If we all agree that in the annals of music, the last few years will be considered the reigning years of the producers, and that names like Jordi, Stav Begar and Dolly and Penn have become familiar in every household - you are welcome to add the name Oren Emanuel to the list as well.
Or DEGO, as he calls himself, and as the credit he receives in the songs that everyone recognizes his involvement.
And if you don't know his songs yet, you probably will when they come out.
Because Emanuel's repertoire (42) includes production, writing or consulting work with prominent names in the music industry, such as Ran Denker ("My new dress"), Noa Kirel (a song in the works that will be released soon), Omer Adam (same above), Anya Bukstein ( "You Know Who You Are", which will be released after the holidays), Neta Barzilai ("In One Heart" with Sarit Haddad), Giraffes, Ili Butner ("Another One Who Sings to You" with Guy Mazig), Tamir Greenberg (musical consultation for "Changes "), Raviv Kaner and the hope 6.
"My New Dress", his best-known collaboration to date, with Ran Denker, came out about a year ago, and instantly became a huge hit, with an addictive base line and a rare drop.
Considering the fact that this is the first single Danker released after "Madhouse", the song that took his career to a new and completely different place than it had been up to that point, there are those who would have collapsed under the pressure and expectation to deliver more of this good material.
"Ran and I worked together a year and a half before the corona virus, we also released a song or two before that, but we were looking for this common connection to pop," says Emanuel.
"We went on an amazing journey, which ended with Ren writing 'Madhouse' with Ron Beaton and Jordy, then coming back to me - even before 'Madhouse' even became a huge hit, so that I could produce 'The Dress'. It was a lovely closing of the circle between us , and while I was working on 'The Dress' - 'Madhouse' suddenly became the song of the year."
A bit stressful, isn't it? Suddenly there are expectations from you to bring more friction.
"You're talking about a very interesting topic here. 'Linking', I call it in our industry. There are many singers who manage to get the hit, but don't manage to persist. Names are not important. So it can be assumed that a guy like Ran, who is managed by the best people in the industry Here, I understand what this connection is worth. The thing that was beautiful about the process of 'The Dress', for me, is the connection to 'Satya' (a method for personal development, in a holistic and integrative way; ref) that I am learning.
Let's just say that a few years ago, before the knowledge I acquired, I don't know where this song would have gone.
Recording at a party in the USA. "There was a time when I was the king of the world", photo: from Instagram
"From my point of view, this song is very stressful, but thanks to it I could take a breath and create reliable music, out of a desire to make it, and not out of a thought of 'what does it bring me?' , I noticed the quality in which I do things.
"Until Satya, I would mainly focus on 'why I do things.'
Someone comes to you with such a big hit on the radio, and now all eyes are on you, and it can be confusing.
It can start to let the environment manage you.
Since I pay attention to the quality in which I do things, I can stop and breathe, because we are human.
"In the previous situation, I would have wanted to show off, to manipulate. I would have channeled my talent on the wrong frequency. By the way, Ran's partner is also a Satya trainer, and this is a language that was very easy for me to communicate in front of Ran, because he himself is very developed in these areas ".
What did you think of the words when you heard them? They didn't feel like a gimmick to you?
"No. I really liked the words, I think they're amazing. This song has a concept, it's light. My only doubt was about the transition in the middle to sentences like 'It's not a business of the rabbi, not a business of the judge, and Allah doesn't care either.' A phrase that could provoke antagonism in another section. The fear was that the high part, this part of the song, would actually burn its entire light idea and take it straight to a place of boycott and cancellation culture. We only sat on this section for several months, until we came to the conclusion that it must be lightened, because He was very... poignant, let's call it, in the first version.
"A sentence like 'It's not a matter of your honor' can be said in a very dark way. Ran was living in Jaffa at the time, and in general it was not an easy time among the citizens of the country. So we decided to take it in the direction of an audience and guys who shout it, and it is definitely made this sentence accessible. There was no intention to challenge or defy. It simply means - 'Go with your beliefs, that's what everyone wants. Even God'. And fact, it's a crazy hit."
"Very quickly became a livelihood"
Voila - a hit.
The kind that officially marked Emanuel as an important player in the industry, where in recent years producers, arrangers and songwriters, as mentioned, have more weight than ever before.
Ironically, the very person who tried to avoid the music industry in Israel at all costs suddenly found himself in the middle of his career, and after years of success abroad working with the best of its sons and daughters.
"My childhood is full of pictures of me with a toy guitar, a strong period of Polykar and gasoline", he recalls his formative years in Kiryat - from Kiryat Haim, through Kiryat Yam and Motzkin to Kiryat Bialik, where he was also nicknamed "Dago" in his youth, due to his thinness which he reminded his friends You are the former soccer player Baruch Dago.
