Yael Deckelbaum

Yael Deckelbaum (Hebrew: יעל דקלבאום, born July 7, 1979) is a platinum award winning Israeli/Canadian singer/songwriter and activist. Creator of international peace anthem “Prayer Of The Mothers”. In a similar fashion to Joan Baez, Deckelbaum is on the forefront of a movement with an organization called Women Wage Peace , and collaborates with various women's movement around the globe. Her music incorporates elements of folk, blues, jazz, soul, together with mid eastern influences, but these days it is mainly her message of peace and diversity, that resonates through a wide spectrum of musical styles.

Three of her songs have been featured on the internationally acclaimed Showtime series The L Word.

She performs internationally throughout Israel, Europe and the USA where she has become more and more active in using her music to inspire positive change in support of non-violent communication between cultures that are in conflict.

Deckelbaum has released three solo studio albums, one album with "Habanot Nechama" trio, and one EP with “Yael & The Mothers”, a twelve piece female ensemble, uniting Arabic and Jewish women on one stage, in Israel.

In 1999 Deckelbaum won first prize for best singer-songwriter in Israel, in "Kolot Ukley-Zemer". In addition to her own work, Yael has performed on the same stage with Sir George Martin, Suzanne Vega, Chris Cornell, Livingston Taylor, three time Grammy Award Winner Tom Chaplin , Bobby McFerrin and Matisyahu.

Early Life

Deckelbaum was born in Jerusalem to an Israeli mother and a Canadian father. Her home was surrounded with the sounds of live country folk music. Her father, David Deckelbaum, a dentist and a banjo player, was  a founding member of a folky, country, Celtic, good-time band, The Jerusalem Taverners. He quickly recognized his daughter’s musical talent, and Yael performed with her father’s band as a guest singer and musician throughout her entire childhood.

As a teenager Deckelbaum started singing on her own in nightclubs such an "Mikes Place", and festivals such as Jacob's Ladder, Shantipi World Festival, Gezer Festival, singing folk songs and playing covers of Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell and more. 

At the age of sixteen, Deckelbaum wrote her first original song and won first prize in a national contest for the best young singer-songwriter in Israel. Yonatan Levy and Shaul Eshet accompanied her on stage. This is where the foundations of a future musical partnership were laid.

Musical Career

In 1999, After two years of serving in military band Deckelbaum was chosen to perform as a vocal soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at a tribute concert to the Beatles, directed, and conducted by the original arranger and producer, Sir George Martin.

There she was discovered by Shlomo Artzi – long considered Israel’s leading singer-songwriter. Deckelbaum then toured with him between 2002-2004, joining him on a hit duet "Lo Yodea Ma Over Lach Barosh" recorded on the renowned album, “Ahavtihem”, that as sold over 120,000 copies (triple platinum) in Israel.

In 2004, together with her friends, Karolina Avratz and Dana Adini, Deckelbaum founded the superb Trio Habanot Nechama. They were immediately embraced by the Tel Aviv scene and reached critical acclaim for their 2007 album release. Their album shot up the charts to number one and the single “So Far’ went Platinum. To date they have sold over 50,000 copies in Israel alone, also released in Germany, Austria & Switzerland. The trio won the ACUM award for ‘Song of the Year’ for the song "So Far" after it hit number one on the charts.

In 2009 Yael released her first solo album "Ground Zero", produced by Yonatan Levy. It was distributed in Israel, Germany, Austria, France and Benelux. Three of her songs were featured on the international TV series “The L Word” and two were featured in the movie “Antarctica’, in which Deckelbaum was also one of the actors. Over the years Deckelbaum has been performing all over Germany and Europe playing solo and with Habanot Nechama, in many venues and festivals such as Fusion Festival, Ziget Festival, Rudolstadt Festival, L beach festival & many more.

Deckelbaum's second solo album “Joy & Sadness”, was released in 2012, and is only in Hebrew.  After it's release Deckelbaum has been invited by Mashina, to join them for a two year tour, and has performed with them all over Israel & the US.

In 2012, Deckelbaum composed the song ‘Vincent’ written by Suki Lahav for renowned singer Miri Mesika album titled "Melech". 

In March 2015 , Deckelbaum released her third solo album, "Enosh", which has songs in both Hebrew and English. It was funded successfully by a Headstart project and produced by Yossi Fine.

