So that’s how Israeli musicians make a living

February 18, 2009 - 12:19 PM by Harry

In a country where you only need to sell forty thousand records to go platinum it always boggled my mind how Israeli musicians make a real living. Sure, most A-list pop musicians aren’t suffering – but they still have to do a few obligatory nights at the Caesarea amphitheater to keep up with their bills. While making it big in Israel is as difficult as everywhere else in the world, touring in Israel isn’t exactly an exhausting activity. Musicians are always within reasonable driving distance from their homes, so a good night’s sleep is their own bed is almost guaranteed. The Israel Independence Day concert circut is also considered a lucrative time, with many musicians playing multiple concerts in one evening and many even traveling abroad to play for Jewish communities in the Diaspora.

And some musicians just get lucky. Take Yael Naim for example. Naim was launched into the spotlight from obscurity (and is apparently back there again) after her song poptastic hooky song “New Soul” was featured on the commercial for the MacBook Air.

What’s a sure way to make a potential fortune? Easy answer. Have a hit in the most populous country in the world. And that is kind of what happened to Sarit Hadad. Her gargantuan hit song “In the Heat of Tel Aviv” has been translated into Chinese and recorded by Chinese pop singer Yumiko Cheng. According to Ynet it “has been sweeping the music charts in China and Hong Kong in the last few weeks and has also become a big hit at dance clubs.” On his blog, Chinese producer James Ting writes about how he came across the song, the recording process and expresses how excited he was to hear about the positive reaction to the song in Israel.

You can see the original followed by the Chinese cover below. Which one do you like better?