BY ANAT ROSENBERG
The opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem in May was heralded by many as a historic event for Israel and Jews worldwide. Among those who saw it as a momentous occasion was Hagit Yaso, the Israeli singer and AMIT alumna who was invited to perform that day by none other than the U.S. ambassador.
“It was a historic moment for the nation and also for me,” said the 28-year-old Yaso, who performed a rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and a Hebrew song called “Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu” (“Peace Will Be Upon Us Yet”). “I was so excited and moved to perform there. I saw it as a career high—the whole world was watching me—and it was a once-in-a-lifetime moment.”
Yaso’s journey to the embassy stage began as a girl growing up in Sderot, the southern Israeli town whose schools all belong to the AMIT network. That town, half a mile from the Gaza Strip, is usually in the headlines for being the target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Palestinian territory, but it has also gained recognition in recent years for producing a number of famous singers, composers, and musicians.
“The Qassam rockets started when I was in 6th grade and they make it very hard to live your life,” said Yaso, who was born and raised in Sderot and still lives there even after achieving international fame. “It’s something that is difficult to deal with, and music became my medicine. When things got tough, I would sing.”
Music has always been a part of Yaso’s life, even at home with her parents and four siblings. Yaso’s father, who left Ethiopia with his wife and walked nearly 250 miles through the desert to Sudan before immigrating to Israel in 1980, likes to sing as well. The family home was always filled with the sound of music, Yaso recalled fondly.
“I always knew I wanted to be a singer,” said Yaso. “Music is my identity.”
While in elementary school, she and her two sisters joined the band Sderot Youth, and as a student at AMIT Sderot Religious Junior and Senior High School, Yaso said she was encouraged to pursue her passion. “Music was my top priority even in school and they respected that,” she said of her teachers and administrators. They were even understanding when she missed school in order to perform internationally.
Starting at age 16, Yaso was also among the musicians from Sderot to be filmed for a documentary called “Sderot: Rock in the Red Zone,” which explores the resilience of the city’s artists who strive to create music under traumatic conditions.
After high school, Yaso, like most other Israeli 18-year-olds, enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces; she joined the military band and continued to sing throughout her service. Her big break came in 2011, when she auditioned and competed on the Israeli equivalent of “American Idol,” called “Kohav Nolad” (“A Star Is Born”). She performed songs in Hebrew, English, Amharic, and Moroccan Arabic—and, living up to the show’s name, Yaso won, clinching a $66,000 scholarship and a recording contract, and igniting her music career (she released a debut album in 2015).
After she won the reality show, then President Shimon Peres invited Yaso and her family to his residence and talked to them about her parents’ journey to Israel from Ethiopia and about the role music plays in their lives.
She continued building her career, and in 2013 Yaso went on a tour sponsored by the Jewish National Fund in several U.S. cities. Yaso recalls the tour warmly, saying that everyone she met in the Jewish communities across the States was so caring and welcoming, and that she enjoyed her role as an unofficial envoy.
In addition to touring the U.S., Yaso has brought her unique voice to Canada, Britain, France, Austria, and her ancestral homeland of Ethiopia. She visited her parents’ hometown with her father, performing in front of the local Jewish community, growing more familiar with Ethiopian music and instruments, and filming a documentary about their experience.
“It is quite natural that I have become an ambassador in Jewish communities,” Yaso said. “I represent Israel and my city, Sderot, and I have a story to tell.”
So how did this unofficial ambassador for Israel meet the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman? Yaso sang at the 6th Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism in Jerusalem in March, where Ambassador Friedman was one of the many high-profile dignitaries in attendance. After her performance, Yaso said the top American diplomat told her, “We are so proud of you.” Soon after, Friedman got in touch to invite her to perform at the Jerusalem embassy opening ceremony.
With that unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime event behind her, Yaso remains focused on advancing her singing career and recording new singles—and also on continuing her education: She is pursuing a four-year degree in music studies in Kiryat Ono and was busy studying for her exams when she spoke with AMIT for this article.
She has also returned to her everyday life in Sderot, which at press time was once again under rocket attack and at the center of inflamed tensions between Israel and Gaza. “I’ll let you know if a siren goes off,” she said during the interview. When asked how she and her family cope, she simply said, “Well, the show must go on.”
