Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Music Showcase Festival, Israel’s biggest showcase event, is going online – as a futuristic live-stream event!

Tonight the Showcase studio will be hosting:

Hoodna Orchestra
Dudu Tassa & The Kuwaitis
Soltz Trio
The Great Gehenna Choir
LOLA MARSH

Access our live-stream right here, or via our Facebook page or Youtube channel.

We are proud to welcome you to join viewers from Israel and all around the world, as well as many figures from the international music industry.

Hoodna Orchestra

The Hoodna Orchestra is an 11-piece orchestra established in 2012 in South Tel Aviv by a group of young up-and-coming musicians who quickly became a central force in the Tel Aviv groove and afrofunk scene.

Following the band’s debut album, as well as many collaborations with a wide range of musicians and artists (Esther Rada, Kutiman, Karolina, Abate Berihun, Gili Yalo, to name a few), the Orchestra has developed a unique and exciting musical style and sound that captured the hearts and minds of audiences, DJs, and vinyl collectors around the world.

The orchestra’s upcoming release “Alem-Alem” will feature new arrangements to the songs of Tilahun Gessesse and Mahmud Ahmed, two of Ethiopia’s most prominent singers, as well as a number of original compositions.

Bar Ashkenazi – Trumpet

Eylon Tushiner – Tenor Saxophone, Flute

Elad Gellert – Baritone Saxophone

Yaron Ozana – Trombone

Ilan Smilan – Electric Guitar

Eitan Drabkin – Keyboards

Nadav Bracha – Bass

Matan Assayag – Drums

Rani Birenbaum – Percussion

Shahar Ber – Percussion 

Raz Eytan – Percussion

Arik Finkelberg – Sound Engineer 

Dudu Tassa & The Kuwaitis

Dudu Tassa & The Kuwaitis are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their successful project – providing a fascinating taste of history and an inspirational look towards the future.

The launch of debut album “Dudu Tassa & The Kuwaitis” in 2011 was a milestone in Israeli music and in Dudu Tassa’s career. The album was a compelling new sound based on the music of Saleh and Daoud Al-Kuwaiti, the grandfather and great-uncle to Tassa, who were among the greatest musicians in Iraq and the entire arab world.

The project debut presented contemporary arrangements by Dudu Tassa and musical partner Nir Maimon to original songs by the Al-Kuwaiti Brothers, who are considered to be the founders of modern Iraqi music. This highly innovative album received critical acclaim, winning the prestigious ACUM award for 2011 and continuing to meet enthusiasm worldwide to this day.

The recording process for the album was documented for the film “Iraq‘n’Roll” (2011), a successful documentary that tells the story behind Dudu Tassa & The Kuwaitis, and was screened around the globe. The project was hailed in many countries worldwide, including in the regions of Iraq and Kuwait.

Dudu Tassa researched his family’s roots and discovered an incredible musical tale. Tassa is the grandson of Kuwaiti musician Daoud Al-Kuwaity, whose collaboration alongside his brother Saleh (as the ‘Al-Kuwaiti Brothers’) was made famous in the arab world between 1930-1950. The Al-Kuwaiti Brothers were among Baghdad’s best known composers and musicians in the first half of the 20th century, and were considered innovators of Iraqi music, leading them to found Baghdad’s Radio Orchestra. The pair was among the Iraqi king’s favourite acts, and worked alongside greats such as Abd el Wahab and Oum Kalthum, and performed in an array of palaces and stadiums. Their music remains popular in the arab world to this day. Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein banned the brothers’ music when he discovered their Jewish origin. In 1950 the Al-Kuwaiti brothers immigrated to Israel and their lifestyle went through major changes, selling houseware in a market during the days and playing their music in private, performing at the occasional wedding or event.

Tassa, who grew up after his grandfather’s death, listened to hundreds of Al-Kuwaiti compositions on old records and tapes owned by his mother. He began to select pieces that he felt could be updated with a modern twist, and combined with his own musical style. The project’s first two releases were “Dudu Tassa & The Kuwaitis” (2011), and Ala Shawati (2015).

2019 saw the release of the project’s third album “El Hajar”. The release was ranked in the 18th spot for 2019 on the WMCE chart (out of 764 releases).

All three albums were produced by Tassa and his musical partner Nir Maimon, and are a salute to the Al-Kuwaiti legacy, breathing new life into their music and blending Iraqi and Middle Eastern music with Rock in a unique and exciting way. All songs were recorded in the original Iraqi arabic, which Tassa learned especially for the project.

The project’s albums hosts a wide range of vocalists and musicians, both Jewish and Arab, from Israel and Iraq, including: Ismael Fadel, Ninet Tayeb, Berry Sakharof, Yehudit Ravitz, Riff Cohen, Yair Dalal and many others, all singing the original lyrics in the Iraqi tongue. These new adaptations manage to conserve the charm and magic of the original pieces while simultaneously giving them new interpretations that melt the boundaries of time and location, painting them in fresh colors.

