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Hemi Rudner

He is known as the singer and bassist of the band "Eifo HaYeled?" But he has an impressive career of his own and he is also very active behind the scenes in Israeli music.

(Photo: Eldad Refaeli)


= His full name is Haim (Hemi) Rudner and he was born on October 28, 1964, and grew up in Kibbutz Givat Brenner


= His father is Amos, an editor, writer, architect, and secretary of the kibbutz, and his mother is Tamar, a literature teacher and linguistics editor, the younger sister of the Israel Prize-winning poet Aryeh Sion. Rudner has six brothers and sisters, among them the content creator Ruthie Rudner and Iris Hood, founder of the children's channel and the documentary Channel 8.


= Already at the age of 15 he started a band with his two friends and together they performed in the kibbutz. He continued to practice music even during his military service.


= After his military service in 1985, Rudner joined the band "Mondo" and was also a member of the band "Desirtif" with whom he began his musical career


= In 1986, the band "Eifo HaYeled?" in Kibbutz Givat Brenner by Rudner and Asaf Sarig, born in Kibbutz Beit Hashiteh, and the son of Yosef Sarig. The two have known each other since childhood when Sarig, who is four years younger than Rudner, studied in class with Ruthi, his sister. The two joined guitarist Yuval Tzemach and drummer Omer Degani and started their journey as a cover band.


= The lateness of the 16-year-old Degani to the band's rehearsals was the reason for the band's name when the question "Where is the boy?" was asked every time. This story was previously denied by the band but eventually confirmed.

(Photo: Miri Davidovich)


= In order to try to succeed in the Israeli music world, Rudner and Sarig moved to Tel Aviv. They added the guitarist Ofir Bar Ami from Kibbutz Hanita and the drummer from Haifa, Assaf Maroz (who played in the band "Killer the Hot" and the prototype). What became the final composition of the band?


= In 1990, the band released its first single "One God" under the label "Nana Disk" but did not hurry to release an album and held concerts throughout the country for two years. At that time, the Israeli rock of the 90s began to develop.


= In 1993, after they were signed to the "Hed Artzi" company by Haim Shemesh (one of the prominent figures of music and especially of rock in the '90s), they released "Where's the Child?", their debut album "Sugar Time".


= The album written entirely by Rudner (apart from "Aliza's Tea Party" and "Kenpaim, You Don't Hear") and produced by Yuval Shafrir was a great success, and many singles such as: "Where is the Spirit", "What's going through me", "The Sadness" Her", "The Sky the Boundary", "Fallen Strong", and "One God" were played on the radio stations and some of the songs were also made into music videos that were broadcast on television. The album reached platinum album status.



= That same year the band warmed up Bob Dylan who performed in Israel at the Culture Hall in Tel Aviv


= In 1994, the band released their second album "Shadim", also produced by Yuval Shafrir, in which an attempt was made to continue the successful line of the first album. But this time, in order not to create the impression that Rudner is the main tone setter and all the other members are less important, the involvement of the other band members was emphasized in the album. Sharig's involvement in writing and composing increased greatly (he composed seven songs, among them the hits "White in a Black Dream", "In the Underpants" and "Someone Hears Me") and Ofir Bar Ami also wrote and composed two songs (among them "The Devil Enters You"). Rudner himself also wrote and composed many parts of the album. The sharing effort went well and also paid off and the album was an even bigger success than its predecessor.



= In the same year, Rudner produced the debut album of his girlfriend Iggy Waxman, "Red", and composed the songs "Forced Woman" and "The End of the Trip" (to Waxman's words) and "Kill Me Slowly" (to words he wrote). In the recordings, Rudner played bass with his bandmates: Asaf Maroz on drums, Asaf Sharing on guitar (on one song), and Ofir Bar Ami even received a thank you on the cover. A year later the two got married (but divorced 4 years later).


(Photo: Vardi Kahana)


= In 1995, the band released their third album, "My Journeys with Self". Similar to the first album, the writing returned to Rudner's hands, who wrote 10 of the 11 songs on the album, but Schrig was a full partner in the composition and arrangement, and they created the standout songs on the album together: "Bring Autumn", "The Prophet of Boredom", "This is Sodom" and "My travels with myself" ". The album was produced by the vocalist of the Mashina band Yuval Banai, and his bandmate Shlomi Bracha who also guested on keyboards in the song "This is Sodom". The album, unlike its predecessors, failed in the stores, and its songs were played less than the hits of the previous albums.



