Arts & Entertainment

Israeli and Palestinian shed their armor in ‘Desert Sunrise’

The play opens in the south Hebron hills in the West Bank with Tsahi, an off-duty Israel Defense Forces soldier (Oren Dayan), pointing his gun at Ismail, a Palestinian shepherd (Dominic Rains). Having just broken up with his settler girlfriend, Tsahi is lost and seeking a way back to the main road. Ismail, waiting for his Muslim Palestinian girlfriend, Layla (Miriam Isa), is the only one who can help Tsahi find his way.

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‘The Comfort Girls’ satisfy in three part harmony

The desert air was balmy and hot. The almost-full moon hung over palm trees and the fireflies glittered amid a spotlight’s beam. More than 1,000 people sat on the blanketed stone bleachers of the outdoor amphitheater at Mineral Beach for the Passover Dead Sea Music Festival, waiting patiently for the Israeli trio, HaBanot Nechama (translated as “Comfort Girls”), to hit the stage. The crowd occupied themselves with kosher-for-Passover pizza and crepes but got grumpy when the trio delayed for more than a half-hour. Finally, the three “girls” walked onto the stage, two barefoot, one in sandals: Yael Deckelbaum, with her dirty-blonde hair and green eyes; Karolina, (who goes by one name only), with her unmistakable afro; and Dana Adini, with long brown waves that look like dreads-in-formation. As soon as their angelic harmonies opened the show with the lyrics: “Lovers/ Don’t be afraid/ I have come to save you from the pain,” the crowd was soothed. The sound matched the surroundings — natural, organic, earthy, relaxing and glam-free. On May 10, HaBanot Nechama will perform at their most glamorous venue yet — the Kodak Theatre — in the gala finale of the “Let My People Sing” music festival celebrating Israel’s 60th anniversary. These Israeli natives are sure to bring raw soulful simplicity and natural girl power to a stage known for hosting Hollywood’s most primped affairs. They’ve been likened to the Indigo Girls, Crosby Stills and Nash, and even the

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Debra Winger explores Jewish/Arab day schools

Students at the Hand in Hand Max Rayne Bilingual School in Jerusalem didn’t know they were meeting a celebrity. They weren’t born when the films “Officer and a Gentleman” and “Terms of Endearment” garnered Debra Winger her Oscar nominations. But Winger’s tour last month to the Hand in Hand Arab-Jewish day schools was not necessarily meant to move the students, but to enrich her own understanding of pathways for Arab and Jewish co-existence. “I’d like to think I’m helping, but in the end, it feels selfish — how much I got out of seeing this and what it did to my heart,” the 53-year-old actress told a group of reporters in the library of the school’s new Jerusalem campus. Raised in a secular Jewish household in Cleveland, Winger volunteered on a kibbutz in 1972 and has maintained her connection ever since. In fact, she was introduced to the bilingual schools following a talk at the Jewish Federation in Florida on the occasion of Israel’s 60th anniversary. Speaking to the federation audience, she recalled a “fight” she had with an Arab American friend that was triggered by the Second Lebanon War, which broke out while Winger served as a judge for the Jerusalem Film Festival. “We couldn’t even talk to each other,” Winger told The Jewish Journal, recounting the episode. “She would forward me e-mails with newspaper articles for me to read, and I would reply, saying could you please replace

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Rita, Israel’s reigning diva, plays intimate evening in L.A.

Only Rita could have pulled it off. Her famous “One” concert was the first time any Israeli recording artist has attempted such an extravagant, multimedia performance. With its crew of 50 tumbling dancers, grandiose costumes, pyrotechnics and video art, the $5 million production looked like it came right off the Las Vegas Strip. Last summer’s show at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Center, which took its inspiration from Céline Dion’s year-round Caesar’s Palace concert, “A New Day,” drew close to 100,000 fans over a period of one month. That’s a lot of concertgoers for a country with a population of some 7 million, especially considering the concert was held during the height of the second Lebanon War. “It was like a miracle,” said Rita, who much like Madonna and Cher eschews her last name. “It was a huge success.” The concert proved that after 25 years on the stage, Rita is Israel’s most beloved diva. And at 45, the daring performer shows no signs of slowing down. READ MORE IN THE JEWISH JOURNAL

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Israeli DJs Popular the World Over

Though Israel’s public image overseas may be a source of constant stress for policymakers, if one recent poll is to be believed, the country is among the world’s most popular for devoted club-goers. Infected Mushroom, DJ Yahel and Offer Nissim aren’t likely to be familiar names to most people out of their 20s, but thanks to DJ magazine’s recent ranking of the world’s top 100 DJs, these performers – and three of their compatriots – are now among the hottest names on the global dance music scene. The results of the prestigious DJ annual poll have been a boon to these Israeli artists, and to Israel’s reputation on the electronic music scene. With six of its premier DJs ranked among the world’s top 100 – actually, among the top 50 – Israel is disproportionately represented, in a very big way, among the countries whose performers appear on the poll. “We don’t promote our acts in Israel,” says Avi Brand, the managing director of BNE, a Holon-based record and artist management company representing a number of the country’s top club DJs. Most of BNE’s prominent DJs are booked well into 2007 in countries as diverse as Ukraine, Canada, Portugal, Mexico and Japan. The company’s top act, Infected Mushroom (#12 on the DJ list, up 14 spots from a year ago), is performing almost every night this month just in Brazil, a country emerging as one of the top markets for trance

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