Hadag Nahash ( ', ) is an

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 ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

band, founded in 1996 in Jerusalem, which makes

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...

political statement The term political statement is used to refer to a communication which makes commentary on an issue of political, identity or social significance. There is no limit on the form a political statement may take - they may be written, verbal, constitut ...

s in many of its

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for protest and social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. ...

History

Hadag Nahash has been a major contributor to the Israeli hip-hop scene, and is presently one of Israel's most successful bands, with eight studio albums released to date. The band's songs call for peace, tolerance and equality, and include political and social protest. Most songs are written by Sha'anan Streett, the band's lead vocalist. "We demand the freedom to write whatever we want at any given time, and that can be about, for example, marijuana or just having a good time, as well as social injustice. It’s not one or the other. Our lives contain both. And when we want to keep it real, we have to speak about both." Yossi Fine also produced the band's third studio album, "Homer Mekomi" (, "Local Material"), which was released in 2004. The biggest hit out of the album was " Shirat Hasticker" (, "The Sticker Song"), which was written by Israeli novelist

David Grossman David Grossman (; born January 25, 1954) is an Israeli author. His books have been translated into more than 30 languages. In 2018, he was awarded the Israel Prize for literature. Biography David Grossman was born in Jerusalem. He is the eld ...

. In 2006, Hadag Nahash released their fourth studio album, "Be'ezrat Hajam" (, ''With Help of the Jam'', a wordplay on the expression "With God's Help"), which was named Album of the Year at the Israel Music Awards. The album, recorded at In the Pocket studios in California, was the first album in which the vocals were divided equally between Sha'anan Streett and DJ Guy Mar. "Be'ezrat Hajam" contained the hit " Hine Ani Ba" (, "Here I Come") written by Guy Mar about moving from his hometown Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. "Hine Ani Ba" is also an example of a song with a political or cultural message, as it depicts a cultural struggle between

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, a symbol of Israel's heritage, and

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 ...

, a hub for young people and nightlife. In December 2009, Hadag Nahash released the first single from its sixth album (fifth studio album), ''6'': a protest song against the rising internal violence in Israeli society, called "Od Ach Ehad" (, "One More Brother"). Their second-most recent song, , was released as a single on 3 August 2020 and was produced by Johnny Goldstein. The lyrics reference ongoing protests against the

thirty-fifth government of Israel The thirty-fifth government of Israel (), or the Netanyahu–Gantz government, was the government of Israel which was sworn in on 17 May 2020 and dissolved on 13 June 2021. It was originally expected to be established following the April 2019 ...

, calling to "break the cycle of

Miri Miri () is a coastal city in north-eastern Sarawak, Malaysia, located near the border of Brunei, on the island of Borneo. The city covers an area of , located northeast of Kuching and southwest of Kota Kinabalu. Miri is the second largest ...

Bibi Bibi is a given name, nickname and surname. People with the nickname or stage name * Bibi Andersson (1935–2019), Swedish actress * Bibi (artist) (born 1964), French visual artist Fabrice Cahoreau * Bibi Baskin (born 1952), Irish former TV an ...

, Miki, Bibi, Benny, Bibi" and asking for the release of

Avera Mengistu Avraham "Avera" Mengistu (Hebrew: ; born 1986) is an Ethiopian-born Israeli man who was held hostage by Hamas for over ten years. Having crossed into Gaza on September 7, 2014, he was kidnapped and interrogated by Hamas and then held for ranso ...

Group members

Current members

*Sha'anan Streett (שאנן סטריט) -

Rapping Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

Vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

(1996–present) *Yair "Yaya" Cohen-Harounoff (יאיר "יאיא" כהן־אהרונוב) -

Bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

Backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

(1996–present) *David "Dudush" Klemes (דוד "דודוש" קלמס) -

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 * Mus ...

(1996–present) *Moshe "Atraf" Asaraf (משה "אטרף" אסרף) -

Drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

(1996–present) *Guy "DJ Guy Mar" Margalit (מרגלית "DJ גיא "גיא מר) - Rapping, Vocals,

Turntables A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...

, Sampling (1998–present) *Shlomi Alon (שלומי אלון) -

Saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

Flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, EWI, Rapping, Vocals (2001–present)

Former members

*Shahar Mintz ((שחר מינץ- Guitar (1996-1998) *Yaron Mohar (ירון מוהר)- Saxophone (1996-2001) *Meir Shalivo (מאיר שליבו)- Trumpet (1996-2000) *Amir Ben Ami (אמיר בן־עמי)- Guitar (1998-2007) *Rafi Malkiel (רפי מלכיאל)- Trombone (2000-2003)

Timeline

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Israeli hip-hop groups Jewish hip-hop groups Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups from Jerusalem 1996 establishments in Israel Israeli funk musical groups Left-wing politics in Israel