= The failure had a negative effect on the relationship between the members and the band went through a crisis, especially because the band ended its contract with the Helicon company and it was not interested in renewing the contract with the band. Bar Ami left the band in order to devote time to his band "M'a'sho'i Has'e'ah", Sharig musically produced the debut album of the band "Algiers" and then went to London to record some of his songs in English, and Rudner began working on songs for his first solo album, and it seemed that the band had arrived to the end of her path.


= Despite the crisis, in 1996 "Eifo HaYeled?" to activity, and Rudner's solo album became the band's fourth album. The band recorded the album "Eifo HaYeled?" With a new guitarist, Schiff (Shafrir) Arad, and with Schrig who returned from London. Most of the songs were, of course, Rudner's, including the duet "Just to Get a Hug" with Iggy Waxman, "Now I'm not giving up", "Walking", "Lan Lan", and "Roll the Dream". The album was produced by the band members with the help of Shai Lahav from "Dr. Kasper's Rabbit Show", who also played keyboards on various songs. The album was dedicated to the memory of Yitzhak Rabin.



= Like its predecessor, this album was also a failure and the band decided to break up with a farewell show and a compilation album. In honor of the breakup, the band recorded a cover version of David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream" and three new songs: "Venus in Training", "She Can't Drink" and "Everybody Wants a Friend". Almost ten years of activity ended with a celebratory show at the "Allenby 58" club in Tel Aviv, where the band hosted Aviv Gefen, Yermi Kaplan, Yuval Banai, Ofir Bar Ami, and Iggy Waxman, and in the concluding compilation album, "Somebody Hears Me" which contained the band's hits and a bonus CD with the songs The new ones and live versions of the hits.


= In 1997 Rudner produced Waxman's second album, "No More Waiting for the Postman". Also in this album, he composed one of the songs and played the guitars.


= In the same year, Rudner wrote the lyrics to the songs "A Simple Small Story" and "At the Disco" for the debut album of the band "High Five" (the first boy band in Israel), under the pen name "Nina Sde".

(Photo: Kfir Ziv)


= In 1998 Rudner produced Nimrod Lev's debut album, "There is no other dream", he participated in the arrangements of the album, and played bass on its recording.


= In 2000 Rudner's debut album "Redemption" was released. In the album, he collaborated with the band "Blues Envoys". Rudner wrote and composed the songs, arranged them with Ido Agmon, and musically produced them with Agmon and Eyal Dafna. Among the album's hits were "Let's break up", "What Was" and "Gaula".


= In 2001, the band reunited in full (with Ofir Bar Ami and Shif Arad) for several more performances, including a joint show with Monica Sex and the Roquefort band. The band also recorded a new song in honor of the union: "Peace with Myself".

(Photo: Ido Izak)


= Still in the same year he produced albums for Sharon Moldavi and Asaf Erlich and released his second solo album "My Beloved Melancholy", among his songs: "The Secret of the Simple Things", "My Beloved Melancholy", "Rooms in the Heart" (duet with Yehudit Ravitz) and "Much more I like it up close."


= In May 2003, Rudner released his third album "Compassion", from which the song "The Alliance that Needs to be Renewed" was successful.


= In 2006, Rudner began hosting a nightly interview TV program called "Feeling at Home", on Channel 2. In the program, he interviewed various singers and accompanied them for a day in their lives. The show aired for 2 seasons.


= In 2007 Rudner released his fourth album "The Great Song Machine", produced by Kobi Oz and arranged by Eran Weitz and Shlomi Lavi. From the album came the singles "The Great Song Machine", composed by Rudner to the words of Leah Ini, "It's the same Summer" and "You left me with the Wind". Except for "The Great Song Machine" Rudner wrote and composed all the songs on the album.


= Since 2011 Rudner has been teaching at the Mazmor music school in Givat Washington, as well as an accompanist for ensembles and graduates from among the school's students.

(Photo: Reuven Schneider)


= In 2012, the band's fifth album "20th Century Boys" was released after three years of work. The singles "I'm in a Situation", "We Will Be Fine" and "Australia Blues" were released from the album.


= In 2013 his fifth album "Zeman Asif" was released. The album, the work which took three years in which guitarist Eran Weitz took part as a partner, includes 10 songs, all of which were written by Rudner, except for one written by his brother Roni Jacobi. Some of the songs on the album like "Israel Blues" are of a protest and political nature.


= Back in the same year Rudner musically produced the show "Indy Yild" - a rock'n'roll show for the whole family.


= In 2017, the band's sixth album "Sweet in the Dark" was released, produced by Ofer Meiri.


= In 2019 Rudner released his sixth album "Yehuma". Two years later, in 2021, Rudner jointly released with Eran Weitz the album "Hai Shirim" consisting of 18 acoustic and minimalist performances of Israeli classics.


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