Inbal Perlmuter (; 15 January 1971 – 1 October 1997) was an Israeli singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and lyricist, and a founding member of the band Ha-Mechashefot ("The Witches"). She began her musical career in 1992 when she founded, along with Ifat Netz and Yael Cohen, the band Ha-Mechashefot. She continued producing solo works and numerous collaborations, both in Israel and abroad. Perlmuter died in a car accident at the age of 26.

HaMechashefot

The band began to perform in clubs around Israel, and got public notice on a TV show called "Songs of the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic languages, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ), also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth ...

", hosted by

Naomi Shemer Naomi Shemer (; July 13, 1930 – June 26, 2004) was a leading Israeli musician and songwriter, hailed as the "first lady of Israeli song and poetry." Her song " Yerushalayim Shel Zahav" ("Jerusalem of Gold"), written in 1967, became an unoffic ...

. Ha-Mechashefot performed a sensual version of the classic song ''Kesem 'Al Yam Kinneret'' ("Magic on the Sea of Galilee") which astounded both the audience and the host. This version was recorded in April 1993, and was released as a DJ record with cover art by Perlmuter. In early 1994, the band released its first album, ''Ad Ha-Oneg Ha-Ba'' (''Till the Next Pleasure''). Perlmuter wrote the lyrics and composed nearly all the songs. Thanks to

Corinne Allal Corinne Allal (; 15 March 1955 – 12 December 2024) was an Israeli rock musician and music producer. Allal was the 2022 recipient of the Landau Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to Israeli music. Early ...

's arrangement and production, the band succeeded in creating an energetic guitar rock album which gained immense popularity and was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

. Following the album's release, the band had dozens of concerts. Some of them were held on

Friday the 13th Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar falls on a Friday, which happens at least once every year but can occur up to three times in the same year ...

under the title "The Night of the Witches", and featured guest singers Corinne Allal and

Dana Berger Dana Berger (; born 2 November 1970) is an Israeli singer-songwriter and occasional actress. She is also a graduate of the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music. Berger came to fame in the 1990s, appearing on the popular TV show ''Inyan S ...

. In March/April 1995, Ha-Mechashefot released its second album, ''Zmanim Muzarim'' (''Strange Times''). This time they arranged and produced the entire album themselves. Again, Perlmuter wrote all the lyrics and composed all but one song. The album was less popular than their first. The band continued holding concerts frequently and was a warm-up act for

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

's show in Israel. In January 1996 Inbal and Israeli musician Ram Orion recorded in London the

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...

album ''Inballance'', which remained unreleased until 2016. In April 1996, the band released its third album, ''Ha-Mechashefot Mitkasot'' (''The Witches Cover Up''), a collection of all the cover songs they recorded in their early days. The album included a version of '' Shivers'' on which

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, writer, and actor who fronts the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Known for his baritone voice, Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety ...

participated as guest vocalist.

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician Dave Stewart w ...

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had refused to allow the band's version of her song " Sweet Dreams" to be released on the album. In protest, Perlmuter distributed the song on an underground cassette; the cover, which she had designed, bore the words "Shit Rights". Perlmuter also collaborated at this time with

on a duet for the latter's album ''K'she'zeh Ammok'' ("When It's Deep"); Corinne is a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

and Inbal was

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

, although Perlmuter did not

come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

to the public at large, and Allal would come out in 2001. After the release of this album, Ha-Mechashefot became considerably less active, although they never officially announced that they were disbanding. Their final concert was in September 1996. A comeback concert was planned for October 2, 1997 at the Logus club in Tel Aviv. The day before the concert, Perlmuter was driving to her parents' house for a holiday dinner, when her car veered off the road and hit a small residential building at Rishon LeZion interchange. She was killed instantly. A postmortem examination found no

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

or other drugs. ''Haklatot ahronot'' (''Last Recordings''), an album of Perlmuter's preliminary recordings, was released posthumously in 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perlmuter, Inbal 1971 births 1997 deaths People from Rehovot Israeli women rock singers Israeli women singer-songwriters Israeli women guitarists Israeli women composers Israeli lyricists Israeli lesbian musicians Israeli LGBTQ singer-songwriters Lesbian singer-songwriters Alternative rock guitarists Alternative rock singers Road incident deaths in Israel 20th-century Israeli women singers 20th-century Israeli singer-songwriters 20th-century Israeli guitarists 20th-century Israeli LGBTQ people 20th-century women guitarists