BEN (Benista), ZEHAVA

BEN (Benista), ZEHAVA (1968– ), Israeli popular singer. Ben was brought up in a poor neighborhood in the city of Beersheva; her father had been an 'ud (lute) player in Morocco. As a teenager, Ben admired and studied the songs of Yemenite singer zohar argov and was inspired by his Middle Eastern vocal style. When Argov died in 1987 she sang his hit "Peraḥ be-Ganni" in his memory at an anti-drug concert. Ben's first major success came in 1990 when she took part in a film called Tippat Mazzal ("A Drop of Luck"). The song she sang derived from a Turkish folk tune and became a hit all over Israel. She also made her commercial cassette debut that year, selling 80,000 copies. Her mainstream vocal breakthrough continued with "Ketourna Masala," an east-west duet with the popular Ethnics rock band. The song climbed to first place in the 1992 Israeli hit parade. A turning point in Ben's career came in 1994, when she decided to sing the songs of the most famous singer in the 20th-century Arab world, the legendary Umm Kulthum. Ben's interpretation of the latter's sophisticated and classic songs "al-Atlal" and "Inta 'umri" won over her most fanatical fans. She performed this repertoire accompanied by the Haifa Arab Music Orchestra, conducted by Suheil Radwan, at a Palestinian gathering in Nablus, in Jericho during Ramadan, at public concerts in Israel, and at memorial ceremonies for yitzhak rabin . She was also invited with the orchestra to a number of festivals in Europe, including Stockholm, Monpelier, and Paris (Theatre de la ville). In 1995, Ben issued a CD of Umm Kulthum songs called Zehava Ben Sharah Aravit. (Amnon Shiloah (2nd ed.)