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Tel Aviv Music Festival chooses to focus exclusively on home-grown talent, hones in on an alluring array of local music.

By DAVID BRINN
Updated: SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 18:20
ELAI BOTNER on guitar with Koby Aflalo 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
ELAI BOTNER on guitar with Koby Aflalo 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
This year’s second annual Tel Aviv Music Festival, taking place from October 20-30, offers a wide variety of musical events as enticing as last year’s.
Choosing to focus exclusively on home-grown talent – rather than last year’s mix of creative Hebrew offerings and the foreign attractions of Seattle grunge veterans Mudhoney and European progressive rock relics Gong – the festival organizers have created a stellar lineup of quality performances that confirm the deep wealth of talent our local pool of musicians provides.
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More than 20,000 people attended festival events last year, and chances are that will be topped this year at the various venues around the city, including the Tel Aviv Opera House, the Habima Theater, Tzavta 1 and Tzavta 2, the Cameri Theater, the Tel Aviv Museum, as well as the Zappa, Barbie, Reading 3, Levontin 7 and Comfort 13 clubs.
Here are some of the highlights:
• Rishumei Pacham V’tzvea – An exclusive to the festival, an all-star tribute to Meir Ariel’s 1996 album Rishumei Pacham, featuring Amir Lev, Rona Kenan, Sha’anan Street, Shlomi Shaban, Barry Sacharov and Los Capros. Tel Aviv Opera House, October 20.
• The Yehudim, Israel’s premier rockers, appear with a 50-member choir of monks. Tel Aviv Opera House, October 21.
• Ehud Banai, together with longtime collaborators George Samaan and Salem Darwishe, synthesizes two languages and styles of music into one. Tzavta 1 on October 20.
• Elai Botner in a debut performance of his new album, along with special guests Koby Aflalo, Gali Atari, Nurit Galron and others. Tel Aviv Museum, October 23.
• The Giraffes, on the heels of the success of their new album, No Entry to Elephants, perform at the Zappa Club on October 29.
The list of attractions goes on and on, including nightly showcases of young new artists at the Cameri Theater, intimate evenings combining talk and music with artists such as Corinne Alal and Ephraim Shamir at Tzavta 2, and much more.
For full details, go to www.tlvmf.co.il.