INTERVIEW WITH KOBI FARHI FROM ORPHANED LAND

It's a pleasure to bring this interview with one of the masterminds after ORPHANED LAND as the first real publish for Metalcry's english appear. Some of you might know this band from Israel as one of the most surprising and inspiring acts in progressive metal. In this interview the singer Kobi Farhi talks about the past and present of the band, and of course about the future and the upcoming album "The Never Ending Way Of The Orwarrior"

There might be a lot of people who still don’t know about Orphaned Land. To start this interview it seems proper to me to ask for some words explaining what really is Orphaned Land:

Well Orphaned Land is an Israeli Middle Estern Metal band, we started the band 18 years ago in 1991 whe we were teenagers and eversince we’ve working on the band, we did so far four albums, counting the upcoming, we played around the world and we are playing this middle eastern metal music in a way I don’t see anyone do it.

You take your name from the place you live. Israel, having been once the Promised Land, has become an Orphaned Land due to human actions of irresponsibility and ignorance, conducting to senseless conflicts. Growing up in a country where this conflicts are such present in the day life, how it was possible for you to become a man of peace and conciliation, deciding to tell the world about your thoughts and feelings through your music?

Well is really difficult to grow in region we are living ‘cause even before I was born the streets were into a terrible war and also into a terrible confusion, because see I think the three big religions are pretty much the same, they’re believing in the same god, they’re reading the same bibles so it doesn’t make sense to me that this people is actually killing each other. We decide to be musicians to spread a different message, I mean, we’re playing metal and having fun with it but we also have a stong message and this make people confuse and think we are a preaching metal band but it’s not true. We don’t tell people go to church, read the bible, Jesus is good…we are not into that, we are just into the three big religions stop killing each other and embrace each other because they are the same, that’s what we are saying.

Israel, and specially the city of Jerusalem is a sacred country for the three big monotheist religions, supposed to be a land for everyone. So is Orphaned Land, a band for everyone of any race or religions, and this is a topic very well reflected in your music and lyrics.

Well we refere to Jerusalem a lot in our music and lyrics, there’s a song in the new album called “New Jerusalem”, were we also refer Jerusalem as Or Shalem. Or Shalem in Hebrew means “complete light” and in our lyrics we say that when people come to embrace each other the name of new Jerusalem would be Or Shalem, which refer pretty much to the way you say Jerusalem in Hebrew which is “Yerushalaim”. So we use to speak a lot about it because in one hand Jerusalem is an important place for the three religions but in the other hand muslims and Christians and jews are living there but they don’t communicate whith each others and they everybody live in they’re own corner and they’re hating each other and when you come to the city you can see the huge holiness but you can also see the huge sadness and the tension. And in the New Jerusalem things are different, the new Jerusalem is the way we want to see Jerusalem in a way it’s more peaceful and more harmonical as in our music. In our music the three religions are ok with each other and all three of them are even ok with black metal and Satanism!

In 1994 you released your first album called “Sahara”. Now that the time has passed, you look back to it and what are the feelings you got about this album and it message?

Well, we released Sahara 15 years ago and surprisingly we are still speaking about the same things and the same subjets we were speaking then. About the conflicts between jewish and Arabians. And even then we tried to be different, I mean we were all Israelis and jews and we took a picture of a mosque and put in the front cover ‘case even then we try to show we are all the same. And if you look in the artwork of Sahara and in the booklet you will see there are things in Arabic and thins in Hebrew and this is the same thing we are doing today, we’ve been basically doing the same thing for 18 years now! So same subjet, same songs, same lyrics and unfortunately nothing has changed I mean, for us it has change, we have a lot of arab fans, which is amazing, the are arabs and they are fans of Israelis, it’s crazy, but in the end of the day, is like 18 years ago; people are still fighting and they’re still killing each other for a piece of land and for bullshit.

