Yovav (Jay) Meydad's Personal Blog

Preface: This post is about a 55 years old dude who for the past 30 years has been defining and shaping the Israeli alternative rock scene. If you like alt-rock but don’t speak Hebrew yet, Fortis is a very good reason to learn the language…

Last week, eight years since his last studio album, Rami Fortis released his new album which I finally put my hands on. And he did it like no else would – a magnificent triple (!) album (“because in 2 years the format of a disc will extinct…”) full of the good old Fortis sound and many brilliant tracks.

Judging from the video below it is the best show in Israel these days. I just wish he will have a mini US tour and visit Los Angeles as part of it.

Watch in HD. Despite the poor sound quality you can feel the energy pretty well. The lighting is great as well.

I spent some time on YouTube and other sites and found a few of my favorite tracks :

Haklik – Kol Haemet (live at the Roxan) – I think I was in this particular gig.

Dudi Levi – Anog (originally a NOAR SHULAIM song) – You can hear the influence of years of mutual work with Ehud Banai. Beautiful.

Fortis and Shaban – nice variation to this legendary FortisSaharof song from the 90′s. Great performance by Fortis the actor.

The Tractor Revenge – Around Around – Dani Makov is probably the drummer that inspired me the most. I remember going to shows and just staring at his arm work…

Ur Casdim – Go Away (live at the Roxan) – 17 years have passed but I my skin still shivers when I hear their sound.

Photo Credit: Jeff Blake