Question about Orphaned Land's near decade long break...

[The Metal Pigeon]

I'm a new fan of the band that got into them through buying the "Mabool" album a month ago, and while I've in that time tracked down and bought copies of the 2 older albums, I've noticed that the band has been asbent from recording or well, doing anything, since 1996. The biography on the website says that 'troubles in their homeland' prevented the band from carrying on for awhile. I'm curious as to what happened that caused the band to remain at rest until 2003 onwards. Is life in Israel really that dependent on the political temperatures of the time?


Also, just want to say that you have fans in Houston, Texas - myself and a couple others at least heheh. Although the state of Texas is normally known as rednecked and in some areas, very racist, Houston is an international city that has people from all nationalities under the sun living together. If Orphaned Land ever tours the USA, I'm sure there would be enough interest in Houston at least to warrant a trip to Texas.

 

[Ko_B]

Welcome in!
Living in Israel is not easy thats for sure, we had some personal problems, but add to that the fregile economy and the "war" that is running here, all of this together brought us to this break we took, but today I can definitly said that because of this break, we brought Mabool to this world, it's a 7 years old cooked album

We sure hope to come to Huston a.s.a.p.!

 

[The Metal Pigeon]

Welcome in!
Living in Israel is not easy thats for sure, we had some personal problems, but add to that the fregile economy and the "war" that is running here, all of this together brought us to this break we took, but today I can definitly said that because of this break, we brought Mabool to this world, it's a 7 years old cooked album

We sure hope to come to Huston a.s.a.p.!

Ah I see, do you or any of the other band members fear for terrorist attacks at any of your live concerts? Or do you take precautions for such events?

I want to visit Israel one day - it seems to be a center of alot of activity and I would think that life there would be extremely interesting. In Houston, its incredibly boring, especially in the outlying suburbs where I live. Nothing happens here and the scenery is terrible (all we have are fields of grass and cows). Our architecture is bland and extremely geared towards commericalization and shopping interests. For instance, we have parking lots for shopping centers that would take up many hundreds/thousands of meters in both width and length. It seems like a such a waste of space to me... and I'm more attracted to the closely knit together streets and neighborhoods of Israel and the surrounding areas. I like the way this place looks in this picture, especially the structure of the street:

http://www.orphaned-land.com/media/gallery/band/04/03.jpg

It seems like such a colorful and lively place. One of these days I hope to visit!

 

[Folklore]

welcome in station !
The picture you see here is old city of Jaffa, historical harbor city of israel and main vein connecting between the heart of teh nation, Jerusalem, to the rest of the world.

Jaffa is an amazing city of three religions and is a very vital oriental city attached to the very western city of Tel Aviv.

here`s a picture showing Jaffa at the bottom and tel aviv north to it: http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/~agenhtml/agenmc/israel/images/telavivb.gif

here`s a nice gallery showing more pics: http://www.goisrael.com/discoverisrael/photogallery/index.asp

 

[ScientistOfDarkness]

Hello fellow Texan. Too bad you don't live a little closer, we'd hang out and listen to OL all day.

 

[Ko_B]

We are not afraid of the war and it's not like it seems on TV, we don't have tanks or whatever on the streets, I don't fear terrorists but we make security arraingments brfore our shows here but buttom line - Nothing to be afraid of, Peace.

 

[Morticia NL.]

Hey there station 82- maybe I can tell you a bit about Israel as well, since I have been there 2 times last year ( for OL reasons yes) A tourists always looks at a country differently than its inhabitants do.
I was in Tel Aviv most of the time and it's a very modern place where there is always something do to. In my opinion this city is a mix of the middle east, europe and the US.
Middle east in terms of the food, people live more outside their homes than inside, the temperatures and the shops which are sometimes open till 2300 ( Eilat) or even later when you look at the small shops in the neighbourhoods . I see Europe in some of the people, israeli's have come from all over the world to live there or their families did and so there is no "common look" about them- except for the curly hair maybe.
And US namely because of the shopping malls, everything is in english as well as hebrew, a lot of people speak english, everyone lives in appartment buildings (unless you havea lot of money, building ground prices are very high)

Tel Aviv is an interesting city with very old places to go, like Jaffa and then the modern look on the other hand> appartment buildings ( like some designed by Philippe Stark in the expensive aria) , big offices, shopping malls like Dizingov.
Most of the architecture in this city is not too interesting (pardon me for saying this, but I'm european so I'm spoiled) because everything is still relatively new and except or Jaffa you will not find anything over 100 years old in Tel Aviv. But the place has its own charm with beautiful beaches, a GREAT nightlife and places like Florentin - that's the old neighbourhood where Kobi lives, I think it dates back to the 50's-
If you will look in these threads you will find some pictures I took during my vacations.
>http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=74976&page=19&pp=25

Folklore would you be so nice to assist and look up the ones I did in the hebrew forum? It's easier for you to find them, since you can actually read hebrew

PS Concerning the long break> considder the fact that there was the intifada as well and there were some bombs which exploded in the heart of Tel Aviv. There was less "public" life in those days if I'm not mistaken.

