Rita Yahan Prose Celebrating its 60th birthday today (Friday), it’s been 4 decades since Rita’s voice accompanied us in the great moments. Yoav Hanani edited her best songs on Shabbat Hebrew on 103FM.
Rita was born in Tehran, Iran and immigrated to Israel with her family when she was 8 years old. The singer began her musical path in the military band. In 1982 she began studying at the Beit Zvi acting house and at that time the CBS CEO who invited her and Rami Klenstein, who later married and divorced, to sing in the soundtrack of the movie ‘The Boarding School’.
In 1985, Roni Brown left the company and founded Helicon, starting work on solo albums by Kleinstein and Rita. Which led to the fact that at the end of that year, Rita’s debut single – ‘Betrayal’ was released on radio stations, which Kleinstein composed and over 120 studio hours were invested in. The song soon made its way to the top of the charts in many places and stayed there for more than two months.
Rita recreated the success of the song with the single ‘Song of the Sailor’ ‘, written by Yair Lapid based on the book The Dead Sea. In the pre-Eurovision contest 1986 she sang ‘The Escape Trail’ written by Michal Burnett and composed by Kleinstein, which won fourth place and was one of the biggest hits in Israel that year. Also, ‘The Escape Trail’ won the title of Song of the Year.
- Warriors needed: The exceptional request of a company commander in reserve in the Armored Corps
The first album, and the big break
That same year Rita also embraced her first album named after her. Like her songs, the album was a great success, selling over 150,000 copies and to this day it is considered the best-selling debut album in Israel. Among the prominent songs on the album is the song ‘Slave of Time’, which Rita wrote herself. Kleinstein arranged all the songs on the album and except for ‘Put It Under Your Wing’ he composed them all. At the annual choral parade, Rita was named Singer of the Year.
In 1988, Rita released her second Hebrew album – ‘Days of Innocence’, in which Kleinstein also composed most of the songs. The album was a great success and within two days it reached gold album status. A total of 120,000 copies were sold and a year later Rita won the title of Singer of the Year for the second time. One of her albums at the time.
Great collaborations and international recognition
In the 90’s Rita collaborated with many talented artists and also had great success abroad. At the end of 1994, after archiving an entire album and six years after her previous album, Rita launched her album – ‘Great Love’. This album was also a great success and contained Many hits that captured the hearts of the listeners, including “Deep Blue Evening” written by Meir Ariel and composed by Shlomo Yidov, “Are You Happy” composed by Shlomo Artzi, “Great Love”, and many other good ones. A thousand copies. Rita told Raz Shechnik about this album on 103FM.
Following the album, Rita embarked on another successful tour, which lasted about four years and included about 400 appearances. That same year, the talented singer once again won the Golden Apple Award for Singer of the Year. Also that year, the talented singer performed the song ‘Do Not Be Afraid’ in the film ‘The Siren Song’, which became a hit in its own right. During the big tour, Rita released another album ‘Stations in Time’, which was an interim summary to mark a decade for the singer’s career. The album included songs that did not enter previous albums, alongside new songs. Rita told Raz Shechnik about this album on 103FM (Part A, Part B).
In 1998, the jubilee year of the State of Israel, Rita sang the national anthem at the state show in Jerusalem. Later, in 1999, Rita released her fourth studio album – ‘Open a Window’. This is a double album in which many creators participated and the theme song of the album was written by Rita. Simultaneously with the release of the album, ‘Channel 2’ produced a documentary about the singer’s life called ‘Hudadad’. While the album was at the height of its success, Rita decided to type another album in English.
New peaks
In 2002, Rita and Rami Kleinstein reunited and went on a tour under the name ‘The Joint Show’, which was recorded on a double album and was a huge success and reached the status of a square emission. Later, the singer embraced the album ‘Oxygen’ and in 2004 Rita played the role of Rocky Hunt in the Chicago musical and won praise for her acting skills. Two years later, Rita launched the show ‘one’, directed by Hanoch Rosen, and at the end of the show, Rita began working on her seventh album, ‘Hints’, which was released in 2008 and immediately captured the ears of listeners.
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, Rita won the title of All-Time Singer of Israel and at the end of that year she was chosen Singer of the Year on four different radio charts. Also, the album ‘Hints’ was the best-selling album in Israel that year and Rita was announced as the most played artist on the radio.
Three years later the singer released another studio album called ‘My Joys’ and only 4 years later she embraced another album in English – ‘Heaven Sent’. In addition, in 2017 she released the album ‘Transparent Miracles’, for which she worked for about 9 years and was the 12th album. Rita launched the album at a festive event at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and also wrote her own theme song.
These days, Rita is appearing on TV screens in the original program of ‘Hot’ ‘Malchut’, in which the head of a crime family plays with great talent. This is the first time the singer has been photographed for a TV series. In addition, the singer has released a debut book for the adult audience called ‘Chador Dripping Rainwater’.
Song list:
- Deep blue evening
- The days of innocence
- Two (with Shlomo Artzi)
- Smile and live (with Gidi Gov)
- Local vision
- Slave of time
- Come on
- To a thousand tigers
- The Legend of the Sun and Moon (with Ethnix)
- The escape route
- like in the picture
- betrayal
- The siren sang (do not be afraid)
- Wrapped in pity
- Children are happiness
- am waiting
- Take it (with silk Kleinstein)
- Repeat memory voice (with Eli Butner)
- I live in front of the water (hosts the two)
- The sailor’s favorite song
- The Princess and the Spirit
- I live for myself from day to day
- foreign bird
- How ironic
- Sarah in the streets (at the show)
- I want to dance (from ‘Mrs. Nava’)
- Crazy dance (in performance)
- A private moment
- Oath (with Rami Kleinstein)
- Big Love
- A friend of yesteryear
- Company
- cry
- Put me under your wing
- The Rainbow Song (The Concerto for Arnahuiz)
- A feather in the wind
- In my locked house
- Until you leave
- After he loved
- The first letter
- Are you happy
- You reminded me (you still are)
- Enough of the pain (with the Church of the Intellect)
- Station of time
- Magic Hat
- Hail has fallen in southern Spain (from ‘Mrs. Nava’, with Oded Teomi)
- Let me decide
- End of Season
- Homeland
- Under an Arab moon
- long ago
- Time (with Rami Kleinstein)
- Open a window
- I do not know what is going through your mind
- Either yes or no
- My Fair Lady
- clear water
- Besides love
- Not giving up
- I live from day to day (in a performance)