in Egypt, displayed the lyrics to an Orphaned Land song that contains verses from the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

. When asked for elaboration by Farhi, the fan explained how the

Egyptian National Police Egyptian National Police or ENP is the national police force of Egypt responsible for law enforcement. It is a department in the Ministry of Interior. National organization The Ministry of Interior divides the functions of the police and public ...

raided an Egyptian metalhead's house and discovered a CD with this song on it; the Egyptian fan was sent to

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

for six months as this was enough to charge him of blasphemy.

Mabool (2002-2009)

The band's third album, '' Mabool: The Story of the Three Sons of Seven'' was released in 2004, and was the band's second concept album. ""Mabool" (מבול) is the Hebrew word for "flood", and refers to the

Genesis flood narrative The Genesis flood narrative (chapters 6–9 of the Book of Genesis) is a Hebrew flood myth. It tells of God's decision to return the universe to its pre- creation state of watery chaos and remake it through the microcosm of Noah's ark. The B ...

from which the album's concept, the band's reinterpretation of Noah's Ark, is derived. It tells the story of three sons (one for each

Abrahamic religion The term Abrahamic religions is used to group together monotheistic religions revering the Biblical figure Abraham, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The religions share doctrinal, historical, and geographic overlap that contrasts them wit ...

) who try to warn humanity of a flood coming as punishment for their

sin In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered ...

s. The album retains the "oriental" instruments from their previous two albums, and also includes two choruses, traditional Yemenite Jewish chants sung by

Shlomit Levi Shlomit Levi () 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 & Dead Messiahs'' (2018). She currently ...

, and quotes of biblical verses from chapters 6–9 in

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

, read by Kobi Farhi. In 2005, Orphaned Land released the EP '' Ararat'', named after

Mount Ararat Mount Ararat, also known as Masis or Mount Ağrı, is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in Eastern Turkey, easternmost Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. Greater Ararat is the highest p ...

where Noah's Ark landed, which contains two demos of songs ''Mabool'', and one reworked track from it, as well as a cover of the song ''Mercy'' from

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...

. The band describes their first two concept albums as "a meeting of

East East 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 fact that ea ...

and

West West 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 Romance langu ...

past The past is the set of all Spacetime#Definitions, 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 ...

and

present The present is the period of time that is occurring now. The present is contrasted with the past, the period of time that has already occurred; and the future, the period of time that has yet to occur. It is sometimes represented as a hyperplan ...

, light and darkness, and a

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

between

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

and

Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...

. In 2008, Orphaned Land was featured in the documentary ''

Global Metal ''Global Metal'' is a 2007 documentary film directed by Scot McFadyen and Canadian anthropologist Sam Dunn. It is a follow-up to their successful 2005 documentary, '' Metal: A Headbanger's Journey''. The film's international premiere took place a ...

'', a film by the creators of '' Metal: A Headbanger's Journey''.

The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR (2010-2012)

In January, 2010, Orphaned Land released the follow-up to ''Mabool'', and their fourth album, entitled '' The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR''. In Hebrew, the word "or" (אור) means "light", thus ''ORwarriOR'' can be translated as "light

warrior A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal society, tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, social class, class, or caste. History ...

" or "warrior of light", and is the band's third concept album. Like ''El Norra Alila'', ''ORwarriOR'' explores themes light and darkness; this time the album is about the battle between the darkness, a place of questions, and the light, a place of answers. The album has a different sound than ''Mabool'', was produced and mixed by

Steven Wilson Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosi ...

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 ...