 

[obay bringer of light]

beautiful Jaffa, it's called Yafa in Arabic, does they call it Jaffa in hebrew ?
anyway they are two names for the same beauty ...

 

[Ko_B]

In hebrew it's called Yafo, I was born there

 

[The Metal Pigeon]

PS Concerning the long break> considder the fact that there was the intifada as well and there were some bombs which exploded in the heart of Tel Aviv. There was less "public" life in those days if I'm not mistaken.

The main thing I remember hearing back in the late 90s was about the supposed peace treaty that Bill Clinton was involved in creating, I need to read up on the recent history of the territory though, because the way the American media portrays those events over there everything kind of blends together. Sometimes its hard to make sense of what goes on.

The picture you see here is old city of Jaffa, historical harbor city of israel and main vein connecting between the heart of teh nation, Jerusalem, to the rest of the world.

Jaffa is an amazing city of three religions and is a very vital oriental city attached to the very western city of Tel Aviv.

here`s a picture showing Jaffa at the bottom and tel aviv north to it: http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/~agen...es/telavivb.gif

here`s a nice gallery showing more pics: http://www.goisrael.com/discoverisr...llery/index.asp

Thanks for the links, those pictures were fantastic. Jaffa is now on my must travel to list.

Out of curiousity, do the recent happenings between Lebanon and Syria have any effect on Israel? I assume everything that happens in that region has an effect on Israel in some form. We've also been seeing news reports in the US and BBC news that if Iran continues with their uranium enrichment process (if talks with Germany, France and Britain fail this summer), that Israel is considering the possibility of air strikes on the Iranian mainland. I hope it doesn't come to that - it would only make life harder for people everywhere in the region.

 

[The Metal Pigeon]

In hebrew it's called Yafo, I was born there

You were born in that cool looking place?! Damn, I was born in a crappy hospital next to a automotive repair place in Modesto, California. Dammit!

 

[Ko_B]

Hey, I was born in a hospital too, but I was "born" mreans I grew there and spent there most of my childhood.

 

[Morticia NL.]

I guess it atributed to you being a free soul Kobi. The place has a very special and creative air about it.

 

[Strychnos]

The events that led to your hiatus certainly have took their toll. I've been close to seeing Israel(really close, it's in a page of a book lol..seriously, I wish I could go there too), and I must say that, with the fact that music isn't created in a vacuum notwithstanding, you guys have shown that these experiences were no deterrents to making good music. Rather, you have found a way to channel these experiences and what you've learned from them into your craft, and that is what matters.

 

[The Metal Pigeon]

Yeah thats true, I think the main thing that impresses me is just how much the musical style of the band has changed in Mabool compared to Sahara for instance. I'll admit, as neat as the Sahara is I enjoy Mabool much much more, I can't wait for the next album.

 

[Orphaned Matti]

Actualy, the political situation did have an effect on OL's break... The story was, that I had some new riffs on the guitar and I wanted Kobi to hear them, but when I was going to him there were shootings on the streets for about 6 years, the tanks were shooting missiles at buildings and stuff, and I couldn't leave my house... Had to order in all this time, it was terrible! :Spin:

Really man, the bio at the website takes it a further than it really was. It was a complicated situation back than, and the right thing to do was to give it a little rest for some time. But we're back now and that's all that counts.

 

[holy damien]

about that 7 year break;i know that military service in israel is three years and maybe band members had to do their military service.in israel,like in turkey which is where i live,military service is a thing you cannot easily turn down.our local band pentagram(known as mezarkabul on the international arena) had a problem like this a couple of years ago,they were about to release their album but they all had to attend the 18months(minimun 12months,it was like this at that time,now it changed)military service one by one,and that postponed the release for 3years.but war,that's a god damn thing for sure.as it passes in one of mezarkabul's song; "figthing with hatred feeds the rich man,pray for these thousands in the eastland"

 

[The Metal Pigeon]

Actualy, the political situation did have an effect on OL's break... The story was, that I had some new riffs on the guitar and I wanted Kobi to hear them, but when I was going to him there were shootings on the streets for about 6 years, the tanks were shooting missiles at buildings and stuff, and I couldn't leave my house... Had to order in all this time, it was terrible! :Spin:

Really man, the bio at the website takes it a further than it really was. It was a complicated situation back than, and the right thing to do was to give it a little rest for some time. But we're back now and that's all that counts.

Ah, heh thanks for the info.

 

[Morticia NL.]

Matti, Matti- you make it sound funny- almost.

 

[Yossi_Orphaned_Land]

There were many reasons for that break, but above all, people needed time to spend alone and evolve each in his own path. I promoted my career (you don't get paid much in music, trust me), Others searched for their inner self, some got closer to god, some abondoned it, some took long over seas trips.. Most of the time it was Kobi, Uri and myself basically, trying to keep the spirit alive (quite successfully, if I might add). Most of Mabool was written in the late 90s on my classic guitar, Buzuki, Saz etc, and I used to phone Kobi every time I had a new song, and every conversation concluded in a sentence like "one day this music shall see light, trust me". I'm glad it did make it to a full album, and even happier that our comeback was so massive that all these full-blown energies continue leveraging us to great new experiences together.
That's my 2 cents (in a nutshell) on the true nature of the break.