Orphaned Land

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Orphaned Land
Orphaned Land performing live at Summer Breeze Open Air, 2007
Background information
Also known as	Resurrection
Origin	Petah Tikva, Israel
Genre(s)	Progressive metal Oriental metal Death/Doom
Years active	1991–present
Label(s)	Century Media
Associated acts	Crossfire Mahavatar
Website	www.orphaned-land.com
Members
Kobi Farhi Uri Zelcha Yossi Saharon Matti Svatizky Shlomit Levi Yatziv Caspi
Former members
Sami Bachar Eden Rabin Itzik Levy Eden Rabin Avi Diamond

Orphaned Land is a progressive metal band from Petah Tikva, Israel whose music contains Middle-Eastern influences. Their original name in 1991 was Resurrection^[1] (not to be confused with Resurrection, a Floridian death metal band), which they changed in 1992.^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Logos 3 Discography 3.1 Demos 3.2 EPs 3.3 Studio albums 4 Videography 5 Band line-up 5.1 Current members 5.2 Former members 5.3 Featured musicians and other personnel 6 External links 7 References

[edit] History

Orphaned Land fuse progressive, doom and death metal as well as Middle-Eastern folk music and Arabic traditions in a form of Oriental metal. Each album has some concept related to two extremes such as: a meeting of east and west, past and present, light and darkness and God and Satan.^[2]

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 and hidden meanings that can be found within the album including its name. “El Norra Alila” ("Illustrious God") is a poem song by the Jewish people during Yom Kippur as a plea of forgiveness. It also included the addition of songs with traditional oriental Jewish piyyut and Arabic melodies. The album explored the themes of light and darkness, as well as conveying a message of commonalities between the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Islam, and Christianity).^[3]

The third album, Mabool: The Story of the Three Sons of Seven (the Hebrew name for the Deluge, depicted in the Bible and Noah’s story), 2004, was in the making for seven years and was a highly arranged album. The album tells the story of three sons (one for each Abrahamic religion) 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 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) that was named after Mount Ararat and includes a picture of it on its cover, as well as a reference to areas in or around the Middle East.

Orphaned Land are currently working on the follow-up to Mabool, titled The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR. OrWarrior means “Warrior of Light”, and the concept will be about the battle between light and darkness. The album will have a different sound than Mabool. Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree will be producing the album.^[4]

[edit] Logos

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Orphaned Land has had three changes to their logos; the original seen on the Sahara album, the one that can be seen on the El Norra Alila album and was graphically enhanced in Mabool to give it a 3D effect, and, with the release of ORWarriOR, a new logo has been made and will most likely be on its cover. Their new logo is being displayed on their Official MySpace site. Also, the album Mabool has its own logo, a concept triangle seen on their official site and references to the concept triangle are in the starting song’s ^[which?] lyrics.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Demos

• The Beloved's Cry (1993)

[edit] EPs

• The Calm Before the Flood (2004)
• Promo Split MCD (2005) − (with Sentenced)
• Ararat (2005)

[edit] Studio albums

• Sahara (1994)
• El Norra Alila (1996)
• Mabool (2004)
• ORWarriOR (2008) – work in progress

[edit] Videography

• “Ocean Land” (2004) − Mabool
• “Norra El Norra” (2004) − Mabool

[edit] Band line-up

[edit] Current members

• Kobi Farhi − Vocals and growls
• Yossi Saharon (Sassi) − Guitar, oud, saz, bouzouki
• Matti Svatitzki − Guitar
• Uri Zelcha − Bass
• Shlomit Levi − Female vocals
• Yatziv Caspi − Percussion

[edit] Former members

• Sami Bachar − Drums
• Eden Rabin − Keyboards, backing vocals (Gone since November 23rd, 2005.)
• Avi Diamond − Drums (Gone since August 10th, 2007)
• Itzik Levy − Keyboards
• Eran Asias − Drums

[edit] Featured musicians and other personnel

• Sahara album:
  • Itzik Levi − Keyboards, sampler, piano
  • Hadas Sasi − Female vocals
  • Amira Salah − Female “Arab” vocals
  • Albert Dadon − Tarbuka, darbooka
  • Abraham Salman − Kannun
  • Background vocals by “Neve Israel” Synagogue

• Mabool album:
  • Shlomit Levi − Yemenite female vocals
  • Moran chorus − Female background chorus
  • Avi Agababa − extra percussion

• The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOr (not yet released):
  • Shlomit Levi − Yemenite female vocals
  • Steven Wilson − Production
  • Vladimir T. − Additional vocals

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Century Media Records site
• Holy Records site
• Orphaned Land at Last.fm
• Orphaned Land at MySpace

[edit] References