Bracha Zefira (Hebrew: ×'רכ×" צפיר×"‎, also spelled Braha
Tzfira, 15 April 1910 â€" 1 April 1990) was a pioneering Israeli folk
singer, songwriter, musicologist, and actress of Yemenite Jewish
origin. She is credited with bringing Yemenite and other Middle
Eastern Jewish music into the mix of ethnic music in Palestine to
create a new "Israeli style", and opening the way for other Yemenite
singers to succeed on the Israeli music scene. Her repertoire, which
she estimated at more than 400 songs, included Yemenite, Bukharan,
Persian, Ladino, and North African Jewish folk songs, and Arabic and
Bedouin folk songs and melodies.Born in Jerusalem to Yemenite Jewish
immigrants, she was orphaned of both parents by the age of three. She
was raised by a succession of Sephardi Jewish foster families in the
city and imbibed the musical tradition of each, as well as the local
Arabic songs. She rose to stardom in the 1930s with her musical
interpretations of Yemenite and Middle Eastern Jewish folk songs,
accompanied by Western arrangements on piano by Nahum Nardi. In the
1940s she began collaborating with art music composers such as Paul
Ben-Haim, Marc Lavry, Alexander Uriah Boskovich, Noam Sheriff, and
Ben-Zion Orgad, performing her songs with classical music ensembles
and orchestras. She was popular in Palestine, Europe, and the United
States. In 1966, she received the Engel Prize for her musical
contribution.Bracha Zefira was born in Jerusalem, in the Ottoman
Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, in 1910. Her father, Yosef Zefira, had
immigrated to the Land of Israel from Sanaa, Yemen, in 1877, and
resided in the Nachalat Zvi neighborhood of Jerusalem. Here he married
Na'ama Amrani, also a native of Yemen. Na'ama died giving birth to
Bracha, and Yosef succumbed to typhus when Bracha was three years old.
Tzfira, 15 April 1910 â€" 1 April 1990) was a pioneering Israeli folk
singer, songwriter, musicologist, and actress of Yemenite Jewish
origin. She is credited with bringing Yemenite and other Middle
Eastern Jewish music into the mix of ethnic music in Palestine to
create a new "Israeli style", and opening the way for other Yemenite
singers to succeed on the Israeli music scene. Her repertoire, which
she estimated at more than 400 songs, included Yemenite, Bukharan,
Persian, Ladino, and North African Jewish folk songs, and Arabic and
Bedouin folk songs and melodies.Born in Jerusalem to Yemenite Jewish
immigrants, she was orphaned of both parents by the age of three. She
was raised by a succession of Sephardi Jewish foster families in the
city and imbibed the musical tradition of each, as well as the local
Arabic songs. She rose to stardom in the 1930s with her musical
interpretations of Yemenite and Middle Eastern Jewish folk songs,
accompanied by Western arrangements on piano by Nahum Nardi. In the
1940s she began collaborating with art music composers such as Paul
Ben-Haim, Marc Lavry, Alexander Uriah Boskovich, Noam Sheriff, and
Ben-Zion Orgad, performing her songs with classical music ensembles
and orchestras. She was popular in Palestine, Europe, and the United
States. In 1966, she received the Engel Prize for her musical
contribution.Bracha Zefira was born in Jerusalem, in the Ottoman
Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, in 1910. Her father, Yosef Zefira, had
immigrated to the Land of Israel from Sanaa, Yemen, in 1877, and
resided in the Nachalat Zvi neighborhood of Jerusalem. Here he married
Na'ama Amrani, also a native of Yemen. Na'ama died giving birth to
Bracha, and Yosef succumbed to typhus when Bracha was three years old.
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