Ariel Horovitz (37), is one of Israel's most unique and appreciated young songwriters.
Ariel was born in Tel-Aviv 1970, to his mother the late Naomi Shemer - Israel's number one Folk songwriter, who wrote many of the country's classics such as: "Yerushalaim shel zahav" (Jerusalem of gold),
"Chorshat haekaliptus", "Anachnu shneynu meotto hakfar", and many more.
Having his legendary mother as his first music teacher, has led Horovitz to develop similarities to Shemer:
Both of them are pianists, and both of them are appreciated not only for their music, but also because of their brilliant use of the Hebrew language.
In 1998, Horovitz released his first solo album, which exposed a multi-styled musician and lyricist:
On one hand he was the only young voice at the time, addressing social issues in his songs, (which led to immediate comparison between him and the late Hebrew lyrics genius - Meir Ariel), and on the other hand ,he could write a pop song ("Yalla Bye"), which was declared by the union of Israeli radio, "most popular song for 1998."
The album was a big success and launched Horovitz's career as a performing artist in Israel.
Two years later, Horovitz was awarded by “Acum†- the Israeli composers and writers association, a prize for writing and composing the "best song for year 2000"- "Ha’ahava meta"- sung by his wife the singer - Tamar Giladi.
One year later Horovitz was ready with his second album "Renee".
The song which gave the album its’ name described a fantasy of a young Israeli man, who fell in love at the cinema with Hollywood star Renee Zellweger, and is going on a completely bizarre and psychic quest to win her heart, and bring her home with him, where they lead a humble life together, at the small Israeli northern town of "kiryat Motzkin". The song was such a hit in Israel, that it was actually referred to
by newspapers in India and the UK...
In 2004 Horovitz took a turn in his career. The materials he began to write were more intellectual, dealing with a variety of issues, and the big commercial record label to which he was tied - "Helicon records", had a hard time accepting that.
Horovitz left "Helicon records", and released his third solo album in a small Indue label - "Barby records". The result was a critically acclaimed album, which gave Horovitz a new audience, although it didn't make it to the top of the radio charts as his previous albums did.
Another result of that album, was that serious Israeli artists had begun to find interest in Horovitz's work. and he found him self writing lyrics for big names in the industry like Arkadi Duchin and Chava Alberstein - Israel's leading Folk singer. The unique witty protest song "Kokus" ("Coconut"), written by Horovitz to Alberstein, was chosen by her to be the title of her new album, and was accepted warmly by Israeli radio. That year was also when the late Naomi Shemer - Horowitz's mother passed away.
Now days Horovitz is releasing his forth solo album in 9 years (!), again at a major Israeli label. The first single released to radio was called:
"Kol mi she-at" (All you are). The song is a beautiful requiem to Shemer, and was referred to by "The Tel Aviv magazine", as "the most moving song
that you could hear now days on the radioâ€.
On stage: Accompanied by his special piano playing, and spontaneous witty monologues between the songs, Horovitz never stops touring the country.
Being a socially oriented artist, he has two projects besides his solo concerts:
"Lechu Atem"- A very successful collaboration with the artist and journalist Jeckie Levy. Levy - one of Israel's most important publicists -
as a religious Jew, whose family came to Israel from Morocco, is the social opposite of secular, European origined, Horovitz. These differences between
both artists, represent modern Israeli society, and the common language that both artists find eventually on stage, is heartwarming for everybody who
wishes for a new culture to emerge from the Israeli melting pot.
Horovitz was also chosen by "Alma"- an organization for promotion of Hebrew culture, to host a series of musical events based on his works, at their center in Tel-Aviv, starting September 07
