She speaks and sings in Arabic, Hebrew, French, Spanish, and English; in addition, she says she "half-speaks Moroccan".
Ishtar began performing in clubs at age 14 and continued even while enrolled in the IDF. Though she was born Eti Zach, she chose the name 'Ishtar', a Mesopotamian Goddess, because her grandmother called her Ester, which "with her Egyptian accent it sounded like Ishtar", she said.
It was around this time a friend asked her to join them in France. She soon fell in love with the country and decided to make it her home.
Alabina Years:
Once she moved to France, Ishtar began working as a backup vocalist for several flamenco type acts. It was here she was discovered by Charles Ibgui who, enamored with her voice, introduced her to Los Niños de Sara. She joined the group as a lead vocalist and together they performed under the name Alabina.
Alabina soon became a worldwide success charting in the top 10 and top 40 several times in the US alone.
Alabina had found success mixing Flamenco, Arabic, Pop, and Dance sounds. Los Niños de Sara usually sang in Spanish while Ishtar would sing in Spanish, Arabic, French, Hebrew, or a mix of the languages — several songs were sung in Spanish and Arabic.
Solo Career:
Despite Alabina's success, after two albums Ishtar decided to do a solo project of her own (though still a member of the group); Los Niños de Sara also began to release CDs of their own.
In November, 2000 La Voix d'Alabina (The Voice of Alabina) was released. It stepped up the Oriental pop sound while mixing in some traditional Arabic sounds and dance beats. Nine out of the twelve songs were mainly in French though Arabic, Spanish, English, and Hebrew were mixed in on various songs (for example Last Kiss was in English). Several of the tracks found dance floor success, including Last Kiss.
Ishtar also paid a visit to her fans in Israel, where she hosted a few television shows, singing duos with local stars such as Pavlo Rosenberg, Avihu Medina, and David D'Or.
Ishtar continued to tour the world with Alabina for the next few years as she worked on her second album, Truly Emet, which was released in August, 2003 this time with most of the songs being in Hebrew. However she decided to sing more songs in mixes of Arabic and Hebrew to show that there could be harmony between the two cultures. Truly Emet was again a dance floor success especially the songs C'est La Vie, and again Last Kiss.
A few more performances were done with Alabina, though as of 2005, the group had seemed to disband by no longer actively performing or releasing new music.
Ishtar's third album, Je Sais D'où Je Viens (I know where I come from) was released in November, 2005. This time the music was still Oriental pop, however much less dance. More hip hop-type beats were stirred in with the Arabic music. Most of the songs were sung in Arabic, four were sung in French, and a few in English, while Spanish and Hebrew could be found throughout the album. Again she found dance success with such singles as Habibi (Sawah), which for the first time in her career featured a rapper JMI Sissoko.
Shortly after a greatest hits CD, The Alabina Years, was released, featuring a mix of Ishtar's solo hits, her Alabina hits, and some new English tracks as well.
Ishtar currently lives in France and is working on promoting her album "Best Of".
Discography
** Albums(Only solo CDs are listed)
The Voice of Alabina
Truly Emet
Je Sais d'où Je Viens
The Alabina Years
Best Of Ishtar Alabina
** Singles
Last Kiss
C'est La Vie
Habibi (Sawah)
Yahad
Ragga Boom
Ishtar Alabina Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
أحكـي يـــا شهرة زاد ... أحكـي لشهـرة يـــار
أشغليلـــه ليلـــه لطلـــوع النهـــار
حيريلوا بالـــه ... غيرليلوا حالــه
خلــي عقله دائمــا في حالــة انبهار
خلي في النهاية يفضل في انتظار
يسأل ع الباقيـــة للحكايـة ديــــا
أوعــي يــا صبيــــا تفقلــي الستــار
The lyrics to Ishtar Alabina's song Dis le moi are about the tales that are told every night, with each night having its own unique story to tell. The singer is singing to a beloved, instructing them to listen carefully to the tales that are told and to become lost and absorbed in them. The singer wants the beloved to be constantly in awe and wonder, with their mind always in a state of being inspired.
The song has a romantic and exotic feel to it, with the singer painting vivid images of tales and stories that are as captivating as they are mysterious. They want the beloved to be completely engrossed in the tales to the point where they are not able to think of anything else. The singer is urging the beloved to stay in suspense and not to reveal the secrets of the stories until the very end, when they can be left in anticipation for the next night's tale.
Overall, the lyrics of Dis le moi are romantic and enchanting, taking the listener on a journey filled with captivating stories and exotic imagery.
Line by Line Meaning
ألــف ليلــــة وليلـــة ... قصـــة كل ليلــة
Every night is a new story, and there are thousands of nights yet to come
أحكـي يـــا شهرة زاد ... أحكـي لشهـرة يـــار
I speak to Fame, asking for more, for it is my constant companion
أشغليلـــه ليلـــه لطلـــوع النهـــار
I keep him awake at night, for the sake of seeing the sunrise
حيريلوا بالـــه ... غيرليلوا حالــه
I keep him confused and rotate his emotions
خلــي عقله دائمــا في حالــة انبهار
I make sure his mind is always in a state of bewilderment and amazement
قولـي من البدايـــة أول الحكايـــــــة
Start from the beginning, the start of this tale
خلي في النهاية يفضل في انتظار
Leave him waiting for the end, with anticipation
يسأل ع الباقيـــة للحكايـة ديــــا
He asks about the remaining story
أوعــي يــا صبيــــا تفقلــي الستــار
Be careful not to reveal the ending, my dear boy
Writer(s): pepe cubano
Contributed by Lucas Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@abdulltarzi
Important
What color eyes do you have. Where do you get the color of human eyes. And should you see to be life ?
How many eyes for people are most healthy.
Do other life plant nature planet and space see some ways.
We can do research.
50% to see. 50% not to see. In our universe. Not all seeing things and life has eyes.
2020 good vision. We only have 2 eyes for people.
Thank you
Abdull Tarzi
@jasonnm5972
Recently heard that song that I had forgotten for a couple of years and and searched it right away here by some key words I've heard as I didn't remember the name...wow, superb melody!!! And Ishtar's singing, dancing and presence is superb!!! Yes, good old times...the song is full of passion, joy for life, is so vivid, vibrant...nothing in common with today songs - they are so boring to the bone, have no melody, no sense, just shouts and scratches. Ishtar, please do much more song as that :)
@slimedude9594
l
@fulviamalfatti5298
Esta mujer es un fenómeno que también canta canciones griegas en árabe o también canta en un idioma balcánico inglés hebreo árabe francés y español ¡guau!
@lovehouria552
J'adore! Excellente chanson et magnifique voix d'Ishtar<3
@welataydn9481
Love Hou
@shadabshahrokhhai7679
I discovered this song last night and have been listening to it ever since. Can't get it out of my head))) I could even watch the video in my sleep))) I was humming the Raga Boom part)))) Can't get enough of it! Loving this song so much! She's gorgeous, talented and awesome!) I've listened to few of her singles before, "Sawah" being my favorite and brings me so many good jolly memories)))
@fundatemizel6541
Shadab Shahrokh Hai i
@chowdhuryquaseed8319
Hey its u! What a coincidence! Loving the song too
@andreasandreas4663
This is great music,and i was happy she sang this song in english,it makes us easier to understand,she should go international and make albume in english and let all the world know her music,eventhough she was famous as lead vocal for her band.
@yousufali1440
Yeah this song is good