Orphaned Land is a progressive metal band from Israel, formed in 1991 under the name
Resurrection (changing their name in 1992 to the current name), that combines Jewish and Arabian influences. The band has gone through several changes
over the years, but has retained two of the founding members, Kobi Farhi (vocals) and Uri Zelcha (bass). They are joined by Matan Shmuely (drums) as well as Chen Balbus (guitar/keyboard), who
replaced the founding member, Matti Svatizky in 2012. Co-Founding member Yossi
Sassi (guitars/strings) left the band in early 2014. Their lyrics
promote a message of peace and unity, particularly between the three main
Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
In 1992, the band changed its name from the original Resurrection to Orphaned Land. Orphaned Land fuse progressive 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 extreme: a meeting of East
and West, past and present, light and darkness, and God and Satan.
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, such as "El Norra Alila"
("Illustrious God"), based on a poem sung during Yom Kippur as a plea of forgiveness. It also included songs with traditional
oriental Jewish piyyut and Arabic melodies. The album explored the themes of light and
darkness, as well as conveying the message of commonality between the three
Abrahamic religions.
In 2008, Orphaned Land was featured in the documentary Global Metal, a film by the creators of Metal: A
Headbanger's Journey.
On May 22, 2010, Orphaned Land performed as the opening act to Metallica's show in Israel. Following
this, the band went on a festival tour in the summer of 2010, promoting their
latest album, The Never Ending
Way of ORWarriOR, with appearances at such festivals as Wacken Open Air, Summer Breeze
Open Air, Sonisphere
Festival, Gods of Metal, Rock Hard Festival and more.
On June 11, 2012, guitarist Matty Svatitzky announced his departure from
the band, due to personal issues. Matti Svatitzky was replaced by Chen Balbus,
a young musician who was a replacement guitar player for some live shows,
before he became an official member. Chen instantly became an integral part of
the composing, writing, producing and recording of the new album, "All Is
One.
In 2012 there was an online petition for Orphaned Land to be awarded a
Nobel Prize for their commitment to allowing the Arab World to listen to their
music despite bans on such a thing from Arab League countries.
Adapted from www.wikipedia.com by Milton França
If you don´t know the
band, take a look at these videos:
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