EL AL | Atmosphere

Magazine I Interview

I grew up with albums,” he says. “The excitement of purchasing an album, opening the sleeve and smelling the paper, checking the credits for who played guitars and who photographed the cover. I remember examining the album and immersing myself in it for months. I’m completely rooted in that generation, and it’s wonderful to see it return. This gives me the courage to say to people that I have another 10 or 12 completely new songs, and I believe that they’ll make time and space in their hearts to listen to them. I feel that it’s my duty to do this.” Families, young people, adults, both secular and religious, including ultra-Orthodox, all come to your performances. Does this reflect who you are? “Absolutely. I believe that the audience ultimately reflects what you bring to them, and I’m very excited to see a diverse audience, in terms of age and worldview. I’m happy to see that the light I’m sending out is returning to me; if you project something out into the world, it echoes back to you. In the end, you learn a lot about yourself from your audience, and I’m moved and happy to discover that this is my audience.” As Israeli as It Gets Immersing himself in the audience and breaking the “distance” with the varied crowd that fills his concerts, as well as the Israeli trait to burst forth and unite social extremes, has led in recent years to several explosive accolades for Ben Ari, including being compared to Shlomo Artzi during his early days and becoming Israel’s most successful artist. Ben Ari smiles upon hearing this. While he acknowledges it, he remains grounded and doesn’t get carried away.

Photo: Tamar Hanan

"I believe that the audience ultimately reflects what you bring to them, and I’m very excited to see a diverse audience, in terms of age and worldview. I’m happy to see that the light I’m sending out is returning to me"

“From my perspective, Shlomo Artzi is one-of-a-kind, and no one will replace him, ever. As for myself, it’s too early to assign such titles since I’ve been creating and producing for such a short time. I try to pay less attention to these things, even though I’m aware of them,” he smiles. “I mainly draw inspiration from the great artists who do and did this before me. Every moment that I can, I draw inspiration from them, both when I’m creating and also performing - this is a big honor for me.” You’ve recently added a new title to your resume - presenter for Israel’s national airline – El Al. “This is very new, and it’s taken me a long time to choose this role. There were several proposals from different agencies and companies, but it was only when I got the El Al proposal that I felt, for the first time, truly comfortable. I don’t want to dress up in a costume to take on a role; I simply want to be myself,

which feels good. This is also exactly what they’re looking for, so it was a natural match – and it feels very right to me.” Ben Ari is married to Hadassa and is the father of six children, ranging in age from 2.5 to 13 years old. According to him, they represent budding talent and the next creative generation. “All my children love music; they all love to perform and love being on stage very much. My oldest daughter, 13, also writes, composes, and dances. The music bug has strongly taken hold,” he laughs. ■

Album Cover I Design: Eitan Cohen Photo: Amit Elkayam

26 ATMOSPHERE JULY 2023