Orphaned land

Orphaned Land is an Israeli oriental metal folk band from Petah Tikva. Influenced by doom metal and death metal, their music mixes oriental instruments and vocals. The group is considered as the pioneer of the oriental metal, and is today part of the most known groups of the kind, with in particular Myrath or Melechesh.

Orphaned Land was originally formed in 1991 as a death metal band called Resurrection, also drawing on influences in folk music and Eastern Jewish traditions (Mizraḥim). The group is attracting attention with its first demo entitled The Beloved's Cry , published in 1992>, and reissued as a CD on August 29, 2000>. In 1994, the album Sahara mixes for the first time death metal and traditional oriental music.

In their second album, El Norra Alila, released in 1996, Orphaned Land further deepens this mix, adding traditional Jewish songs (piyyoutim) and Arabic melodies. This album conveys a message of peaceful coexistence between Jews and Muslims. The group is very successful in some Arab countries. In 1997, due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the group was forced to pause. Four years later, in 2001, they perform three concerts under the motto "Calm before the Storm", the first of which takes place in Istanbul. The second will take place in 2002 in Tel Aviv and the third will be an acoustic concert recorded and broadcast with the album "Mabool">.

During 2003, the band signs a contract with Century Media Records>. Their third album, Mabool , which means Hebrew Flood, is published on February 23, 2004> and takes as its theme the bible and the story of Noah . In total, the writing of the album, extending between 1997 and 2003, took six years. Recorded for almost a year, it reaches a high level of interweaving between metal elements and traditional instruments and melodies. The end of the song "Ocean Land" was even secretly recorded at Taj Mahal>.