Interview with Orphaned Land (Kobi Farhi - Vocals)

Thanks for the interview and let’s get started with the questions:

Infernal Masquerade: Orphaned Land has been around since 1991, and the band’s music has changed dramatically since the old days of the band’s Death/Doom Metal releases. Can you tell us more about why and how this has happened?

Kobi Farhi: The reason for that is because in those days we were 17 years old. We probably expressed our feelings through a more violent form of music… Now almost 20 years have passed, our lives have been enriched with experience and we don’t like to repeat ourselves when it comes to music. I guess this explains why our music is continuously changing, or better said: changing faces often…

I.M: With “Mabool” you guys managed to create with many say a long awaited masterpiece, and it took 8 years between releases. Why do you think this process was so long? And did you guys expect the reactions of both press and fans?

K.F: Mabool took so long to be released for the simple reason that the band stopped activities in 1997. Of course we were still seeing each other and Orphaned Land was still inside of us. And in 2000 or 2001, when I actually started to forget more and more about it, I suddenly started to receive emails from those Arab guys showing off their Orphaned Land’s tattoos and asking when we would do another album. The situation in Israel was not so easy back in the days, but still such messages were ringing a bell in those dark moments for peace. We then decided to pick up again and Yossi had a lot of riffs and ideas ready. After a few shows, we decided to go for an album. We thought it would remain a “confidential” album as Mabool is very special, with a lot of Orchestration, and we were really surprised by such a warm welcome around the world.

I.M: Having opened new frontiers for the band with “Mabool”, did you guys felt any pressure to release something even better? And also why did it took another 6 years between albums?

K.F: It took so long again for several reasons. First of all, we are perfectionists with our music. Maybe a bit too much, but still we postponed several times the studio as we thought we were not prepared enough or not focused enough. Second to none, we wanted to have Steven Wilson to produce the album, as he wanted also to do it. This guy is very busy and when we thought to be ready, he was not available… And to finish, we wanted to have  artwork for the album that would be unique and special. It took me time to find the right guys to do it. So everything put together, you can easily see the years passing by… We did not have a lot of pressure, but the guys at Century Media went a bit crazy for sure, haha!. We love what we are doing with the band. If people love it, that is great. If they don’t, that’s too bad, but I won’t stop sleeping because of that.

I.M: Having incorporated more traditional elements in your last releases, has the music composition part become more challenging?

K.F: Not really. Yossi has always played traditional instruments and is always eager to discover new instruments. As he touches a new instrument, he has right away an idea how to do a song with it… We also did a a lot of work in preproduction. Not only on our side, but also by going to the homes of the Nazareth’s Orchestra guys, talking with them, playing some stuff acoustic, discussing arrangements with a good coffee… It was challenging but also a great human experience…

I.M: What was your main concern about what would fans and press say about the new album?

K.F: As I already said, we do what we like with our music. But still we were clever enough to understand that this album is very long (we could not put more), and quite complex. It  requires a lot of listening and effort to get the full picture. That was probably our biggest fear in these times where music is sometimes considered as fast food: download, listen, delete. Still we have been very happy so far with the reactions. Some magazines even had the guts to put our promo picture on their cover page! That was quite a challenge, but it means as well that we managed to explain what the concept of the band is. As far as fans are concerned, we know they are more than happy with the album, because they keep telling us that on Facebook and sites like that. It is great to hear from a fan that your new album made them cry from joy when they first heard it. What more can you ask for as a musician?

I.M: Can you explain to us the ideas behind the promotional pictures used for “The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR”? You can see several religions depicted on them, what was the main idea behind this?

K.F:
The first picture we took is called “Utopia, A Heaven You May Create”. It took actually several months before we managed to reach what we wanted to achieve: show in one photo what is Orphaned Land. As with our albums, you have to dig a lot into it to perceive the message we want to give. On this picture, you can see two Jews praying as Muslims, and two Muslims praying as Jews. You can see also Shlomit and me as represent of the Christians. Fair enough, you can say at a first degree “OK, this religious band wants to have a friendly message” and that’s it. But this is not about religion, we are not a religious band. We are from the land where the three monotheistic religions were born. When we play in Israel in front of a massive jewish audience, they sing in Arabic with us. When we play in Turkey in front of an audience composed with a majority of Muslims, they sing in Hebrew with us. Some fans from Arab countries that are supposed to be our enemies fly to Istanbul, cry and sing in Hebrew with us at our shows. This is what this picture is about: what we are as a band, coming from the land of the three religions, and managing to realize what some people think is impossible to achieve. Then you understand more the name given to the photo…

I.M: Having created two amazing albums in the last years, how do you think you guys are going to follow them? Have you guys started planning on what’s next in terms of a new album? Will we have to wait another 6 years or so?

K.F:
Haha, the “Never Ending” question… We want to release the next album in two or three years. I am not promising anything, because with Orphaned Land it is done when it is done. But this is also important for us as a band. When you release an album each 6 years, you almost have to start from scratch every time; you are not in “the picture” anymore and you lose a bit the connection with your fans.

I.M: Currently you guys have several dates in the USA to support the album. Why not a full-scale USA tour?

K.F:
Because setting up such a big tour would be very expensive and quite risky as this is our first tour in Northern America. But you can also ask the US promoters why they don’t book us more when we come to play! Haha! Well, don’t get me wrong, we are really happy and we are very much looking forward to playing those shows.

I.M: Where do you see yourself taking the band’s music in the next few years?

K.F: Living in the Middle East is living the current day. Tomorrow is far away. So we will see what kind of music we want to play in the next few years. Those who attended our shows and festival the past years noticed that we change the arrangement of our songs very often. We always remodel them and I think it keeps things interesting for both us and the fans. For now we are first committed to taking the current album to the road.

I.M: If you had unlimited budget for a live show, what would you use the money for, in terms of stage props and effects?

K.F:
Having an orchestra like the one we have on “The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR”. This is really what we miss during our shows! I think our songs would sound amazing on stage with such a line up!

I.M: Anything else you want to add for your fans and our readers?

K.F: Thanks a lot for your interest in Orphaned Land, and hope to see you all on the North America dates!

I.M: Thanks for the interview and good luck promoting the new album!