"I’m going to play in a new movie, it’s going to be called The
Ambassador’s Wife, I’m going to be the wife of the Ambassador of
Eritrea, in France. It’s about Eritrean refugees in Israeli"
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Singer+Ester+Rada+touch+with+Ethiopian+roots/11014335/story.html
Ester Rada
May 2 at 8 p.m. at The Imperial
Tickets: $36 adult/$25 student at chutzpahfestival.com, 604-257-5145
or 604-684-2787
Ester Rada is a singer from Israel with Ethiopian roots. Her parents
fled the famine in their homeland to settle in Israel shortly before
Rada was born, in 1985. From singing with a choir as a child and then
in an army band while in the Israeli army, Rada graduated to acting on
Israeli TV and theatre, and singing as solo performer. She released
her first EP, Life Happens, in 2013, and followed up with a
full-length in 2014. Her music is soulful R’n’B, influenced by classic
and contemporary Western soul singers (she sings in English) as well
as Ethiopian and world music. We reached her in New York at the
beginning of her current North American tour, which sees Rada
performing with a seven-piece band.
Q: Did you have a religious upbringing?
A: Yes. We lived in a very religious town, Kiryat Arba. During my
childhood I was in the synagogue a lot. I was very religious. Only at
the age of 10, when we moved to Netanya, I discovered there was a
whole world I didn’t know before.
Q: You sang with the army band when you did your service in the
Israeli army. What kind of songs did you do?
A: It was Israeli songs, Israeli popular songs. We would play all over
Israel. We also did a month of touring in the U.S. for Jewish
communities. After I finished my service, I decided to fulfil my dream
of being a singer. I always loved to sing, I wrote my first song at
the age of 13.
Q: You’re doing a movie this summer?
A: I’m going to play in a new movie, it’s going to be called The
Ambassador’s Wife, I’m going to be the wife of the Ambassador of
Eritrea, in France. It’s about Eritrean refugees in Israeli.
Q: Who were the Ethiopian musicians you listened to while growing up?
A: There’s a lot. My mom listened to a lot of Ethiopian music after
she moved to Israel. She was still very Ethiopian, she listened to
Ethiopian music and watched Ethiopian movies, so that was the music in
my home.
Q: You recently opened for Alicia Keys in Israel. Is that a career
highlight so far?
A: That was amazing. As a teenager I used to listen to Alicia a lot,
so it was a dream coming true to see her live and to perform in the
same space she was in. It was big for me.
Q: What’s your next career goal?
A: To keep performing, and affecting people’s hearts all over the
world. I want to go to places I’ve never been. Keep doing music,
collaborating with new musicians, and to keep growing and learning and
loving, and making music.
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Read more:
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Singer+Ester+Rada+touch+with+Ethiopian+roots/11014335/story.html#ixzz3YqQvAQ00
Received on Thu Apr 30 2015 - 22:33:58 EDT