A year and a half has passed since Valerie Hamati burst into the spotlight in the musical reality show “The Next Star”, where she finished in second place after Tamir Greenberg. “You can say that this period changed my life from end to end,” she says. “At the age of 16, I realized that I wanted to be a singer, I strived for it and I did everything I could to make the dream come true, but this past year is the first time that my dream has started to come true.”
Valerie Hamati, the next star (Photo: Keshet 12)
Since her participation in the reality show, Hamati, 23, managed to release eight singles, the latest of which is “Ala Bali”, to win nominations for the titles “Breakthrough of the Year” and “Singer of the Year” in music; to collaborate with the international singer Enrico Macias (in his performance in Israel), with Beaz Sharabi (“I hope”) and with “Hatikva 6” (“Children of Life”); to appear at the torch lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl; To star in a leading role in the play “Yud khare ni Nigun” at the Bhima Theater and to perform throughout the country in a solo show with her band. “I really started to become a singer, stand on big stages, perform at the biggest and most serious ceremonies in the country, release new songs that are played on the radio,” she says. “This is a very important and meaningful year for me, and the happiest for me so far, and it’s not even the last straw for me.”
Most of the songs that Hamati, an Israeli Arab singer, sings – from “Shoptak” and “Kakka Lother” to “Albi” and “Ala Bali” – combine poetry in Hebrew and Arabic. “In my songs I simply embody myself in my everyday life,” she says. “At home we speak Arabic and Hebrew with some unclear break, and this is how I behave as an Arab Christian living in the Land of Israel, where the official languages are Hebrew and Arabic. My whole life is conducted in connection between the two cultures, the two languages and the two worlds, so naturally this is also reflected in my songs. They say that art represents who we are and what we have to say, so this is what comes out to me. I have a song called ‘Mangina’ which is entirely in Hebrew and a song called ‘Anna Mallet’ which is entirely in Arabic, and both came out symbolically on the same day, so there is a statement here. I always had the blend of these two worlds.”
How does the audience receive this combination?
“I only receive warm, loving and exciting responses. The audience is excited by it and accepts it naturally, and this naturalness makes me very happy. In Israel we live next door to Arab countries, and we are very knowledgeable, relative to other countries, about Arab music and culture – after all, 20% of the country is Arab – so we accept it very naturally and normally and even thirst for it.”
Hamati, who also boasts the title of actress, will star in the youth musical series “Talatha”, by Michal Cooper Keren and Lior Yaron, which will air on February 19 on the “Teen Nick” channel and on HOT VOD Young. In the series, she will play the character of Yasmin Jaoud, a girl from a mixed neighborhood in Jaffa, who together with her friends forms a multilingual girl group. “Both the cast, both the director and I, at the frontal audition, felt that they wrote the series about me, and it’s simply amazing,” she says. From her it is to be a doctor. But she decides to break conventions and do everything to become a singer, even though it is not received favorably by her parents and family at first because it is not a routine profession. It is an amazing series with a crazy moral. It is a series that is not only for youth.”
“Talatha” (Photo: Hot VOD young)
feet on the ground
Already during her participation in the eighth season of “The Next Star” in the summer of 2021, it was evident that my mother-in-law knew where she wanted to go. “‘The Next Star’ was a plot twist for me and a one-time experience,” she says. “Me and my other friends for the season like Shai Hember and Tamir Greenberg are in a real relationship, we are good friends like family, we host each other’s shows and collaborate. Especially Tamir and I are in close contact.”
How did you get the massive publicity during the show?
“It’s funny to say, but from the moment I realized I wanted to be a singer, I walked the world with the feeling that one day they would recognize me and my work. When that moment really came and the public success came and I became famous – it was very natural for me. I’m the most down to earth.”
Would you go to reality TV again?
“I say Never Say Never, but I don’t think right now that it’s appropriate for me to go to a reality show because it’s still very fresh and I don’t have much to look for in another reality show. But I don’t know, you’ll know where I’ll be in a few years.”
where would you like to be
“I want to believe that I will be a successful singer with performances all over the country, with sold-outs and an audience that hears my songs. I hope to record songs that will become a milestone in the Israeli soundtrack and drive a few pegs in the soundtrack, and perhaps expand, little by little, also abroad.”
