Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs

Karfreitag - welcher Tag könnte passender sein, um an Dead Messiahs zu denken. Revolutionäre Menschen wie Sokrates, Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Jitzchak Rabin, Anwar as-Sadat, der erste Araber, der Frieden mit Israel schließen wollte, Che Guevara, Victor Jara...

Am 26. Februar 2018 haben Ines und ich Orphaned Land aus Israel in Arnhem/NL erlebt, nachdem uns ihr neues Album über die Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs seit seinem Erscheinen im Januar nach wie vor mehr als überwältigt. Zur Botschaft dieses Album gibt es ein geniales Interview mit Kobi Farhi, dem (Metal)Head der Band.

Mich hat das Gesamtkonzept dieses Albums so sehr bewegt, dass ich den Junx kurz vor dem Konzert auf Fratzbuck unter ihre Widmung an Victor Jara eine kleine Nachricht schreiben musste:

One week ago, I finally received your baby from Israel. There were several problems with the customs and German bureaucracy but now it’s mine!
However, I have to admit that I couldn’t stand waiting that long so that I already got the Amazon version back in January because I was so eager to hear finally! the whole album …
I’m still looking for the words to describe the variety of feelings your Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs are giving me. Thus, I put the cart before the horse and begin with the end.

Your tribute to Victor Jara in the epilogue touches me deeply. My Spanish teacher introduced Victor Jara to me some years after his death, and I was and I still am overwhelmed by his courage to raise his voice, by his spirit, his music. Su canto siempre ha sido valiente.

Of course, your opus is not only a tribute to Victor and to so many other brave people being killed for telling the truth. It is also not only a wake-up call but a well-deserved strong kick in the butt of us all to leave our comfort zone, to dare to think on our own, to tell the inconvenient truth. Often it is easier to remain in a well-known misfortune instead of trying to find happiness or – to say it with your words – the light.

Your album reminds me very much of the words of another inconvienent prophet, Immanuel Kant. His definition of enlightenment as of 1784 means a lot to me:

“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! [Dare to know!]…

So I tried to get free from several heavy chains during the last decades and I learnt that failure is part of it. I had the chance to take the responsibility for my own life and I found the light. Several times. However, then I became lazy, resting on my laurels. I forgot that the striving for the light never ends. And that’s why I thank you all so much for your furious and at the same time so beautiful album waking me up (and kicking me in my butt :-) ).

“We do not resist” is an angry mirror. There is a lot of loud rage in your songs, but also hope and love and compositions bringing me to my knees (and tears). In my eyes (and ears!!!) Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs is a masterpiece. Thank you so much Kobi, Uri, Matan, Idan and Chen.

See you soon in Arnheim.
Regina

Und das taten wir dann auch und haben live und in Farbe erlebt, wie authentisch, glaubhaft und überzeugend die fünf Musiker aus Israel ihr Anliegen vermitteln können.