Social and Political Involvement

The Road Home

In September 2015 Yael initiated a social-Musical journey “The Road Home” together with social protest movement leader - Daphni Leef. The two decided to go on a cross country 45 days journey in search for the people's vision for Israel. The mission of this journey was to collect the dreams and hopes of the Israeli Silent Majority for the country. “This is a challenge. Nowadays in Israel it seems no one speaks on vision. Media and Politics reflect extreme point of views, nourishes a hateful and intolerant environment.”

This project was a unique leap of faith of Deckelbaum, Leef and 13 other crew members, to bring to the front the good hearts that have no platform to express themselves. The idea was to create a main event in 43 cities, towns and villages from Metulla to Eilat: Jewish, Muslim, Druze, Christian. At every station the people were brought together by music and text to allow them to engage a more delicate part of themselves, to express that part through writing, or video documentation. 

“Our mission is simple- we wish to remind people that vision is important. That dreaming and hoping is essential for evolving as individuals, but also as a society. We wish to collect the visions of people from different places and hopefully create a mirror of the people's wishes for this place. Wishes that are agreed on. That are positive. As we truly care about this Country and the people living in it. Both are in need for a new and healthy dream and vision. ”

Prayer Of The Mothers

In 2016 Deckelbaum heard about a unique peace movement that stimulated her curiosity - The movement of Women Wage Peace

Deckelbaum contacted them, and they told her about a march that they are planning, in which they will be joint by Palestinian women. Deckelbaum volunteered as the artistic director of the march, and that was when she wrote "Prayer of the Mothers".

The movement arose during the summer of 2014, marking the escalation of violence between Israelis and the Palestinians and the military operation ‘Protective Edge’.    The movement calls for a political agreement to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is led by women from all political views and religions.  

On October 4th, 2016, Jewish and Arab women began with the "March of Hope", where thousands of women marched from the north of Israel to Jerusalem in a call for peace. A call that reached it’s peak on October 19th, in a march of at least 4,000 women, half Palestinian and half Israeli, in Qasr el Yahud.  

The very same evening 15,000 women protested in front of the Prime Minister’s house in Jerusalem. The marches were joined by Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee, who through the joint force of women, helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. 

In the song, Deckelbaum combined a recording of Leymah, sampled from a YouTube video, in which she sends her blessings to the movement. The video clip, directed by Astar Elkayam,  documents actual scenes from the March. The song, musically produced by Adam Ben Amitai,  features Arab Israeli singers Lubna Salame, and Miriam Tukan, who also wrote the Arab Lyrics, Rana choir(Israeli/Arab women choir fro Jaffa), Daniel Rubin and  female singers from all sectors. Religious and secular women who all joined together to sing for peace.. This historical event marks the expansion of a global movement where women are starting to realize their essential role in making a positive change.

The video clip of the song went viral with over 8 million views on YouTube and Facebook, inspiring women from all over the world to create marches.

2017-2018

In 2017, Deckelbaum formed an all women ensemble “The Mothers” in Israel to travel with her for the same cause. Uniting on one stage, twelve women of secular, religious, Arabic, and Jewish background, announcing together through a celebration of music, the message of a new world.

In early 2017 Deckelbaum released an EP titled “Yael & The Mothers” produced by Adam Ben Amitai. The EP is a compilation of live & studio performances of Yael & The Mothers. Featuring guests; Aveva Dese, Hagar Samir & Miriam Tukan Yirat Yaakov, Bat-Chen Edri, Mira Eilabouni & Daniel Rubin. The track “This Land” was recorded and filmed live at Kicha Studios in Tel Aviv. When the video was released it reached over 2.5 million views on Facebook and Youtube. The live filmed and recorded performance of the track “Take Me Home” (feat. Aveva Dese) can be found on YouTube and Facebook with over 50K views. In late August of 2017 Deckelbaum shared the stage with Suzanne Vega & Gregory Porter singing Prayer of The Mothers together at Notte della Taranta in Italy.

During the course of 2017 and 2018, the ensemble has performed in front of thousands of people in three of Israel’s most prestigious festivals; Menashe Forest Festival, The Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival, and Indnegev. Internationally they have played several notable festivals in Germany, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland and Canada. In addition to her music, Yael has been invited to lead and sing in women’s marches all over the world joined by Miriam Tukan, Mira Eilabouni, Liron Meyuhas and many of the other women in the ensemble. Up to present day, Yael has marched in Spain, Brazil, Germany, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, Washington DC & Boston.

Solo Albums

• Ground Zero (2009)
• שמחה ועצב (2012)
• אנוש (2015)
• Yael & The Mothers (2017)

External links

• Official website

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