Oil on canvas, 80 H x 59 W cm / 31.5 H x 23.2 W in
Created by Ofir Hirsh under the Ando identity in 2015.
Quite a few years ago, on a British Airways trans atlantic flight, I drank some red wine and listened to various albums from the world music collection. What I loved the most about this collection was its diversity and that I wasn’t familiar with most of the artists. I listened to a few songs from each of these international albums, then when I began listening to an album by a singer called Concha Buika, I was immediately captured by her voice and couldn’t stop listening to it over and over again until we landed. She sang in Spanish. I didn’t know anything about her, but I felt connected to the emotions she expressed through her voice. I did listen to the Spanish words and understood most of them, however, what fascinated me the most were the tales behind the words and music, the tales of her throaty rusty voice. It felt like she’s telling the stories of an ancient soul, maybe an old woman, maybe a tree, someone or something that had witnessed joy and sadness rotating throughout the generations like the sun and the moon do.
Since then, I discovered that she’s not old. Actually, she was born three days after me in 1972. I also had the opportunity of watching her performing live. She’s a gifted crazy performer, however, I mostly concentrated on the stories behind her voice. Whenever I feel blue, or want to feel blue, I put her music on. Whether it’s a happy or a sad song, it doesn’t matter. When I hear her voice, my heart cries and the invisible tears clean my soul.
