The Fools Rush In / Jewish Week 10/21/2005

 

Liel Leibovitz - Staff Writer
 

Joey Low has a knack for picking Israeli ambassadors.

Last year, the philanthropist behind Israel at Heart, an organization dedicated to bringing Israeli college students on speaking tours to American campuses, was the mind behind “The Ambassador,” an Israeli reality show not unlike Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice.” In this show, however, the grand prize wasn’t a cushy corporate job, but a yearlong appointment as Israel’s representative to Low’s New York-based organization, a position that involves touring the country and lecturing diverse audiences about the softer, sexier sides of the Jewish state.

The newest ambassadors are a bit more casual than last year’s business suit-clad contestants. They are the members of Shotey Hanevuah (The Fools of Prophecy), Israel’s hottest band. Starting next week, they will tour campuses from Columbia University to University of California at Berkeley, trying to win over minds and hearts with their music and to show students that there’s more to Israel than the grim images on cable news networks.

There are, arguably, few Israeli bands better suited for such a tall order. The group was chosen as this year’s most popular Israeli band in a poll conducted by the Israel Defense Forces radio station, its two albums have been selling briskly and its Israeli concerts are perennially sold out. Fans flock to hear the unlikely blend of Caribbean, African, American and Israeli music, held together by generous helpings of optimistic lyrics and upbeat melodies.

But will The Fools’ uniquely Israeli musical concoction translate well to the musical sensibilities of American college kids? Avraham Tal, one of the band’s three singers, believes so.

“We’re a very cosmopolitan band,” he said in a phone interview, just prior to leaving for the United States. “In that way, we’re like Israel itself. You can hear Ethiopian music played by Ethiopian Israelis, Eastern European music played by those Israelis with Eastern European roots, African music and Arabic music and so on. As Israelis, we grow into a multicultural musical reality. We’re open to all the world’s music from a very young age.”

The band’s lyrics, too, he added, are universal. The lyrics to “A Hotel in Amman,” for example, one of the band’s hits, rhymes, “An army is not enough to express power / so let understanding bloom like a flower / because we are all people.”

Such words, Low said, will resonate with young Americans of all stripes.

“Israel at Heart has always been about sending Israeli students to travel around the world trying to find ways to show people how diverse Israel is,” he said. “Now, instead of approaching the topic directly, we tell college students to simply listen to the music. It’s powerful and it shows people another, more engaging, more positive side of Israel.” n

“The Fools of Prophecy” will perform at Spirit, 530 W. 27th St., on Sat., Oct. 29. For showtimes and tickets call (212) 719-9020, or log on to www.israelatheart.com.