Ravid Kahalani is the founder of the Israeli band Yemen Blues, who have played in many a music festival across the world, from New York’s Summer Stage to Denmark’s Roskilde. Kahalani was born in Israel to parents of Yemeni origin.

They were attached to their roots, and as a child Kahalani was taught traditional Yemeni chants and was sent to religious courses with a Yemeni rabbi. He dropped out of school at the age of 15, and after a short stint acting and dancing, he finally realized that his real passion in life was music. He tried his luck with a number of activities, ranging from Serbian church music to a collaboration with the highly acclaimed Israeli musician Idan Raichel. In 2010, Kahalani formed Yemen Blues, whose music has a mixture of Yemeni and West African influences, and fuses funk, soul, blues and jazz. The band’s songs are written in a Yemeni dialect of Arabic, with a bit of Hebrew and gibberish thrown in for good measure.

Playlist: