Hagit Yaso

Background

She was born in Sderot, and has two brothers and two sisters.

Career

Yaso is of Ethiopian Jewish descent. Yaso"s parents immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia in the 1980s through Sudan. During her military service, Yaso served in a military band.

She is featured in the documentary film Sderot: Rock in the Red Zone.

In 2011, she participated in the Kokhav Nolad 9. In her audition, Yaso sang Amir Benayoun"s song "Omed BaSha"ar" (עומד בשער).

During the show, Yaso sang in several languages, including Hebrew, English, Amharic and Moroccan Arabic. From the beginning of the show, Yaso stood out and she was often rated by the judges panel for having the "outstanding performance".

Yaso reached the finals, which were held in Haifa, together with David Lavi and Liron Ramati.

The first song Yaso sang in the finals was Ofra Haza"s "Mishehu Tamid Holech Iti" (מישהו תמיד הולך איתי) and Idan Raichel"s song "Medabrim Besheket" (מדברים בשקט). Yaso ended up winning the first place with 60% of the votes. Yaso has toured and performed internationally.

In January, 2013, she toured in several cities across the United States sponsored by Jewish National Fund.

The highlight of her tour was a performance at the Saban Theatre in Los Angeles, where she performed a duet of "Killing Maine Softly" with the song"s writer Charles Fox.

Achievements

• She won the ninth season of Kokhav Nolad, an Israeli television show, similar to People’s Idol. She won a scholarship of 240,000 shekels, and a production contract from the well known music producer Ivri Lider.