ORPHANED LAND: Heavy Metal Envoys To Muslim World

September 8, 2011

According to The Jerusalem Post, Israeli progressive folk metal masters ORPHANED LAND held a press conference in Tel Aviv earlier today (Thursday, September 8) ahead of their September 10 concert at the Unirock Open Air festival in Istanbul, Turkey. During the press conference, they expressed their hope that their success and the adoration of their fans from countries branded by Israel as "enemy states" could be used as a model for repairing ties with Turkey.

"A situation has been created where we are Israels only ambassadors to Turkey," lead vocalist Kobi Farhi said, adding "we have become an example that can be used as a model for our leaders. It's about how through music you can create something as simple as friendship between the two peoples. It happens at our shows when I turn the microphone to the crowd and they sing back to me in Hebrew, or when I sing to them in Turkish or Arabic."

Farhi said that some have called for the band to boycott Turkey, especially following the recent downgrade in ties.

"Artists don't boycott and I don't appreciate those artists who decide to boycott one person or another," he said. He added the band hasnt considered canceling because "in Turkey we feel at home. At times we felt some fear about going right now, but we they can't let this feeling stop us at a time like this because these days, we're Israel's only ambassador in Turkey and in the Arab world. We are flying as musicians, but we also feel that were going as representatives of our country and our people. We're hearing so many voices of anger and conflict between the two sides these days, and we want people to hear a different voice, a voice that says look, here's a crowd of thousands that is getting along perfectly, let this be an example."

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