Orphaned Land's frontman: Music is key to uniting people

By Omer Faruk Yildiz

ISTANBUL (AA) – Music holds the key to unifying people across all boundaries, said the frontman of Orphaned Land, an Israeli progressive metal band.

“The idea of peace, the idea that we can get along, and music is always the good key to bring people together,” Kobi Farhi told Anadolu in an interview.

Farhi, who often delivers a message of peace at his band’s concerts and calls for an end to the conflicts between Israel and Palestine, spoke about the band's new music and his love for Türkiye.

Noting that they are very excited about their Istanbul concert slated for Oct. 22, Farhi said “it's always a pleasure to come back.”

“I think it's the country that we played the biggest number of shows except Israel,” he added, saying the band has performed more than 25 times in Türkiye.

“Many times, in Istanbul of course,” Farhi said, adding they are always so happy to come because they admire Türkiye.

It’s “the culture, the Republic you know, and the people, the hospitality, the music of course.”

Türkiye “is a great country for us and we are always happy to come,” he added.

He also noted that the band gave a concert in Türkiye six months after the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident when Turkish-Israeli relations were severely affected after Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish aid flotilla bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip.

“We came to play in Ankara six months after the incident and despite warnings not to come,” he said. “But we did it and we got amazing shows.”

During that time, he said, “we got a peace award from a university in Istanbul because we are not the government and we have a good relationship with the people and the people love each other.”

- Orphaned Land shows ‘how we can live together’

An Israeli band, Orphaned Land has thousands of fans in Arab countries.

“We are from Israel. We have many fans coming from Arab countries,” Farhi said.

“In our shows in Istanbul,” you can see “people come from Tunisia, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon or Syria.”

“They come to see the show of an Israeli band. This small story shows the example of how we can live together and how much we are close and good friends,” he said.

“And the people follow the leaders everywhere,” he said. “You know when Israel and Jordan made a peace agreement…Arab kids that were born in Jordan were given the name of then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who held peace talks with Palestinians and was assassinated in 1995.”

“So you see the people follow the leaders,” he said. “It's not the people, it's the leaders, and leaders if they decide that they want it, they will do it very quick.”

“I hope so. We need more brave leaders like Rabin and the King of Jordan, Hussein bin Talal, both rest in peace,” he said. “They were very brave, and we need more leaders like them in our days.”

- Concert album to be released in December

The band’s concert album "A Heaven You May Create" will be released on Dec. 1.

Farhi also spoke about the concert they gave in 2021 to celebrate Orphaned Land’s 30th anniversary.

“It was a very big concert that we did for the 30th anniversary of Orphaned Land,” he said, noting it was during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“So it was a very strange period. We didn't know if the concert would happen,” he said.

At first, the band was told that only 1,000 people would be allowed to see the concert, and later they were told there would be no restrictions.

“So we were in a very small gap where we could make a full house concert. It was a very lucky occasion.”

The band ended up doing a show for 2,500 people at one of the most famous halls in Tel Aviv.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, they livestreamed the concert, “and then we decided to make a DVD from the livestream cameras that we did for the show.”

“So on one hand, it's not a 4k film because of the circumstances, but it gives a very good review and impression of what was happening at this show,” he said. “It was a very big show with an orchestra behind us, an orchestra of 60 people, a complete symphony.”

- Erkin Koray

On prominent Turkish musician Erkin Koray, Farhi said: “He is in my heart.”

“He was the founder and the father of Turkish rock and the Anatolian rock movement and he affected the whole region of Middle East rock and even metal,” he said.

“Because when we combine oriental elements in metal music, Erkin Koray did it before us,” he said. “He was the most brave rock and roll figure in the 70s, you know, taking out the mustache, growing the long hair,” he said.

“He was a very brave man and very brave musician and a very humble human being. I met him twice -- one time in Istanbul and the second time in New York,” he said.

“He was always so nice and we will always remember him and play his music and songs forever.”

“I think that Orphaned Land brought the metal from the Middle East to the world,” Farhi said. “I think that when we use all these elements, from the kanun (a traditional string instrument)...to the Turkish violin, and elements of three religions, and then brought them all over the world, because we played in more than 50 countries and in every festival that's out there.”

“Maybe as we are the children, the Erkin Baba maybe, those bands are our children in a way,” he added, using a Turkish word which means “father.”

Regarding another prominent Turkish metal band, Pentagram (Mezarkabul), he said: “It is very good to see today many bands in this genre…because it's a great music to combine it with metal. It's my favorite style of course.”

Founded in Israel in 1991, Orphaned Land released their first demo album The Beloved's Cry in 1993.

The band uses the kanun, violin and lute in their music and sings Arabic, Hebrew and Turkish songs in addition to English and has recorded six studio albums.

The band included a verse from the Muslim holy book the Quran in their song Disciples of the Sacred Oath II.