Inspiring Hebrew speakers

By DAVID SHAMAH
While Lenny Solomon is one of the biggest-selling music acts living here, he’s rather anonymous in the Israeli music scene. “I’ve had some breakthrough songs on hassidic radio stations here, as well as some airplay on the rock stations, but most of my music is in English, and it’s unlikely Israelis would be familiar with it unless they spent extended time in English-speaking Jewish communities abroad,” he says.
Although he has put out five albums in Hebrew, Solomon says he has always wanted to do something special to bring his brand of fun Jewish music to Israelis who might get a bit inspired, just like his listeners abroad.
To that end, Solomon says, he is coming out with what could be hisIsraeli breakout tune – a new rendition of a song he wrote a few yearsago, called “Am Yisrael Hai.” The song, he says, will be an ensembleeffort. “We’ve put together 14 of the most popular artists in Israel –seven religious and seven secular – and the song itself is beingproduced and arranged by Kobi Oz, lead singer of Teapacks, one of themost popular bands ever in Israel [both he and Oz will also besinging].”
The song, which came out on Independence Day, says Solomon, “emphasizesthe unity of the Jewish people, and hopefully inspire people on bothsides of the religious chasm to look at their fellow Jews in a positiveway.”