Musically it was the starting point for a short of progressive death metal with middle eastern folk influences. When it was the time for composing this album, was it a natural thing to include this folk parts or was something you already had in mind?

Well it was something that we had in mind but we were pretty much afraid ‘cause no-one had ever done this before us and we didn’t know how people will accept it and when we used this instruments we were 18 years old in the studio, we were actually kids, but while we did it and we felt that we were doing something different , it was a feeling we had in the studio and we new that we were doing something very special and we have the feeling we were doing a contribution for the metal scene from a place the metal heard in the world didn’t know. Everybody knows American metal or Swedish death metal or norweigan black metal but no one is really familiar with middle east metal, which combines Arabic instruments inside, so the feeling was that we were afraid that people would not like us, but also that we were doing something really special anyway.

In this path of spirituality, a couple of years after Sahara you released “El Norra Alila”. This album was a clear explanation about your thoughts and feelings about religions and it interpretations. What do you remember from the time of it releasing?

Well I remember that by those times we were very mystical and really it was the time when we were looking for answers and some of us even became religious by those times. We were really young in those times, you know… I almost became and ortodox religious, and we all in the band were through the typical troubles of the age. But the time of El Norra Alila, which is one of the best albums that we’ve made, it was the time of the end of childhood, I think is the most mystical album that we did and I know a lot of people considering to be our best album, even over Mabool which was very much successful. So I’m happy than when we did this album was in a very strange period of our life and then after El Norra Alila we disappeared for six years, we needed some time to overcome this years and it took us actually eight years until Mabool was released.

In this album you literally said that it was no difference between Judaism, Christianism or Islam, that God was the same for all of them, can you explain us a little more further about this believings?

Yes I think that the three Abrahamic religions are believing in the same God, they are reading the same Bible, I mean most of them believe in the story of the Bibles that they have this day, and it doesn’t make sense that they’re killing each other ‘cause we are much the same, I mean, Jesus was a Jew, and the Christians and Jews were fighting for decades. And Abraham was the father of Ishmael and he was the father of Isaac, now Ishmael is the father of all the Muslims and Isaac is the father of all the Jews, so in this way of interpretations the Jewish and the Muslims are causins! We don’t find the reason why they’re fighting each other, is a kind of spell, like if someone were casting this spell, trapping us in this situation and this country, and we cannot accept it because this is the place were we live and if I want to bring children to this world then I really wish they will live in a good world. I don’t want to bring children so I would raise them to kill other people or have they going to the army or fight, I don’t want it. This is why we are taking the photos we are taking and doing the music we are doing, because we truly believe this conflict is one big bullshit and it really needs to end.

What means God for you?

God means for me the creator of all, and the source of all goodness and endless love in this world. And of course a never ending sparkle of light, I can see God everywhere, in the eyes of people, even in the fruit. I believe in God but not in the religions way, I got a lot of critics for religions.

It seems clear that religions are a common way to find God, but do you thing there are other paths to find thy light?

Well, first of all I would say that religions are failing in finding God since they’re fighting each others, so I got a lot of critics for them since that is not going with God. Of course you can find God, you know, when you’re hearing to the music that you love and you find tears in your eyes, this is God. I really think that you can find God when you eat an orange, because this is like growing out of the land, and you get to eat it and is good, no one made it in no factory is just the land giving to you, this is and act of love, like a parent that love you very much. So I can see God also in these things.

Considering the amount of wars, fights and conflicts that religions and their interpretations had cause along History, do you believe they are positive for our society? Why, in your opinion, is so difficult for some people to accept and respect what other people believes?

