Red Sea Guitar Festival: Eilat to return to rocking

One of the first to set out its stall is the second edition of the Red Sea Guitar Festival, which is due to take place in Eilat April 29-May 1.

After the dearth of live entertainment fare over the past year or so, one could imagine the festival organizers busting a gut to get some of the crème de la crème of the relevant instrumental artist community out there.

That is exactly what artistic director Roni Huss has done, with a plethora of A-listers lined up to strut their stuff down south during the course of the weekend.

Veteran vocalist-guitarist David Broza is in the mix, as he reprises material from his smash hit record from the eighties, Ha’isha She’iti (The Woman by My Side), which feeds off Spanish folk music and is still one of Israel’s biggest-selling albums.

For the occasion Broza will be joined by international star singer Yasmin Levy, who, in pre-pandemic times, filled auditoria across the world with her beguiling spread of Ladino and flamenco numbers.

Huss has clearly gone for broke, culling a top-notch roster of performers from across stylistic, genre and generational domains.

Long-serving psychedelic rock outfit Rock Four will do its thing, boosted by the considerable pulling power of megastar vocalist-guitarist Beri Sacharoff, while leading Middle Eastern-flavored rocker Dudu Tasa will host one of the enduring icons of the Israeli music scene, the much revered 67-year-old guitarist Yehuda Keisar.

Now-72-year-old Shlomo Mizrahi was largely responsible for bringing the vibes of the American- and British-style sixties over here, and was known as the Israeli Jimi Hendrix. His Eilat turn sees him join forces with the Sixties quartet, which has been performing hits from the relevant decade for almost 40 years.

Other standouts in the impressive Red Sea Guitar Festival lineup include The Friends of Natasha; Danny Sanderson; Hemi Rudner; American-born bluesman Lazer Lloyd; septuagenarian guitarist Miki Gabrielov with 50-year-old stellar guitarist-vocalist Mosh Ben-Ari guesting; three-decade-strong funk rock group Mercedes Band, which, intriguingly, will host Guri Alfi, best known for his comedic talents; and singer songwriter Amir Dadon.

Looks like there are plenty of good reasons to head south over the Lag Ba’omer weekend, besides the spring weather and inviting waters of the Red Sea.