These days, Hamati launched a new single, “Lila”, a ballad that she wrote together with Alantan Shalom, Uriel Weinberger, Dorin Danai and Tamar Ofir and composed by Weinberger and Shalom. “It’s a song that has a double meaning: night is both a part of the day and my grandmother’s name in Arabic,” she says. in the soul, whereas at night, when the whole world is silent and asleep, she allows herself to dream and fulfill dreams and fantasies and to dare. My grandmother is a huge inspiration for me in all areas. She is the culture, she is the root, she is the tradition, she is the oldest, greatest and most experienced woman I know in my life. Second, I already live in a different generation and see things differently – she sacrificed all her dreams in favor of home, culture and tradition, and I do the opposite. She supports me when I choose to pursue a career and not follow the conventional path that she would have thought I would follow or that I would be expected to follow.” .
Do you also receive responses from listeners from Arab countries?
“The truth is yes and it’s really exciting and surprising. Many people write to me from Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, Jordan and Egypt. An audience that naturally I do not address because my songs are also in Hebrew, but it is exciting to see them connect and feel that my Arabic is also theirs, and the songs speak to them as well. It’s gratifying to see that the music, and it’s not a cliché, is above everything and above politics and is meant for a friend.”
Hamati even managed to appear twice on Dubai soil. “The first time I performed there with Tamir Greenberg and we performed ‘Hallelujah’ (your version from ‘The Next Star’ of a song by Leonard Cohen – DP),” she says. “The second time I was invited to perform at a private event with my band, and Rita was also a guest of honor there, and there were many other important people there. It was an amazing experience. It’s fun, and I wish myself to continue conquering peaks.”
How does your whole family accept your lifestyle as a singer?
“My family is my biggest fan. My parents go with me everywhere and to every show. They even flew with me to Dubai. My parents are my back, and that is the most important thing in the world because without them it is very difficult to survive.”
Healing for the soul
Hamati began her career as an actress when she was cast in the role of Tertzah Ether in the musical “The Music Is Coming” at the Bhima Theater, based on the life and work of Natan Alterman. “I jumped into the deepest waters from the beginning and it was amazing, an unforgettable experience,” she says. “I really like theater, on a level I can’t explain. It combines all the worlds I love – both stage, singing, acting, and a live audience that gives you feedback at that moment. It’s a crazy experience, and to play alongside the greatest actors and artists that exist in the country with receipts in the Israeli soundtrack – it was a one-off.”
Did it whet your appetite for another theater role?
“Unequivocal. I do auditions all the time, but in the end getting a role is much more than whether you are talented or not, it is more related to the specific casting that is being sought for that role in terms of visibility, language and other parameters. I wish myself to do more theater and more acting roles.”
Meanwhile, these days she plays Manar, an Arab high school student in a Jewish-Arab bilingual school in the comedy drama “Madrasa” broadcast on “Kan Educatilit” from the creator of Seyed Kashua. “For me it is a privilege that this is my first acting role in a TV series Revolutionary and super important in my eyes in the country, especially in the period we are in,” she says.
Why?
“Because this is a series that brings both sides of the coin equally in prime time in a public body that is watched by a lot of teenagers. This is a very authentic and real series, which is not pretentious and presents everything with humor and satire. A series that is half in Hebrew and half in Arabic, half of the characters are Arabs and half of the characters are Jews. This is very important. Israel in all its shades.”
Are you planning to release an album soon?
“Naturally, I’m a singer who grew up on artists’ albums, so I guess I’ll put together songs and go on an album, but right now I have a line of releasing singles and we’ll see where it leads. I guess it will lead to the album.”
Are you proud of the way you’ve come so far?
“You can say that I am very proud of the course I am doing. Sometimes things happen for the better and less for the better, you learn from everything during the process, but in the end everything is for the better, and what happened was meant to shape me during the process.”
What about a relationship?
“At the moment I am not in a relationship, I am single. It’s not something I’m looking for or pursuing, but it’s not something I’m ruling out either. I really live dynamically with what life throws at me and I believe, as I saw, and God and the universe proved to me, that as soon as I was ready to break out and start a career as a singer it happened, so it will happen when I’m ready for a relationship – it will happen. I just wish at the end of the day to meet a person who will be my best friend and a conversationalist and who will love each other.”
What do you like to do in your free time?
“The little free time I have I try to devote to my family, close friends and myself. I like doing Pilates, training, sitting with myself, playing and creating. It’s healing for the soul.”
Has success changed you?
“No. It is impossible to measure it that much, but from what I know myself and experience myself and those close to me experience me – then I am the same person. I also have a family that makes sure to keep me nice and nice with my feet on the ground.”