I think the human kind is confused and his mind is trapped in the poison, I would say of the forbidden fruit. The forbidden fruit was so poison that we are blind in our soul, we cannot see that we are all one. Religion is an idea, in basic, to teach morality to people and to teach then how to live as a good human being. Now people think that they’re so right that they’ll force you to go in that way, which is completely wrong. One of the main things in religion is about tolerance and patience. You should learn about tolerance and you should learn about embracing one that is different from you, you cannot force your believe among people, because no one would understand if you force it, If you or really so right you don’t need to force it. I cannot force my music to someone who doesn’t love it, and I don’t want to. I don’t want people to like if its forced. If it’s not for him, is not for him. You can like it and the other guy can say this is shitty music and is ok. Religions need to be more responsible because people are looking at them as messengers of God, so when your looking to your priest, to your rabbi or to the Pope, they’re messengers of God, and they could do much more to prevent wars between religions, much more than they are doing.

How does the political and social situation of your country influence in your music?

Oh, is all over. All the lyrics, all the subjets, all the instruments our message comes from the situation of our region. This is why we became musicians and we didn’t go to other career making money and stuff, this is ‘cause the situation and is also why I don’t want to give it up.

After El Norra Alila it tooked you a long time to make your next album. “Mabool” was released in 2004 and was the proof that the wait did worth it. For me, it is one of the greatest pieces of music in recent history. What can you tell us about the years you expend composing and making this album?

Well Mabool was one hell of a process because after El Norra Alila it took as a few years to come back with the band and it is one of the most emotional albums that we ever did and I really love it and it’s very pure to me and, well I can see that The Never Ending Way Of The Orwarrior is a more complete masterpiece but I do think that Mabool is an amazing masterpiece and I know a lot of fans are considering it a masterpiece and really adoring it.

Being a concept album the lyrics are very important. In your music you use an incredible amount of different instruments and also different languages. How do you decide what parts must be in English, which ones in Hebrew and so?

This is just something that is happenning in the process of work, we try and keep the english as the main but always wishes to be multicultural. so it's a matter of feelings and sometime it depends on the album chronology, the lyrics, the part of the story and the melodies and then we know it'll be the best place to put it.

Why did you choose The Flood as a concept for Mabool? What does it represent for you?

We come from a very tragic lands, the lands that suppose to be the holy lands. So much blood is falling on this lands that it is turned to be an orphaned land. Like in our life, when we are dirty we need to wash ourselves or our cloths, same thing happend in nature. If we are corrupting the holy land so much, the flood is coming to purify it.

So is quite a biblical way to see it, as purification for the land and humanity.

Yes, but we didn't use the biblical story as a whole, we created a new story - the flood according to nowadays, the OL version, for example: We didn't use the bible heroes of the stories and we created our own 3 heroes - The 3 sons of 7, who were the same soul which divided to 3 humans, a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim. They were the only ones awaken, trying to awake their own people from this magic circle of bloodsheds and hatred that they are trapped in for so long, and they failed, that’s why the flood had to come again.

Musically I fell in love with Halo Dies and Calm Before The Flood, do you have any preferences in this album musicalwise?

The storm still rages inside is the moment where my heart was broken.

A lot of fans, specially from India, are intrigued about the snippets of Ocean Land and “The Birth Of The Three”. What was your motivation to travel through India? Was it a sort of a cultural pilgrimage?

India is always considered as a magical land to Israelis. our reality is so hard sometimes that we like the magical feeling of the Indian nation especially I am fascinated to see how poor are the Indians, how hard their life is, how many homeless people and hungry people are there and yet - their smile is so pure, they simply accept it as their karma and this is something I admire about them. India for sure changed my life and will always be a special land for me, I wish to come back there and I hope to do it as soon as possible.

Well, having talked about your past and motivations, it is time to talk about your upcoming album, “The Neverending Way of the Orwarrior”. Again it’s a concept album and it tooks you nearly six years to make it, what can you tell the fans about it?

