Your Email:

Friend's Email:

Note: (optional)

Subject:

Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/36526/full/36526/top-of-the-pop-israeli-music-sensation-sarit-hadad/ <br /><br /> <b>Top of the pop: Israeli music sensation Sarit Hadad</b> <br /> Friday, January 16, 2009 | by dan pine <br /><br /><p> By now it's a cliché in the biographies of pop stars: The young aspiring artist sneaks out of the house without parental permission, and rocks out at the clubs. <br /> <br /> Singer Sarit Hadad snuck out, too. Except she was 8 years old at the time. <br /> <br /> Hadad, now 31, has long been one of Israel's top stars, starting as a teenager. Known for blending Western pop with Arab and Mizrachi flourishes, Hadad has gone global, with her fan base extending across the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.<br /> <br /> She's also popular in the Bay Area, especially among the Israeli expatriate community. Hadad returns to the region for a Palo Alto concert Jan. 25. A portion of the proceeds goes to Yad beYad, an Israeli nonprofit that helps needy children.<br /> <br /> "I love San Francisco," she says from Israel, speaking through a translator. "The place is unbelievable, and such happy people."<br /> <br /> Seasonal affective disorder aside, audiences usually cheer up when Hadad performs. On stage, she's part Madonna, part belly dancer and part goodwill ambassador for Israel.<br /> <br /> "I definitely feel like an Israeli emissary," she says, "but also for myself. It's important for me to have contact with the audience and make people feel comfortable."<br /> <br /> Despite the Arab tilt to her music, Hadad traces her ancestry to Kavkaz, a region in Ukraine near the Black Sea. She was born in Israel, the youngest of eight children, and showed musical talent early on. <br /> <br /> "In the beginning my parents didn't like the idea," she says of her musical ambitions. "In their mind a girl doesn't have that profession. She gets married and has kids."<br /> <br /> She didn't listen to them. By 15, she had joined her first band, and before she turned 18 she had scored her first platinum-selling CD.<br /> <br /> Hadad has released 16 albums since her 1995 debut, six of them topping the Israeli charts. One of them was sung entirely in Arabic. Her authenticity has impressed Israelis and Arabs alike, with producers in Egypt and Jordan having invited her to record in their countries. <br /> <br /> As popular as she is, her nationality has caused problems. At the 2002 Eurovision contest -- the "American Idol" of Europe, and just as closely followed -- Swedish commentators hurled invective on her simply because she is Israeli (the Swedish ambassador to Israel later apologized to her in person).<br /> <br /> But Hadad tends not to dwell on those downer moments, preferring to sing for the world in a spirit of ahava, or love. That, she feels, is her way to reach out as an emissary from Israel.<br /> <br /> "I would love to build a bridge somehow through my music," she says.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <strong>Sarit Hadad</strong> performs 8:30 p.m. Jan. 25, at Spangenburg Theater at Gunn High School, 780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto. $55-$95. Information: (408) 530-8243 or <a href="http://www.yendor.com/yadbeyad">http://www.yendor.com/yadbeyad</a>. </p>

Please enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below: