Jewish-Israeli band making waves with Arabic song

“Habib Galbi” became the first Arabic song to make it to the top of the Israeli charts last year.

A girl band in Israel has been making waves after its debut single became the first song entirely in Arabic to top the charts in Israel.

“Habib Galbi” by the band A-WA – made up of three sisters – gives traditional rhythms and lyrics from Yemen a hip-hop treatment.

It’s a song that has been viewed online over two million times.

The sisters are descendants of Yemeni Jews who relocated to Israel after its establishment in 1948.

But it’s almost unheard of for a Jewish-Israeli band to sing traditional Yemeni folk in a nearly extinct dialect of Arabic.

Al Jazeera’s Imtiaz Tyab reports.

Source: Al Jazeera