This is our best album so far, our true masterpiece. Orphaned Land 2.0. this is our longest, most diverse and most ambitions work so far. the music, melodies, arrangements and sound are definitely our best so far. We chose to focus this time on the hero himself, and he is the main theme of this story. This is not some heroic messiah, the warrior of light is you, me and actually the listener of the album. It is like a tribute to The Never Ending Story where the reader is the hero himself, we simply feel that our world is trapped in darkness, and that our inner light is off, that's why we have so many questions, we are dissapointed from almost everything: our parents, girl friend, friends, priest and goverments and the world is a fucked up place. Weapon industries, porno, drugs, corporations who polute the world, wars and bloodsheds, every one fails, even religions. This is this darkness that I speak about. The warrior of light is enlightening the hearts of humans; when there is dark, there are questions, same as its hard to see in the dark and easier in the light. If I put you in a dark room that you don’t know you will ask a lot of questions: where am I? why am I here? where is the door? where is the light? If I give you a match box and you light a match, just by this small light you will see the whole room! So much answers in a small light, so much info - with one match you can see the door, the floor, the whole room. This is what happens when our inner light shines - we see that we are all one, we stop to fight and understand what were our mistakes and this is what the warrior of light discovers in this album, and this is what we want people to discover. Just check our music, it is so reach, because we combine there everything into one - just imagine if we will live like that, if we will embrace the one that is different from us instead of exiling him, we will be so reach, we will learn about other cultures experiences, about their music, food, clothes, it is fascinating, So - let there be light.

In my first listen of the album, I was unconsciously comparing it to Mabool, and that made me lose most of it details and personality. The truth is that this album is so different from Mabool that it’s almost impossible to compare, what do you think?

I couldn’t agree more. We don't like to repeat and this is why we are different in each album. It's a different story and you should let Mabool on the side when you listen to it and focus on that complex story here.

Lets talk a little bit about the concept. The Orwarrior, the warrior of light. This album talks about his journey, his neverending way and mission, and you constructed the album to get the listener into the story, placing he or she as the main character, the orwarrior itself, is this a way to tell people that the power for changing things in the world lies in everyones hands? Are we all an orwarrior ourselves?

EXACTLY

The part of Sapari shown in the album trailer video is making fans expectations grow fast and high. All say it seems to be great. As far as I know, it is an adaptation of a traditional song/story in your country, what can you tell about it?

This is a poem written by a Jew poet in Yemen in the 17th century. our female singer Shlomit is Yemenite and she brought this song to our attention as we always re-arrange synagoge songs. It is about a conversation that the poet is making with his own spirit, asking her where is she and the spirit answer in a very poetic way that she is in the mighty heavens, preparing to go to planet earth. We chose it to be the first song as it reflect the moment before OrwarriOR was brought to life.

I don’t want to reveal many details of the album in this interview since it deserve to be discovered, but there’s a song called “Disciples Of The Secret Oath II” in which the lyrics are VERY explicit about the conflicts between religions, about war and about people doing nothing to change it and how stupid is to keep the fighting. This lyrics are easily the most direct and explicit in Orphaned Land career and it is easy to think about the conflicts in the Middle East while listening. This is one of my favourite passages of the album, what about you?

I think this is the best song we ever wrote!!! enough said.

How is it a normal composing season for Orphaned Land?

We are the most strange when it comes to write music: we never wrote a song actually. It goes like that: We always write material, a lot of riffs only, guitar parts and we keep them, like a bank of riffs. Then we choose a concept, a subject to our story and we divide the story to a beginning, next stage, that way till the end; only then we start with the music: we take all the amount of riffs and start to build the picture like a puzzle, for example: The Calm Before The Flood should be a very peaceful, sad melody, we search in our riffs, we find it and put it there. A song about the wrath of god (Halo dies) we look for the angry riffs and so on. So making an OL album is like to build a puzzle, we don’t see the photo until it’s completed. This is why it’s such a painful process, in both Mabool and ORwarriOR I had moments where I had tears in my eyes from discovering what we created

Nice. Another fan in the forum told me to ask you about the bandmembers background, so So which part of your backgrounds do you bring into the mix of Orphaned Land?

