An American-Israeli collaboration: Kaki King and Tamar Eisenman

July 21, 2010 - 2:13 PM by David

Tamar Eisenman is an Israeli singer/songwriter who performs in English, with a penchant for indie rock. Kaki King is an American guitar virtuoso, who over the last five years, has developed a good-sized cult following for her amazing fingerwork and her own brand of singer/songwriting.

The two met last year on a joint bill in Hamburg, Germany and struck up a friendship. Eisenman invited King to come play with her in Israel, an offer she readily accepted without pinpointing a date. Next thing she knew, her upcoming scheduled tour of Europe included a show in Tel Aviv with Eisenman.

Tamar Eisenman, above, and Kaki King, top, make an international team.

The international summit is scheduled to take place on Friday at the Barby Club in Tel Aviv.

“I didn’t know anything about Tamar, but she was great [in Hamburg]. The show was awesome and after we hung out together,” King said this week while on tour in England.

Eisenman’s 2009 album Gymnasium became a local favorite, propelling her from the obscure into an Israeli radio staple. King said that she was looking forward to learning some of Eisenman’s material and trying it out live.

“We’ll play some songs together,” promised King. “I’m not sure what, but we’ll figure it out when I get there.”

It’s a testament to the grand streak of artists coming from abroad this year to Israel that someone of the stature of King, who’s been called a ‘guitar god’ by Rolling Stone and has won a Golden Globe for the original score the Sean Penn-directed film Into the Wild, can basically sneak into town so unobtrusively. But it’s also a testament to the sophisticated Israel music scene that the King-Eisenman show will probably be packed.

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