Gad Elbaz, a Star on the Rise

The Jerusalem Post has a very long article on Gad Elbaz, highlighting his major concert that took place recently in Ceasarea, one of the most posh theater's in Israel.

It's a good article and it gives you an inside look in Elbaz's music and career. I only heard a handful songs from him, but Elbaz is a Mizrachi singer who is trying to go more mainstream, with very modern clips and songs with a broad appeal. Here is one of his clips:


Elbaz was in the last Chabad Telethon, and after reading this article I understand why. The man behind his career is a Shlomo Fellig, a Chabad businessman from Florida, who finances and manages everything Elbaz does, and I guess he used his connections to bring Elbaz to the Telethon. As I mentioned in a previous post, the Chabadniks just rule JM, second to none, and Mendy Peilin, also Chabad has a clip of the song featured in the Telethon, Children's World.

Gad Elbaz has an excellent voice and range, somewhat similar to Ricky Martin in the way he sings and dances, and although he has a very distinctive Mizrachi singing style at times he sounds truly like a pop-star. Just if you are wondering, he is not Yeshivish at all (not even dressing in the JM's traditional black and white uniform) and doesn't consider himself to be a "Haredi" singer - he caters a completely different crowd (for this reason the thoughts of the "Guardians of Sanctity and Education", or the Jewish Taliban-like watchdogs, are not relevant).

In the other hand, this article exaggerates the role of Elbaz and idolizes him too much, portraying Elbaz like the savior of our fractured generation or something like that - I really suspect this article was "by request", if you know what I mean. It remains to be seen if he will really become a star - he is not yet. But I agree he is on the rise, that's for sure.

The Cesarea concert was a turning point in Elbaz's career. For the first time, one of Israel's coolest concert floors had a mehitza and the guest singers were top-seeded: my man Yishai Lapidot, Amiran Dvir, Ovadia Chamama, Shlomi Shabat and more. Don't miss this great video report below, featuring scenes of the concert and backstage action. I wish I had to gone to this concert, as I really want to know Elbaz's music a little better, and although the concert wasn't sold out - I guess Cesarea is a "bit out-of-town" - this concert was unique, proving that some JM singers can go more mainstream and put together modern and cool concerts.


Rudy Perez, who composed songs for Beyonce, Christina Aguilera and Julio and Enrico Inglesias, is now producing Elbaz's album, so we are talking about serious stuff here. And I'm really glad to see a JM singer doing cool clips, great concerts and of course, original and new music.