, and made free to download for any fan who lives in a "number of" MENA countries. The first single from the CD was titled ''Sapari'' and was put on

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

with two other tracks, ''Vayehi OR'' and ''Disciples of the Sacred Oath II'', a sequel to a song from the deluxe edition of ''El Norra Alila''. In early 2011, ''ORWarriOR'' was rated the

Metal Storm Metal Storm Limited was a research and development company based in Brisbane, Australia, that specialized in electronically initiated superposed load weapons technology and owned the proprietary rights to the electronic ballistics technology ...

number one progressive metal album of 2010 by users with 421/1130 total votes. On May 22, 2010, Orphaned Land performed as the opening act to

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and 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, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Orphaned Land then went on a festival

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

in the summer of 2010, promoting ''The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR'', with appearances at

festivals A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

such as

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

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 The Sonisphere Festival was a touring rock music festival which took place across Europe between the months of June and August. The festival was owned by John Jackson and Kilimanjaro Live. It was jointly promoted by K2 and Kilimanjaro Live. It h ...

Gods of Metal Gods of Metal was the biggest Italian heavy metal music, metal music festival, festival, held annually from 1997 to 2016. It took place in early summer, usually on the first or second weekend of June. It was most often held at venues in or near ...

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 Gels ...

, and more. After the summer festival tour, Orphaned Land, 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 nine studio albums, one tr ...

, went on a North American tour in support of

Katatonia Katatonia is a Swedish Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Stockholm in 1991 by Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström. The band started as a studio-only project for the duo, as an outlet for their love of death metal. Increasing popularity ...

. Orphaned Land then followed this with a tour of Europe alongside

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 ...

supporting

Amorphis Amorphis is a Finnish progressive metal band founded by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other genres, including progressive meta ...

. In February 2011, Orphaned Land performed at the Riviera cultural festival at VIT University in

Vellore Vellore ( ), also spelled Velur, is a sprawling 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 and surrounded by the Javadi Hills in the northeastern ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. In February 2012, they returned to India and played at the Alcheringa festival at the

Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati The Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT Guwahati) is a public technical university established by the Government of India, located in Amingaon, North Guwahati, in the state of Assam in India. It is the sixth Indian Institute of Techn ...

. On June 19, 2011, Orphaned Land performed at the

Hellfest Hellfest (), also known as Hellfest Summer Open Air, is a rock festival focusing on heavy metal music, held annually in June in Clisson, France. Its high attendance makes it the French music festival with the largest turnover. It is also one o ...

metal festival held in

Clisson ''For other uses, see Clisson (disambiguation)'' Clisson (; Gallo: ''Cliczon'', ), is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department, in the region of Pays de la Loire, western France. It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Sèvre Nan ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Orphaned Land is known to employ belly dancers at their shows, however for this show, Lebanese belly dancer Johanna Fakhry reached out to Orphaned Land and requested to perform with the band there. While Kobi Farhi agreed to this request, he warned her that it could be dangerous for her. Fakhri decided to join them on stage anyway. At this performance, Farhi and Fakhry held up the Israeli and Lebanese flags side-by-side at the end of the concert as a

gesture A gesture is a form of nonverbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or othe ...

peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...

. After word in Lebanon spread about this performance, Fakhry's parents expressed outrage towards her for this action, she was ridiculed online by Arab communities, and the

Shia Islamist Shia Islamism is the implementation of Shia Islam in politics. Most study and reporting on Islamism has been focused on Sunni Islamist movements. Shia Islamism, a previously very small ideology, gained in popularity after the Iranian Revolution ...

organization

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

issued a

death warrant An execution warrant (also called a death warrant or a black warrant) is a writ that authorizes the execution of a condemned person. United States In the United States, either a judicial or executive official designated by law issues an ...

to her. Fakhry has not returned to Lebanon since then, and has remained in France. According to Farhi, Orphaned Land has invited her to shows in Israel, but she has rejected the offers out of respect for her parents' wishes. In 2011, Orphaned Land played two concerts in Israel to celebrate their 20th anniversary. On October 24, the band released a live music and video album entitled ''The Road to Or-Shalem'', featuring recordings of this concert to celebrate their milestone. On June 11, 2012, guitarist Matty Svatitzky announced his departure from the band, citing personal issues. Matti Svatitzky was replaced by Chen Balbus, a young musician who was had performed live with them, previously. In 2012 an

online petition An online petition (or Internet petition, or e-petition) is a form of petition which is signed online, usually through a form on a website. Visitors to the online petition sign the petition by adding their details such as name and email address. T ...

