Idan Raichel

Idan Raichel was born in 1977 in Kfar Saba

Idan Raichel was born in Kfar Saba to an Ashkenazi Jewish family. He started playing the accordion at age 9 and was drawn to gypsy music and tango. He studied jazz piano and graduated from the music track of Katznelson High School in Kfar Saba.

In the army he played in an IDF band and became its musical director. After his service he worked as a counselor at a boarding school for immigrants. Young Ethiopian Jews there introduced him to Ethiopian folk and pop music.

He began as a keyboard player for artists such as Ivri Lider, Rita's peers Riki Gal and Eran Tzur. He then recorded many singers, most of them Ethiopian Israelis, at his parents' home. The Helicon label released the recordings in 2002 as the album The Idan Raichel Project.

The group released Out of the Depths in 2005, Within My Walls in 2008 and Quarter to Six in 2013. Raichel worked with India.Arie and formed the Touré-Raichel Collective with Malian musician Vieux Farka Touré. He has toured in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa.

He released solo albums and toured with solo piano concerts. In 2020 he lit a torch at the Mount Herzl ceremony. In 2021 Bar-Ilan University gave him an honorary doctorate.