"At the age of 16, I started playing Mashina's songs on the guitar, 'Touched the Sky'. Then we formed a band called 'The Fourth Floor', and we even released a single, produced for us by Manny Begar, called 'Bastu'. It's a funny part, what happened with Stav Begar afterwards , because he wasn't there yet. I told him once, 'Manny produced my first song for me, and it was called Autumn.'
"Today the big producers make songs with the artists and sign them."
DEGO, photo: Eric Sultan
"We sent the single to Shush Atari on Network C, things like that. Then I recorded a short album with a band called Hish, we sent it at the time to Haim Shemesh from Hed Artzi, who was enthusiastic, and I also personally brought it to Yrami Kaplan at his concert in Carmel in Haifa. It was Israeli rock, Both Yermi and Haim wanted to produce it, to record an entire album. I refused."
The obvious question is why? And where do the eggs come from?
"Something happened at that time, and I discovered electronic and trance. I saw the first parties, Infected Mashroom - half of which is Erez Eisen, who is also from the Kiryus. When I was discharged from the army, things began to take a different direction, and within two months, Tamir Regev and I signed, under the name Void, A contract with Skazi on his label, 'Chappelle Records', later 'Chemical Crew'.
"It's also a funny story. I lived with a partner at the time who was connected to people in the industry. She celebrated her birthday, invited all the big DJs to her house, and I, because I'm crazy, don't go out, sit in my room and work on music. Then Skazi entered the room and was interested in what he was hearing.
"He sat down with me alone outside the party, taught me things for two hours, and very quickly we became a signed band. That was the time when signing with a label was a very shiny thing. All this happened at the end of 2000, and in 2002 we already did our first gig at Mount Fog J (the famous volcano in Japan; ref) in front of 10,000 people.
It was an amazing time, just when trance started to explode and bands arose that combine playing live with it.
That's when I started a decade-long career, with 80-100 performances a year."
It also comes with not bad money, one can assume.
"At that point I was already making a living from it. It became a living very quickly, and then I stopped working at any other job in the country. Before that, I also worked for a cell phone company and things like that, but at that time it was definitely possible to stop working and deal only with music. I was the king of the world."
Omer Adam.
"Great guy", photo: Koko
Aren't you a little frustrated that you weren't talked about in Israel as an international success? Much more minor successes of Israelis abroad are poured here tons of words.
"In the beginning, there was less talk about it, no doubt, but over time Skazi grew and became a world star on an insane level. Don't forget that this was also before YouTube and Instagram. There was no way to show the success of it either.
"After six or seven years, Chemical Crew became the thing The strongest in Israel, because of the connection with the Tackett family.
Subliminal and the Shadow were the static and Ben-El of that time.
Kobi (Shimaoni, Subliminal; PA) signed a lot of artists at the time, such as Shai 360 and Dan Farber. Every holiday we would play eight shows, always with the same line-up: two or three artists from the Tackett family, after that Ofer Nissim, then Ofer Mahkab I'm all sweaty and we go up to give it a try - either Skazi or Void.
"That was actually the peak period. Asher (Suvisa, Skazi; AP) also became very strong in Japan.
There were times when he and I couldn't walk in Tokyo, because in a second 200 people would gather around us.
It's not a problem to recognize two rockers there, two redheads with hair down to their ass and leather jackets.
Not related to the landscape, not even jokingly.
It was an amazing time, and at that stage the amount of money we earned increased, the performances became bigger and we played a lot at festivals."
"Get to the well and don't drink"
So far it's been a Transcinderella legend.
The fall, a mandatory stop in every good success story, will come, but before it will come another peak.
He starts by hooking up with an English guy from Brighton named John Ford, a successful DJ himself, son of John Ford Sr., owner of the Trance label.
In those years, Ford visited Tel Aviv a lot (Emmanuel: "Imagine that most of the trance would be done by Israelis"), where he and Degu connected, "fell in love" and founded a joint company.
But one ad for Motorola, the popular mobile device that heralded the rise of the cellular age in the first decade of the 2000s, made him and Ford superstars in South America - just before the big crash.
"In Brazil at that time, everyone had Motorola phones, with this ringtone of 'Terror Terror, Hello Moto.' , was really revolutionary in the scene, and you could say that he 'killed' Brazil.
"YouTube started in those years, and this audio clip reached millions of views.
It had an incredible impact on the audience, and instantly made us the biggest stars in Brazil.
We were signed by Ron Rivlin, the director of Infected Mashrum.
Three shows in one weekend, $100,000.
We became big stars."
Ran Danker.
"Closing a charming circle", photo: Doron Barsak
After they decided to align with the EDM scene that swept the world at the time, in 2016 another offer came, this time from SFX Entertainment, a huge corporation from New York.
In those days Emanuel and his partner already dreamed of America and signed a contract - but then the corporation went bankrupt and stopped all the processes.
