Niso - Soul Singer

"Meir Ariel paved the way on a straw path, with the waltz of the land of Israel and that inner-outward gaze of his. Israeli artists follow his path bringing with them their inner worlds and creating a new Israeliness.

Sometimes the Israeliness is a kibbutz, sometimes it's the Soviet Union, sometimes it's Tunis and sometimes it's France. Sometimes, like in "Soul Singer", it's a balanced and well-stirred mix which connects between Abu Gosh and Paris with an invisible road, on which you can drive fast and slow.

Niso (Nir Nisim Cohen) grew up and was educated on soccer fields, and in the background there were also many records. Today he lives in Abu Gosh, walks around with an old cellphone and reaches every part of the country with intimate living room performances wrapped in personal stories and closeness.

He came to Eli Luzon quite by chance when he was looking for a certain guitar and the connection between them led to the production of the album which will be released in the coming months.

The single "Soul Singer" landed in the loyal hands of the photographer Yeshai Nikomarov illustrating this march forward, in a route outlined by our culture's greatest storytellers, mixing together Jaques Brel, Meir Ariel, Bruce Springsteen and Meir Goldberg.

The Super 8 films, memories from a picnic in Ben Shemen forest in the 80s, kids dying to confess their love and those sunflowers, which remain as witnesses and accompany the same graveled road, on which you walk and sing a song which you thought that you already heard, until you realize that this is a new song, in which somebody again was able to articulate this Israeliness.

"Soul Singer" by Niso is this Israeliness".


This press release (original here) does a wonderful job at putting into words what makes this song by Niso such a special one, a true modern classic. The full album can be listened to here.


I'm not entirely sure
What the words are intended to say
I'm just another torn kid
Going through life
Between singers
From record to record

And there are singers who are the wind
Maybe they need a bit more land
With me for almost two years
I have been stuck on the same record
On the same soul singer

Sit
On a spinning wheel
And spin
Even when you go far you do not disappear from my eyes
You only get closer

And there are singers who are the wind
Maybe they need a bit more land
With me for almost two years
I have been stuck on the same record
On the same soul singer

Ne me quitte pas
Il faut oublier
Tout peut s'oublier
Qui s'enfuit déjà