Ester Rada

Ester Rada, Hebrew: AstrradaA, was born March 7, 1985. She is an Israeli actress and singer. Rada was born to an Ethiopian Jewish religious family in Kiryat Arba. Her parents are originally from Gondar and arrived in Israel in 1984 from Sudan, where they were refugees. She learned Hebrew at school and Amharic at her home. Her father was a well-known cantor in Kiryat Arba’s Ethiopian community. When she was a little girl, her parents divorced. Later, Rada moved with her mother, older brother, and father to Netanya, in 1996. Rada is now 11 years old. This was when Rada realized a pivotal moment in her life. She moved with her family to Netanya to be with her mother and older brother. They moved to a more observant area where most of the Ethiopian Jews lived. Rada also began to make contact with French olim who were familiar with funk and rap. After releasing “Life Happens”, her self-written and compiled solo EP, at the start of 2013, and her first full album Ester Rada in 2014, she is currently working on her 2nd album. Rada will be performing at the Opening Ceremonies for the 2017 Maccabiah Games. Rada began her acting career as a musical theatre actress. She won an award for her role with Habima Theatre’s The Troupe. She was a key role in “Deus” TV series. She also appeared in Habima’s play Sdakim beBeton that year. [citation needed] She began her music career during her time in the Israel Defense Forces. There, she sang Israeli pop songs to an IDF band. She gained worldwide fame after her EP was released. She was also the opening act at the Alicia Keys concert in Israel and performed at Glastonbury Festival. MTV France, East Europe and Israel have broadcast her music video, “Life Happens”, as well as VH1 UK. Rada credits Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald as musical influences. Jill Scott, Erykah Badu and traditional Bnei Akiva songs, as well as Ethiopian Jazz, particularly Mulatu Astatke, and Mahmoud Ahmad, are also among her musical influences. Rada released an EP called Life Happens in early 2013 with four of her songs. Critics loved Rada’s album, Life Happens. They described her music as “cross-cultural sound” that was a deep reflection on the Israeli-born Ethiopian’s heritage and “graceful compositions of Ethio Jazz, funk and soul.”

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