The three-day program will feature a slew of gigs and workshops, as well as “wild jam sessions into the small hours of the night.” The host venue is the Isrotel Agamim hotel.
By BARRY DAVISUpdated: DECEMBER 16, 2019 22:11BERI SACHAROFF will be one of the guitar slingers heading to Eilat.(photo credit: ROI BERKOVITCH)
A new item is about to appear on the cultural calendar of our most southerly resort. Between February 13 and 15 Eilat will host the inaugural Guitar Festival at the Red Sea, under the artistic direction of Ronnie Hoss, and the auspices of the Eilat Municipal Tourism Corporation.The three-day program will feature a slew of gigs and workshops, as well as “wild jam sessions into the small hours of the night.” The host venue is the Isrotel Agamim hotel.Hoss has laid on a broad spread of styles and artistic intent, with veteran pop crooner Ehud Banai and his acoustic guitar in the entertainment mix, while there will be something of a stellar summit when celebrated artist Beri Sacharoff, together with long-serving “king of Mizrahi guitar” Yehuda Keisar et al. will offer their audience a taste of late legendary Greek singer-guitarist Aris San’s enduring vibes, in the From Aris to Eilat show. The instrumental vibes will be complemented by the stirring vocal output of Ester Rada and Shai Tsabari.And there’s plenty more where that lot came from, right across the stylistic spectrum, with the likes of Latinesque guitarist Shlomo Ydov, who will join forces with similarly experienced singer-guitarist Ephraim Shamir and vocalist-bass player Alon Olearchick. Things will head more Stateside when Shlihei Hablues (The Blues Messengers) take the jam stage, while Erez Netz will ramp the decibel gauge and speedometer up a couple of notches for the Shalacho show. With Haim Romano and Shmulik Bogadov lined up for guest slots, that promises to get the audience up and out of its well-padded hotel auditorium seats.If you’re into pyrotechnics, you need look no further than the Singolda and Friends show. With the help of a bunch of fellow instrumentalists and vocalists, Singolda will rip through a set list of special arrangements of sixties and seventies classics originally recorded by the likes of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, as well as some more recent numbers.Hoss called the Thursday-Saturday program “a weekend entirely devoted to one of the most exciting, influential and important instruments the world of music has ever known.”Meanwhile, Eilat Mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevi unfurled the welcome mat to all and sundry.“I invite everyone to enjoy a quality and excellent musical experience as well as a magical city with an amazing gulf and pleasant winter sun,” he says.Sounds like an enticing package.And Eilat Municipal Tourism Corporation CEO Yossi Chen said he is looking forward to the festival, one of 35 the city has lined up over a five-month period he places under the “Winter Sun Festival” municipal program umbrella, becoming “a tradition in Eilat, alongside other well-known festivals which have already been around for over 30 years.” Time will tell.