opened up requesting the

Norwegian Nobel Committee The Norwegian Nobel Committee () selects the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize each year on behalf of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's estate, based on instructions of Nobel's will. Five members are appointed by the Norwegian Parliament. ...

consider Orphaned Land to be awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize, which the band's label,

Century Media Records Century Media Records is a German heavy metal record label with offices in Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by R ...

, supported.

All Is One (2013-2016)

Orphaned Land released their fifth album, entitled ''

All is One All Is One is the fifth album by the Israeli oriental metal band, Orphaned Land, which was released on June 24, 2013. It is the first album to feature guitarist Chen Balbus who replaced the co-founding member and guitarist Matti Svatitzky in 2012. ...

'', on June 24, 2013. This album featured a shift in sound for Orphaned Land, who took a lusher, more symphonic approach to the album than their previous releases, and who experienced a line-up change beforehand. Despite its optimistic title, the band considers it their darkest album thematically; albeit, musically it is their most accessible, least progressive, and lightest album, being nearly devoid of death metal influence. Farhi provided very few

death growl The death growl, or simply growl, is an extended vocal technique usually employed in extreme styles of music, particularly in death metal and other Extreme metal, extreme Heavy metal genres, subgenres of heavy metal music. Sometimes death gro ...

s on this album, and the highly acclaimed

Israeli-Arab The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory that was acknowledged as Israeli by ...

singer,

Mira Awad Mira Anwar Awad (; ; born June 11, 1975) is a Palestinian-Israeli singer-songwriter, actress, television host, and political activist of Arab Palestinian and Bulgarian descent. She represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 alon ...

, provided female vocals for it. On January 7, 2014, Orphaned Land announced on their

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

page that

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...

, and co-founding band member

had left the band. He was replaced by guitarist Idan Amsalem. Orphaned Land won the

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 published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...

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," directed by Vadim Machona.

Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs (2017-present)

In 2017, former

guitarist

Steve Hackett Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is an English guitarist who gained prominence as the lead guitarist of the progressive rock band Genesis (band), Genesis from 1971 to 1977. Hackett contributed to six Genesis studio albums, three l ...

contacted Farhi, in his search for artists that work for peace between people, and asked him to perform in a song about peace. The two sides immediately clicked and started collaborating. Together with Mira Awad, Farhi sings in the song ''West to East'' on Hackett's album, ''

The Night Siren ''The Night Siren'' is the twenty-fourth studio album from English guitarist and singer-songwriter Steve Hackett, released on 24 March 2017 by Inside Out Music. Recording Much of the album was recorded within one year; some of the material dat ...

''. According to Farhi, Hackett offered to either play a

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melody, melodic passage, instrumental section (music), section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, classical, electric guitar, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and ...

on an Orpahend Land album or to pay Farhi directly for his performance, and Farhi chose the guitar solo. Hackett appears on the song '' Chains Fall to Gravity'' from their upcoming album. On January 26, 2018, Orphaned Land released their sixth album, entitled ''

Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs ''Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs'' is the sixth studio album by the Israeli oriental metal band, Orphaned Land, and was released on January 26, 2018. ''Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs'' is Orphaned Land's fourth concept album, following 2010' ...

