Ethiopian-Israeli singer Gili Yalo performed in the Midwest in October, bringing his unique combination of Soul, Funk, Psychedelic and Jazz music to Chicago and Minneapolis.
Yalo held two concerts at the World Music Festival in Chicago and at the prominent Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis.
“Gili Yalo embodies the Israeli story at its best,” said Daniel Aschheim, Deputy Consul General at the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest. “He immigrated to Israel when he was four with his parents and from a young age began to develop a career in music blending multiple cultures and combining different genres, as well as using Amharic, English and Hebrew."
Yalo describes his music as an “embodiment of his own personal story which inspired the rhythm and flow of the whole project.” He moved to Israel as part of the legendary Operation Moses, a covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Sudan during a famine in 1984.
“Together with his family, Gili Yalo made this perilous trip, walked through the desert towards the ‘Promised Land’ and sang to his beloved ones,” reads his website.” In the course of this exhausting and emotional journey, the music encouraged Gili and his family to keep on moving.”
During his concerts in Chicago and Minneapolis, Yalo shared his memories with the hundreds of people attending the shows, describing also his life in the city of Ramle and the first steps of his musical career.