Ilana Avital started singing
in the 70's and had a few hits.Then, in 1984, she had a major break with her great album "Moments"
("Regaiim"). But that was nothing compared to her huge success with her
following record in 1987 "No Shame" ("Bli Busha") where
almost every song was a hit. I saw her in concert at that time, and boy, she was great!!!
A year later, she released another pop album that failed to gather much interest and
flopped. I think that the album was indeed not very good as a whole, but that there were
two or three interesting songs. Fortunately, in 1990, the album "Child of
Tomorrow" ("Yeled Amahar") was released and was successful, mainly
because of the song "Tov shebatem" ("It's good that you came"),
which was a tribute to the massive Russian immigration to Israel. This album was very
different from what she had done before:Ilana moved from pure pop-rock to more folk songs,
more what you would call "traditional Israeli music". Her latest full album
(1995) tried to recapture the "folklore" trend, but this time with more oriental
influences. It did not do very well in Israel though. She is presently recording a new
album. Ilana Avital writes many of her songs and musics, and her voice is very powerful.
Some people could argue that Ilana screams when she sings. Let's put it this way: you
would not use Ilana Avital as a pacifier, but you would not use Mariah Carey or Whitney
Houston either...So the choice is yours! |