Shlomit Levi () is an Israeli singer. She is a member of the

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 ...

group

Orphaned Land Orphaned Land is an Israeli Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in 1991. They combine Mizrahi music, Mizrahi and Maghrebi Jews, Maghrebi Jewish, Arabic music, Arabic, Music of Turkey, Turkish, and other Middle Eastern music, Middle Easter ...

, performing on their albums '' Mabool'' (2004), '' The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR'' (2010) and ''

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' ...

'' (2018). She currently performs with American guitarist Bruce Burger as the

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

duo Shlomit & RebbeSoul.

Early life

Levi was born in

Kiryat Ekron Kiryat Ekron or Qiryath Eqron () is a town located on the coastal plain in the Central District of Israel. Located immediately south of the city of Rehovot on Highway 411 next to the Bilu Junction, in it had a population of . History Kiryat Ekr ...

to a

Yemenite Jew 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 antisemitism, persecution, the vast majority ...

ish family before moving to

Rehovot Rehovot (, / ) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu (movement), Bilu movement, proposed the name "Rehovot ...

when she was 10. Her parents came to Israel from

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

as teenagers during

Operation Magic Carpet Operation Magic Carpet was the post–World War II operation by the U.S. War Shipping Administration (WSA) to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European (ETO), Pacific, and Asian theaters. Hundreds of Libert ...

. Archived at rebbesoul.com. She began singing at the age of three and was exposed to traditional Yemenite music by her mother and grandmother, although she preferred listening to Western and Israeli music to fit in with her friends. She stopped singing Yemenite music as a teenager but was later drawn back to it after hearing

Ofra Haza Ofra Haza (; 19 November 1957 – 23 February 2000) was an Israeli singer, songwriter, and actress, commonly known in the Western world as " the Madonna of the East", or "the Israeli Madonna". Her voice has been described as a "tender" mezzo-sop ...

's '' Yemenite Songs'' album. Levi attended

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

schools for first through fourth grades. After serving in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

, Levi studied

cognitive psychology Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of human mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, whi ...

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) (, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public university, public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Named after Israeli List of national founders, national founder David Ben-Gurion, the unive ...

, receiving a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

focused on

user interface design User interface (UI) design or user interface engineering is the design of user interfaces for machines and software, such as computers, home appliances, mobile devices, and other electronic devices, with the focus on maximizing usability and the ...

and a BA in

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

. During her time in college, she connected with student musicians and studied with a

Black Hebrew Black Hebrew Israelites (also called Hebrew Israelites, Black Hebrews, Black Israelites, and African Hebrew Israelites) are a new religious movement claiming that African Americans are descendants of the ancient Israelites. Some sub-groups ...

voice teacher from

Dimona Dimona (, ) is an Israeli city in the Negev desert, to the south-east of Beersheba and west of the Dead Sea above the Arabah, Arava valley in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel. In , its population was . The Shimon Pere ...

. After graduation, she briefly worked at a tech company in

Airport City Airport City (also known as an Aerotropolis) is a model for urban development that focuses on improving the livability of the areas within and immediately surrounding the airport in support of a variety of economic activities. An Airport City is ...

before deciding to pursue a music career.

Career

Orphaned Land

Levi was put in touch by a mutual friend with the group

, who were auditioning female singers. At her audition, she impressed the band with her ability to sing

mawwal In Arabic Music, the ''mawwāl'' (; plural: ''mawāwīl'', ) is a traditional and popular Arabic genre of vocal music that is very slow in beat and sentimental in nature, and is characterised by prolonging vowel syllables, emotional vocals, and ...

. While not an official member, she toured with the band from 2004 to 2012 and appeared on two of their albums, '' Mabool'' (2004) and '' The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR'' (2010).

Shlomit and RebbeSoul

In 2011, Levi was introduced by Yedidia Snir to American musician Bruce Burger (" RebbeSoul"), who had recently moved to Israel. They began collaborating as Shlomit & RebbeSoul and released an album, ''The Seal of Solomon'', in 2015. She also collaborated with Burger and

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 ...

ist George Simaan on a version of "

Erev Shel Shoshanim "Erev Shel Shoshanim" ( or ''Evening of Roses''; the Hebrew word ''shoshana'' has been identified with both flowers) is a poetic Hebrew love song. Its melody is often used as wedding music in Jewish weddings. It is well known within Israelis, Isra ...

Personal life

Levi lived in Kibbutz Givat Haim Ihud before moving to

Tenafly, New Jersey Tenafly () is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 15,409, an increase of 921 (+6.4%) from the 2010 census count of 14,488, which in turn reflected an ...

in 2013 and later to Cresskill. She is married to Boaz Arzi, a software engineer, and has two daughters.

Discography

Solo

''Shlomit Levi'' (Demo, 2009)

With Orphaned Land

*'' Mabool'' (2004) *''Sentenced/Orphaned Land'' (2005) *''Ararat'' EP (2005) *'' The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR'' (2010) *''The Road to OR-Shalem'' (2011) *''

'' (2018)

Shlomit & RebbeSoul

*''The Seal of Solomon'' (2015)

References

External links

www.shlomitlevi.com
- Shlomit's Official site
Shlomit & RebbeSoul official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levi, Shlomit 21st-century Israeli women singers Living people 1983 births Israeli heavy metal singers Israeli emigrants to the United States Israeli people of Yemeni-Jewish descent People from Tenafly, New Jersey Jewish women singers Women heavy metal singers People from Central District (Israel) Singers from New Jersey