Osher Cohen is currently the real deal in Mediterranean pop.
Eden Hasson can dance with female dancers and sing about red sunsets, Shason Shaulov can dance with Bat Mitzvah girls in a hangar, Par Tsi can go back in time to the Mizrahi of yesteryear and Omar Adam can disappear a bit from the landscape because he doesn't feel like it.
At this time Usher Cohen, an excellent singer, fills Menorah Hall three evenings in a row, in a 360 degree show, with 33 thousand people in the audience, with great talent, high singing abilities, presence and charisma and a series of songs that show his diversity as a creator.
Cohen is first of all a pianist and singer, who can sit next to a grand piano that rises from the floor, accompany himself and sing, while his orchestra of players and the computer are silent, just him and the piano, and nothing more than that is needed, to have a distilled moment of art.
Arkady Duchin of the Mizrachit.
The audience, of course, joins him in tremendous singing, because after all, this is one of the hottest stars in Israel today, if not the.
This happened, for example, in "Such Couples", one of the songs that highlight Cohen's power as a balladist, whose melodies emanate from the piano and melt the hearts of fans.
Osher Cohen/Omari Silver
This also happened in "All the Time Saying", where he surrounded the piano with four young classical oriental instrument players, and honored them with solo pieces before the song.
Towards the end of the show, in the huge hit "Love", he demonstrated how a Mediterranean ballad can arise from classical music, when he started a classical session on the grand piano and from there he led into the song, which raised the ceiling of the hall.
Since Ofer Levy, there has not been a singer and creator of the eastern genre who emphasized so strongly this possibility of a connection between these worlds, which on his face seem far away.
Usher Cohen's presence on stage reminded me not of Duchin or Levy, but of another giant, Shlomi Shabbat, whose charisma alone fills the halls.
Without dancers going wild with the rhythmic songs, without dancing much, with a moderate walk most of the time on the stage, which was designed as the international symbol for the return of the kidnapped, most of the time completely alone, while the players of his orchestra are placed below the level of his feet, he repeatedly walked from side to side and sang to the audience, smiling, Operator, lifter.
True, he doesn't run the arc like Bono in U-2's 360, but he has to be made of special stuff to stand at the age of 25 alone, naked, in front of 11 thousand people, night after night, and sing his soul, without missing even a moment and connect the Everyone who will be with you at the event.
professional.
Osher Cohen/Omari Silver
Those who were looking for humor got it in "Omer's Songs".
Those who were looking for musical diversity got, for example, the swing of "Accords in Nights", the happy ash with the Turkish tone "Thursday Friday", one of several, and influences of hip hop on some of the songs, in some of which Cohen actually raps.
With the flared jeans and the baggy denim jacket, he sometimes looks like the Mediterranean answer to the grand guys.
One of Cohen's musical secrets is the ability to take relatively "heavy" elements and lighten them for the young audience.
So in the classical influence, so in the Turkish influence, so in hip-hop and trap.
The climax of the party came with "Kakaka Vakaka", the kind of rhythmic songs that today there is no hafela or oebat without them, but for Cohen these songs were not created to be danced at a wedding.
Unlike the generation that paved the way for them 15 and a decade ago, the generation of singers to which Cohen belongs, do not record songs that are predestined for weddings, ballads for canopies and rhythms for dancing, they are much more authentic in their approach, and if there is a song about depression, or longing or a broken heart, then let it be depression, And the young audience proves that it connects with him.
The peak of emotion in the show came in "Tarkadi", which was written after the war and in memory of the victims of the Nova Berai party.
This song, well written and composed, has a chorus melody that tugs at the heart and doesn't let go, and while a lone dancer sauntered across the stage, Cohen reached his peak as a performing singer.
The tendency of his friends to sing folk Jewish songs these days to the delight of the audience, he partially adopted with a short segment from "We believe, we believe", and he did not forget the roots with "Ya bint al Sultan" in the tail of one of the verses.
"Binat al Sultan" is already considered a cliché in the genre, a kind of cheap trick that singers use to get the crowd going, sometimes even spontaneously, but Cohen comes from the heart, and it was hard to miss his pleasure, as young people, whose parents were just born when this Arab anthem became a hit here before decades, dancing and singing it.
Osher Cohen/Omari Silver
In the gimmicks section, there was a performance by Ness Vastila with the war hit "Harbo Darbo", which allowed for a few minutes' intermission in the middle of the show, and a performance by the boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, who came on stage surrounded by a tight ring of security guards to receive respect, a designed banner and a greeting from the minister in stammering English.
Cohen also bothered to mention the names of all the colleagues who came to honor him in the crowd, from Eyal Golan to Eden Ben Zaken.
The last few months have been difficult for everyone, but for Cohen they have been especially difficult, personally, with canceled engagements and personal gossip accusations.
With great sincerity he thanked the audience for the support they gave him during the difficult period and transmitted a lot of authenticity.
This authenticity that the audience perceives from him is one of the elements of his success. The boy from the Kirov who was exposed to violence at a young age, spent many months in a military prison and went through the streets until he was able to be accepted as a legitimate creator and singer in the Mediterranean genre.
Today, without being considered handsome, he leaves dust for all kinds of people who told him "no" in the past.
Just let it stay for a few more years to come.
More on the same topic:
Usher Cohen