Desert Wind

Artist: Ofra Haza
Label: Sire / London/Rhino
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 075992597623
EAN: 0075992597623
ASIN: B000002LIK

Release Date: 1990-01-05

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Tracks:

Wish Me Luck
Ya Ba Ye
Middle East
I Want To Fly
Slave Dream
Taw Shi
Mm'mma (My Brothers Are There)
In-ta
Fatamorgana (Mirage)
Da'asa
Kaddish

Similar Items:

Shaday
Kirya
Ofra Haza 1997
Yemenite Songs
Fifty Gates of Wisdom: Yemenite Songs

Customer Reviews:

A pleasing audial treat........2007-01-26

I got this CD after listening to one of Ofra Haza's tracks on her MySpace memorial, "Yerushalayim of Gold." Never having listened to any Middle Eastern music, I wasn't sure what to expect when the CD arrived. I really can't offer any technical details about Desert Wind, except that it was very, very easy and relaxing for me to listen to. I've spent most of my life listening to rock, metal, techno, classical, and the occasional rap track, but this was entirely a new experience for me.

All that I knew of Ofra Haza when I got Desert Wind was that she was a very highly respected Israeli vocalist. I didn't know that she had passed away, and was a bit surprised to learn this. I think that she'd be pleased with the knowledge that her musical legacy is still attracting new fans.

If someone wants a new kind of musical experience, Desert Wind is a pleasing, easy introduction to the music of a very talented artist. I wish that I had more to say, but I think that a sincere review for Ofra's music is the best thing that I can do.

A Rare Treasure.......2006-11-20

Many years ago, I found a tape in the discount bin by the artist Ofra Haza. It was Desert Wind. I had never heard of her but I was intrigued by the cover and frankly, the price. I bought it hoping that it would atleast be interesting and new. I was not disappointed. Ofra's voice blew me away. I had never heard anything like it before and have not since. Desert Wind is still, for me, her best album. Her voice soars in I Want To Fly and is haunting in Kaddish. She was really my first encounter with Middle Eastern music and I have never forgotten how utterly moved I was by her beautiful voice.

Middle East Music Meets Mainstream Pop With Excellent Result.......2003-11-05

This CD is a wonderful mixture of middle eastern rhythm's
and mainstream pop. The music on this cd is both interesting and
exciting. Ofra Haza's singing is consistently superior in every respect to most other female pop vocalists. Her technical excellence, clarity of tone and pureness of pitch are at least equal to the best efforts of the best: Celine Dion, Sarah Brightman, Barbra Streisand. Ofra Haza poured
great depths of emotion into all her singing. With the majority
of her songs it is easy to discern that her soul is on full display, that she put her heart into her singing, and that the feelings expressed are genuine. She wrote much of her own music and most of her own lyrics. In "Desert Wind" the booklet provides a brief explanation of what each song is about. For example, the song "Fatamorgana" (Mirage), one of the best on this CD, tells the story of Ofra's mother traveling on foot through the desert to escape oppression in her native country. The CD provides a well balanced mix of fast paced and slower songs. The two standout fast paced songs are "Wish Me Luck," and "Middle East." Ofra typically put one or two very good songs at the end of her albums, and in this CD it is the excellent,relective "Kaddish." Overall, this is a very satisfying CD, and like almost all Ofra Haza's music, it
is worthy of many multiple listenings.

The worst of Ofra Haza........2003-09-18

Having bought Shaday and Kirya by miss Haza, i bought Desert Wind with the notion that it would be as fantastic as the aforementioned. Boy was i wrong. Gone are the heavy Yemenite/Israeli beats and flavor, as is Haza singing in Hebrew. Instead, I found her beautiful voice swallowed up by abhorrent 80's synth-pop cheese and benal lyrical content, with Hebrew only in the chorus at most. There is not a single song, with the exception of "Slave Dream" that I could bear to listen to all the way through, and most of the songs are laughably bad. So, fans of Haza's other works, do yourself a favor and save your [money] and buy Shaday or Kirya. Unless you want a good laugh, then by all means, purchase away!

World-beat pop masterpiece.......2003-06-20

I'll never forget the day I first heard this on cassette. My wife came home from shopping and put it on. I said "WOW, who is this??" And she said "I don't know who she is, they were playing her at the music store and I asked who it was and bought it. I think she's Arab." Then I saw Ofra Haza's picture on the cover and had to say "WOW" again. As we soon learned, she was a Yemenite Israeli, already world-famous (except in America) back then in 1990. We saw her in concert later that year and of course learned much more about her and her earlier music, particularly her groundbreaking "Fifty Gates of Wisdom (Yemenite Songs)".

Following "Fifty Gates" in 1987, Ofra Haza turned to a dance beat in "Shadday" (1988), an album, in my opinion, of derivative western dance-track sounds and only two stand-out songs. Then, a year later, she turns out "Desert Wind", this stunning, hook-laden, beat-driven, authentically Middle-Eastern album of passionate, meaningful songs, juxtaposing Hebrew and English verses, almost all written or co-written by her. Best are the danceable "Ya Ba Ye", "Middle East", "I Want to Fly" and "Taw Shi", and the gorgeous "Fatamorgana", "Da'asa" and "Kaddish". That's a lot of favorites for one album, but that's the kind of album this is. "Slave Dream" and "In Ta" take some getting used to, but even they turn into winners once you've managed to absorb them. "Kaddish" left hardly a dry eye in the house when she performed this in concert. "Middle East" has ironically the least middle-eastern melody of the dance tunes (i.e. it's in a major key), and it is a rousing song of hope for peace - even a love offering to the Palestinians. Ofra seems to put one such song on every album. Tragically, Ofra is gone, and we're all still waiting to hear popular songs of peace from the Palestinian side. Ofra would probably say keep hoping.

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