A-WA

A-Wa consists of a trio of Israeli sisters whose melding of ancient Yemenite songs with hip-hop, reggae, pop, and electronic dance music resulted in the 2015 breakout hit "Habib Galbi." The group's sophisticated and uniquely global sound garnered international acclaim in advance of their 2019 follow-up album, Bayti Fi Rasi. Hailing from the small farming village of Shaharut in Southern Israel, Tair, Liron, and Tagel Haim began singing and dancing at a young age. They later began collaborating as adults, delving deep into their heritage where they discovered a treasure trove of nearly lost chants and folk songs in the Yemenite Arabic dialect. Through experimentation, they fused their love of hip-hop, rock, R&B, jazz, rock, and reggae with these traditional songs and melodies, performing at local festivals and releasing homemade videos. After approaching Balkan Beat Box's Tomer Yosef to produce their efforts, they refined their original sound, landing a major hit with the single "Habib Galbi" from their 2015 debut album of the same name. It became the first Arabic language song ever to reach number one on the Israeli pop chart. A-Wa made several international appearances over the next few years, including stops at Womex, SXSW, and Montreal's International Jazz Festival while working on a follow-up album with another Balkan Beat Box member, Tamir Muskat. Released in 2019, the vibrant Bayti Fi Rasi expanded on the band's culturally rich panoply of sounds and centered thematically around their great grandmother's journey from oppressed Yemen to Israel in the late 1950s. ~ Timothy Monger