Dudu  Tassa & The Kuwaitis opened for Radiohead during their USA tour in 2017, and have performed at several prestigious festivals and events around the globe such as: Coachella, WOMEX, Sziget, Ostrava, Babelmed, SXSW and more.

Dudu Tassa 

Nir Maimon – Bass

Barak Kram – Drums

Mayu Shviro – Cello

Yoni Dror – Flute

Soltz is a Jerusalem based trio, consisting of pianist Lior Soltz, bassist Tamir Klein and drummer\percussionist Nadav Friedman. The trio’s original tunes are inspired by people and places, near and far, from the past and present – and are dedicated to them by name. Soltz Trio’s music takes listeners on a hypnotizing journey of colors and intimacy through the worlds of jazz, classical, ethnic, groove & electronic music, and beyond.

Soltz Trio has performed in a series of shows and festivals, including the Jerusalem Theater’s “Pianos Festival”, “The Light Festival”, and a tour of intimate shows around Israel. Their music has been broadcasted on several Israeli radio stations and was selected to be part of Boaz Cohen’s (99Fm) “Best of the Decade” playlist.  

Lior Soltz – Piano and Keys

Tamir Klein – Bass

Nadav Friedman – Drums

The Great Gehenna Choir 

The Great Gehenna Choir was founded in Jerusalem in 2015 by the “Ma’amuta” Art and Research Center with musician Noam Enbar. The choir is a collaborative collective of musicians, combining traditional & contemporary performative rituals with original music.

Choir members come from varied backgrounds – some are classical singers, others are composers, singer-creators, or interdisciplinary artists. The choir’s performative events are loosely constructed as open gatherings with songs on the boundaries between the religious, ritualistic, and the surrealistic. Each performance is site-specific: since 2015 the choir has performed in museums, theatres, outdoor markets, in nature, and they are always looking for unique and exciting new venues.

Among other festivals and venues, the choir has performed at: The Israel Festival (2019), ‘Sacred Music’ Festival Jerusalem (2017, 2018, 2019), the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (2017), the Jerusalem Jazz festival, and more.

Choir members: Noam Ahdut / Avner M Amit / Laila Mazal Yenishen/ Ruth Danon / Ella Daniel / Anat Handelsman / Gidon Levi  / Tamir Friedrich / Dor Magen /Tamara Nishri / Sapir Rosenblatt / Elana Snitman / Natan Skop / Netta Spiegel / Noam Enbar / Ido Akov / Amit Fishbein / Faye Shapiro / Michal Tamari.

Lola Marsh

Lola Marsh, aka vocalist Yael Shoshana Cohen and multi-instrumentalist Gil Landau, create music that combines clever lyrics with deep warm harmonies.

Early in 2016, the young duo self-released “You’re Mine,” an impressive debut EP that cemented Lola Marsh as collaborators on magnetic, thoughtful indie-pop. Their distinct sound spread like wildfire, first online and then physically, with performances bringing the 5-piece band to Europe and North America.

They followed up with their debut full-length “Remember Roses” in the summer of 2017 – an effervescent collection of songs that boasts a stunning juxtaposition of wistfulness and melancholy, set against an eccentrically offbeat pop backdrop. The record was received with critical acclaim, and the singles climbed to the top of Spotify’s most viral charts, hitting over 40 million streams and growing by the day.

The band gained attention from NPR, Paste Magazine, NYLON, Observer, Interview Magazine and more. The leading single ‘Wishing Girl’ became a fan favorite and was featured in ads for leading brands such as Ebay, California Lottery, and for the french perfume Guerlain.

Their popularity crossed over to Hollywood, where they co-wrote a song for the film “Criminal” and were featured in the hit TV series “Better Call Saul”, with a cover for Frank & Nancy Sinatra’s “Something Stupid”. The song was nominated and eventually won in the best song category at the Guild of Music Supervisors awards in LA. “You’re Mine” was featured in the movie “To all the boys P.S i love you 2”.

Once again Lola Marsh’s music brought them Stateside, seeing the duo tour nonstop, playing stages at big-named festivals including Primavera Sound, Pohoda, Exit, Dockville, Pukkelpop, Montreaux, FNAC, and intensively touring Europe & the USA.

The band’s sophomore album “Someday Tomorrow Maybe”, was released in early 2020, inspired in part by the evolution of their own relationship as collaborators and, for a time, romantic partners. Lola Marsh, Landau says, is “romantic, nostalgic and a bit dreamy.” The New York Times agrees, having praised the band for “sweeping, cinematic music dripping in retro charm”.

Following the second album’s release, the first single “Echoes” won best song in the Berlin Music Video Awards. The band was also invited to play on French tv show “Taratata”.

Yael Shoshana Cohen – vocals, acoustic guitar, ukulele & percussion

Gil Landau – guitars & vocals

Ran Gil – keyboard

Mati Gilad – bass & vocals

Dekel Dvir – drums & vocals