"It was like reaching a well and not drinking from it," Emanuel describes the moment when the break-in of the giant in the US quickly turned into the dissolution of the joint business. After a period of self-searching, he found himself, slowly and gradually, working in the local industry in Israel. An industry he had avoided only a decade before. Here programming on Mookie's "Free Heart" album, and there production and arrangement of Blue Elephant's "Jasmin" - another huge hit that he was not fully aware of its power.
"I didn't even know the song was successful, I found out incredibly late," he says, making the success sound almost random again.
"I haven't talked to the Blue Elephant until today about this matter, it's a matter I need to talk to them about. Just a few years ago, Boaz Rotenberg, the director of 'Big Brother VIP' (in which the song was played during peak viewing hours; ref.) sat with me.
He told me about what happened, and then I had the market of my life.
These were my first touches of Israeli pop."
A professional connection with Avi Guetta brought Emanuel together with Sarit Haddad, for whom he produced "Mi Amor" written by the singer Dikla.
The name "Oren Emanuel" began to pass from word of mouth, until Gadi Gidor, a well-known name in the industry, who managed artists at the NMC company and specializes in talent discovery (Idan Raichel, for example), brought him together with Ran Denker.
And from there everything is history.
After the holidays, Emanuel's collaboration with Raviv Kanar will be released, and also with Hatikva 6. Bekane, almost completely ready, also a song with Omar Adam.
"To write a song for Omar Adam is to create a pop of punch in every sentence," he explains.
"Everything is sharp and connected to the current situation in Israeli society. That's how a song comes out that only Omar Adam can sing. Almost any song you write today, if Noa Kirel or Agam Bohbot don't want it - it can go to another singer. Things like this happen a lot in the industry, and songs written for One singer was eventually sung by another singer.
"But Omar Adam is a bet on the whole pot.
It has its own style, jargon, language.
It was an experience in the studio.
Before I worked with him, I heard legends that he was a perfectionist, a hard worker - and I got it in the face, proven a million percent.
It's amazing, he really comes and sheds his cloak, let's call it, and works with you at eye level.
Great guy."
who also knew a lot of interpersonal messes recently. How do you avoid releasing another offensive song like "Cockadilla"?
"When I say 'punch song' I don't mean something offensive, but a song that is very fan, more clean humor, let's call it that. In my opinion, whoever writes a song like 'Cockadilla' is aware of the scandal it can cause, and also whoever releases such a song. But I have no idea, I didn't write it."
What do you think about the Nono phenomenon?
"It's interesting. The big question is - and in my opinion, this is even the elephant in the room - the comparison of Nuno to his uncle Farouk. Nuno has been here longer than him, his uncle was here for a shorter period. It's really a question of how long it will survive."
His uncle Farouk did not leave the character at that time, which exhausted itself very quickly. Naomi Aharoni-Gal, Nono, is interviewed outside of her character.
"You can see it in the change that Chenchi Nech made in his transition to Ravid Plotnik. It's not like he made a world of change and changed his musical style. He still does hip-hop, but now he's Ravid. He basically said, 'It was fun with The character until now, but I'm Ravid, and here I am now face to face'. So it's very interesting to see what will happen with Nono. I think she's insanely talented."
There is no avoiding asking you about the biggest bomb that has landed on the industry recently - the dissolution of Static and Ben-El.
"I remember Hanan Ben Ari's 'Wikipedia', which was deleted when their 'Todo Boom' arrived, it was amazing. These guys established pop and industry together here. Because as soon as their names come up, we must also consider their management team, Oron Kalfon And Yoav Gross, and of course - to Jordi.
"It's amazing what they did. I myself aligned myself with the new industry, with the 'Prod. By' they brought. Geordie really brought it. It was in hip-hop before, but in this pop It wasn't accepted yet. Today the big producers don't just produce, they already make songs with the artists and sign them."
In the end you got to become a player on the local court. Are you actually done with the trance?
"There's no such thing as ending. These are phases, it's all a matter of frequency. As long as it doesn't die, it just sits weakly on the side, calmly. This whole Dago in trance thing is still happening. Tracks I released with Winnie the Pooh and Rehab, or with White Noise, Really exploding. In the last month and a half, there is a piece of mine that reached two million streams on Spotify. I find my fun in all the pop, I travel to Arad or Be'er Sheva, record a track for fun. Maybe there will be a performance someday."
We can say that your story sounds almost fantasy. Along with work, he also had a lot of luck.
"I went through a lot with Giraffet's album 'Who Doesn't Dream Angry'. There is a single I worked on with them and with Neta Barzilai, and an amazing relationship developed between me and Gilad Kahane. Gili is the top writer in Israel in my eyes, I really fell in love with him, and I feel that he fell in love with me too .
"In one of the songs he says 'this light is not small, it's just far away'. It's a very strong sentence. Here I realize now that I have 148 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify. Giraffes have 139! Just kidding, but don't let it appear that I'm enthusiastic. It's just because They are in Israel and I am all over the world."
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