'', and is the band's fourth concept album. Once again utilizing the concepts of light and darkness to convey their message, the album is based around Plato's Allegory of the cave to explain how humanity embraces the darkness and are afraid to break their chains and embrace the light. Farhi considers it to be their "protest album". For ''Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs'', Orphaned Land wanted to combine the accessible, "upfront" sound of ''All Is One'' with the conceptual and progressive sound of ''Mabool'' and ''ORwarriOR'', believing that would lead to the creation of "the best Orphaned Land album". 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''. The music video is based on a true story about a Muslim girl who used to attend metal shows in Israel. A photo taken of her in a

hijab Hijab (, ) refers to head coverings worn by Women in Islam, Muslim women. Similar to the mitpaḥat/tichel or Snood (headgear), snood worn by religious married Jewish women, certain Christian head covering, headcoverings worn by some Christian w ...

with the lead singer of

Behemoth Behemoth (; , ''bəhēmōṯ'') is a beast from the biblical Book of Job, and is a form of the primeval chaos-monster created by God at the beginning of creation. Metaphorically, the name has come to be used for any extremely large or powerful ...

in his

corpse paint Corpse paint is a style of body painting, used mainly by black metal bands for concerts and band photos. The body painting is used to make the musicians appear inhuman, corpse-like, or demonic, and is perhaps "the most identifiable aspect of the ...

went

viral The word ''Viral'' means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents). It may also refer to: Viral behavior, or virality Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example: * Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spre ...

, after which her parents forbade her from associating with the "metal world". The music video depicts a Haredi Jewish man and a Muslim woman attending a

Kreator Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen, formed in 1982. Their current line-up consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Mille Petrozza, Miland "Mille" Petrozza, drummer Jürgen Reil, Jürgen "Ventor" Reil, lead guitarist Sami Yli- ...

concert at night, while hiding their association with the metal community from their families. In June 2021, Orphaned Land celebrated their 30th anniversary by playing a concert at the prestigious

Heichal HaTarbut Heichal HaTarbut (, ), officially known as the Charles Bronfman Auditorium and until 2013 as the Fredric R. Mann Auditorium, is the largest concert hall in Tel Aviv, Israel, and home to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. History Heichal HaTa ...

, the largest concert hall in Israel. Backed by the 45-piece Israel Chamber Opera Orchestra and Noa Gruman's Hellscore Choir, they are the first Israeli metal band to ever play a concert there. The show was attended by 2,400 people despite restrictions from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The show was

livestreamed Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming of video or audio in real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature of livestreaming differentiates it from other non- live ...

, and thus the band had footage of the whole concert. On December 1, 2023, the show was released as a music and video album, named ''A Heaven You May Create''. On December 10, 2021, the band released a

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

containing all six of their solo studio albums, and the bonus songs from them, entitled ''30 Years of Oriental Metal - Anniversary Album Collection'', in tribute to their 30th anniversary.

Band members

Current members *

– lead vocals (1991–present) * Uri Zelcha – bass (1991–present) * Matan Shmuely – drums, percussion (2007–present) * Chen Balbus – guitars, keyboards, saz,

oud The oud ( ; , ) is a Middle Eastern short-neck lute-type, pear-shaped, fretless stringed instrument (a chordophone in the Hornbostel–Sachs classification of instruments), usually with 11 strings grouped in six courses, but some models have ...

, backing vocals,

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

(2011–present) * Idan Amsalem – guitars,

, backing vocals (2014–present) Former members *

– guitars, oud, saz, bouzouki,

cümbüş The ''cümbüş'' (; ) is a Turkish stringed instrument of relatively modern origin. It was developed in 1930 by Zeynel Abidin Cümbüş as an oud-like instrument that could be heard as part of a larger ensemble. The cümbüş is shaped like ...

, backing vocals (1991–2014) * Matti Svatitzki – guitars (1991–2012) * Sami Bachar – drums, percussion (1991–1997) * Itzik Levy – keyboards, piano (1991–1997) * Eran Asias – drums, percussion (2001–2004) * Eden Rabin – keyboards, backing vocals (2001–2005) * Avi Diamond – drums, percussion (2004–2007) Former touring members * Sharon Mansur - keyboards (2019-2020) *

– keyboards (2010) *

– vocals (2004–2012) Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

Demos

EPs

Live albums

Other albums

Box Sets

Music videos

References

External links

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