HaYehudim

HaYehudim
היהודים
HaYehudimהיהודים
	Hed Arzi
Members	Tom Petrover; Orit Shachaf; Yahav Lipinski; Zak Soulam; Greg Pearl; Eran Mitleman
Website	the-jews.com

HaYehudim or I.U.D.M^[2] (Hebrew: היהודים, lit. The Jews) is an Israeli hard rock band, formed in 1992 by (now married) couple Tom Petrover and Orit Shahaf, who share guitar playing and vocal duties. The band gained success in Israel, despite relative commercial disregard in its first years. They sold over 200,000 albums in Israel.

The band is known for its energetic, dark-themed songs and loud vocals. The band sings mostly in Hebrew, although in later albums they have several songs in English.

History

The band's first album, Metziut Nifredet (

double platinum

.

The second album, self-titled HaYehudim, and released in 1998, and was an immediate success despite continuing disregard from mainstream media, making HaYehudim one of the leading rock bands in Israel. This album also attained gold status.

In 1999, Hayehudim were elected as Band of the Year on

Galey Tzahal, Israel's national radio station. The same year, they opened the Metallica concert in Israel, and in 2000, the band opened a Rage Against the Machine

concert in Israel as well.

Four years after their second album, Hayehudim released a third studio album by the name of Pahad Mavet (Hebrew: פחד מוות, Fear of Death) in 2002. The next year, Hayehudim released their first live album – a double CD and DVD set named Hayhudim LIVE. The live album was a great success, and the following year the band released a second live album, this time of an unplugged show.

In 2007, Hayehudim released their fourth studio album, Forte (

forte

means loud or strong, and the name was chosen because if you hadn't had enough of Hayehudim till now, you're about to get Hayehudim forte (meaning Hayehudim extra-strong, as Tom Petrover explained in a radio interview). The album went gold and won Album of the Year in the Israeli Music Channel awards.

In 2015, the band released their most recent album, Yoter Lo (Hebrew: יותר לא, No More).

Name

The name "HaYehudim", literally meaning The Jews, was proposed to the band by Eldad Ziv, an Israeli theatre director and musician, and by Roy Zu-Arets, the music producer who produced the band's debut album Metziut Nifredet.^[3] Despite being a provocative name, the band's members liked it and decided to use it.

In relation to historical events

All of the band's albums came out in times of instability in Israel, which was reflected in the dark and heavy music and lyrics. Their debut album, Metziut Nifredet, came out just a few months before

Operation Protective Edge. Both of which had the army entering southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip

respectively in response to attacks and terror activities carried out from these regions.