I have Spannish, greek, Bulgarian, Turkish roots, Yossi is Egyptian, Lybian and some Italian, Uri is Iraqian, and half Egyptian I think, Shlomit is Yemenite, Matti is Russian and Polish (I might be mistaken) but you get the picture. And what’s uniting us is our Judaism.

What is the hardest part of making an album as OrWarrior?

To record it, for me especially. I sing in so many ways there: I’m the story teller, sing very low, very high, eastern, western, sad, angry, happy. It was very, very hard but at the end of the day it's a paradise that I can express so many forms of me in this music.

The Middle Eastern folk elements in your music were really innovating by the time of your first album. They have turned into a distinctive of your sound and a big influence for bands as Melechesh or Nile. Do you feel like having creating some short of a style in metal?

I don’t know if we influenced this bands but definitely we were the first ones to use this instruments and motives in terms of putting them in the centre, I think that OL is the ultimate reflection of what Middle Eastern Metal might mean and I am definitely happy that there are a lot of bands going on this way, I definitely feel that we are an important part of this process, and I think that Middle Eastern metal is the next thing!

What are your main influences both as a singer and composer?

I would simply say: life itself - my travelling, people that I meet, music from all kinds, cannot be specific here. I am a world child.

I would really like you to recommend a couple of albums in the middle eastern folk field, I find it very rich and interesting.

Bustan Abraham - the 1st album
Omar Faruk Takbilek - Mystical garden
Stephan Micus - Garden Of Mirrors

Orphaned Land and Opeth are two of the most respected bands in the progressive metal scene and they’re usually compared in some points. I have to confese that this are two of my favourite bands. I would even say that, beside the classics (Maiden, Judas, Dio) this are my two fav bands. For me it would be a dream come true to see both bands touring together, is there any chance? What are the touring plans for OL with this new record?

Steven Wilson said that if Opeth wuld have been born in Israel they would have been OL and the opposite as well.This is why he worked probably with the two bands
I think Opeth are one of the most interesting bands of the last years, I love their music very much and I will be happy to tour with the. I think we definitely mach and our music fits the same crowed. Our booker is working on preparing a tour for Orphaned Land, but it is definitely also up to the local promoters in each country - we wish to tour as much as possible in 2010 and I hope to announce our tour dates as soon as possible. Local promoters - bring us to your lands!

How It was to work with Steven Wilson?

Amaizing, in a music such as ours it is very important to mix it right, and he did a great job, it wasn't easy for him as well, as everything is so layerd and full of info. But he made it perfect and we are very lucky to work with him, not to mention having him playing keyboards as well.

After four studio albums, is it time for a live DVD?

Yes, this is on our plans and I hope to film one in 2010. It’s not a sure thing thou.

If it sometime happens that every war and hate in the world disappear for good, what would OL talk about in their albums?

First we will change the name of the band to Holy Land, Promised Land or - The historical memory of a once called - Orphaned Land. We will make party songs, or weddings.

Have you ever consider about making some kind of a movie out of any of your albums. As Pink Floyd had a movie for The Wall, it would be great to see a movie based in Mabool, for example.

I definitley dream about it - both Mabool and ORwarriOR can be a great movies while the album is the soundtrack. I simply need to find the right guy and a crazy budget, help me out here.

I could find a guy interested, the budget is just the trouble.

Story of our life

Are you planning to use any other languages in future releases, as for example Russian?

We are focusing mainly on the middle east as this is our land and this is mainly where we see the problems. We don't mind using Russian, we just need to find the reason to do it and it'll happen, we'll try to arrange something for the next concert as a starter.

That was my last question, now everything left are to dedicate some words to your fans:

I am wishing all our fans Marry christmas! and also wishes for the new Muslim year and of course Happy hanukah to all the jews out there. Symbolically this time of the year carry holydays for the 3 religions - lets all cut the crap and let there be peace, from your brother in light - Kobi and the orphan brothers of Orphaned Land.

Author: David Rodrigo