Inbal Perlmutter (photo by Moshe Shay Flash90)
Yesterday 25 years ago, on October 1, 1997, the musician, singer and guitarist, founder and lead singer of the band “The Witches” Inbal Perlmutter, passed away at the age of only 26. Perlmutter created for only a few years, and despite this is considered a unique, groundbreaking and influential creator in Israeli music.
Already in her childhood, her melancholic and gloomy character was formed, which pushed her into the realms of creativity and imagination. When she was 8 years old, her father, a former member of the “Black Panthers” movement, taught her to play the violin, and during this period she also began to draw, write, and develop her sense of imagination.
Although she was also in the scout movement and was not a particularly problematic girl, at the age of 20 she went to London, where she was first introduced to the drug heroin, and since then has continued to consume it with varying frequency. This may have contributed to the extreme moods she experienced, and led her to create a gloomy and special work that was unusual in the Israeli landscape, especially when it came from a woman.
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The group of witches (photo by Moshe Shai Flash90)
The band “The Witches” began its journey at the end of 1992 with performances in clubs. The members of the band were Perlmutter, who wrote and composed most of the songs and served as vocalist, Yael Cohen as drummer and Yifat Natz as bass player. The band had its first success at the Ein Gev Festival in 1993 in the arrangement and performance of the song “Magic on the Sea of Kinneret”.
At the beginning of 1994 “The Witches” recorded their first album – “Upon the next pleasure”. Korin Elel produced the album, which included energetic rock songs and was very successful and received gold record status. A year later, her second album was released – “Orange Times”. In April 1996, the band released a mini-album called “The Witches Cover Up” with cover versions recorded by the band. As a sign of protest, Perlmutter distributed one of the songs on an underground tape she designed and wrote “rights shit” on it.
Although there was no official announcement about its breakup. Her last performance took place in September 1996. With the unofficial disbandment of “The Witches”, Perlmutter continued her musical activity: she recorded sketches for a solo album, played at Korin Alel’s concerts, and recorded an album in London with Ram Orion as part of a duo called “Inballance”. The two intended to release the album in a limited and cheap format, but this did not materialize at the time. In the album, Inbal gave expression for the first time to the collection of musical baby games she had, which she played throughout the album in the various songs.
Perlmutter’s gloominess, bluntness and directness are considered extreme even today, and perhaps even more so today, when almost no kicking work is created anymore and certainly not one that dares to go down to the depths of conflicted souls and put the artist on the table as he is, without screens and commercial considerations.
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