Free hugs in Tel Aviv

June 24, 2010 - 10:35 AM by · 3 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture 

Can you hug someone who’s really prickly on the outside?

That question will be answered on July 8th when Israel joins the international ‘free hug’ phenomenon.

In case you’re not familiar with the concept, the Free Hug movement was launched in Australia in 2004 by a mysterious figure named Juan Mann, and basically involves loving individuals who offer hugs to strangers in public places.

According to Wikipedia, the campaign became famous internationally in 2006 as the result of a music video on YouTube by the Australian band Sick Puppies, which is one of the most popular on the site, having been viewed over 50,000,000 times. The hugs are meant to be random acts of kindness – selfless acts performed just to make others feel better, and recent years have seen massive hug-ins in most major cities around the world (except perhaps for Teheran.)

Now, according to Yediot Aharonot, a group of students, led by recent US immigrant, and with the backing of the Foreign Ministry, are going to show their love to Israelis. They’ll be gathering on Tel Aviv’s promenade on July 8 and offer every passerby a warm hug.

“I am a yoga teacher and I thought it would be nice to give people something positive straight from the heart,” Maya Politi told Yediot. “I’m thinking about a meaningful hug. Not just a second-long hug, but a warm hug that will last a few moments.”

The Foreign Ministry will be filming the hug-in for a YouTube extravaganza that will show that we are indeed, a kind and gentle people. Just watch out for those prickles.

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On Chaim Laroz and mastering the bass

March 16, 2009 - 7:33 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: General, Music, Pop Culture, Profiles 

Chaim LarozPerhaps taking some cues from Yossi Fine on how to turn one’s self from a local bass session player into an international bass master, Chaim Laroz has been continually reinventing himself over the course of recent years.

An accomplished session man, producer, touring band member, composer and solo band leader, Laroz rose the ranks of Israeli bassists starting in the Nineties, when he collaborated extensively with the likes of Assaf Amdursky and Berry Sakharof. He also served as a member of Ra’ash, an alternative guitar rock act which released three influential albums throughout that decade.

Laroz helped Karni Postel rise to the brink of her mainstream pop successes of today when they formed the Bikini duo, with Postel handling vocals and Laroz handling almost all of the rest of the sound (including bass, samplers, oud and percussion parts).

Laroz branched still farther outward when he remixed a single for the Pet Shop Boys, arranged soundtracks for the celebrated Batsheva dance ensemble and formed a seminal groovetronica project called EQs, which essentially sent him off into the world of dancehall, dub and funk, where he primarily exists today.

In 2004 and 2005, Laroz spent some time living and gigging in Australia, but he came back to Israel. The unfortunately titled Laroz is a Rose album, his solo debut, came out ten years ago, and Laroz has been involved mostly with his career as a solo artist based in Israel ever since. His latest studio solo effort, 2006′s Soundsystem, includes guest spots from real-deal Jamaicans like Trevor Sax and Fitta Warri.

However, he’s still garnering attention internationally. In November, Philadelphia-based music blog Mad Decent called him “a true pioneer in the Israeli Reggae & Electronica scene” and linked to several downloadable and streaming Laroz remixes (Noiz in Zion also offered a remix recently). And locally he’s been active as well, touring sporadically in recent months and leading a bass master workshop in Tel Aviv this month.

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