Background
Shlomo Gronich grew up in a musical family in Hadera.
Shlomo Gronich grew up in a musical family in Hadera.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Tel Aviv Educational Academy, and a Bachelor of Arts in Composition from the Mannes School of Music, New New York He wrote a song called Shir Israeli. Gronich is most widely known for composing and performing Israeli popular, folk and rock songs.
His unique style blends different music genres, including Shirei Eretz Yisraels (the arch typical Israeli music style between 1940 and 1980), Israeli progressive rock with influences of rhythm and blues, jazz, ethnic, Mizrahi music, klezmer music and Middle-Eastern.
He has composed music for film, writing more than 15 film scores, including: Beyond the Sea - Israeli Oscar for musical score (1991) Circus Palestine - Israeli Oscar for musical score (1998) He composed music for more than 20 theatre shows, including - America – a musical, performed at the Kennedy Center, Washington District of Columbia (1976) America (revised version) – performed in Santa Fe Festival, New Mexico (1983) The Dream Pilot – a musical performed in Tokyo, Japan (1991) The Golem – a musical performed in Prague, Czechoslovakian Republic (2002) Gronich has also written music for ballet. His dance pieces include - Song of Songs – Inbal Dance Theater, David’s Violin Prize (1983) Looking for Jerusalem – Bat Sheva Dance Company, opening production, Israel Festival (1986) Gronich composed more than a hundred classical compositions, many of which were performed by the world"s most notable orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic.
Appeared with Astor Piazzolla and the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra (1986) Appeared with the Sheba and Moran Choir at the signing of the Jordan-Israel Peace Agreement (1994) Appeared with the Sheba and the Harlem Boys Choir at the Israel Festival (2000) 2001 Hadassah Award, for his work with the Sheba Choir Gronich composed and arranged a unique Israeli-Palestinian peace and coexistence song, called in Hebrew Hevenu Shalom Aleinu (We brought peace upon us) and in Arabic Ma Ana Ajmal Minister Salam (There is nothing more beautiful than peace). He gathered together a group of Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian singers and musicians to perform a beautiful, Middle-Eastern-style song, with a melody that combines Israeli rock, Arab popular, and Mizrahi musical elements (see #External links).
The song was commissioned by the organization Peace Child Israel and adopted as its anthem.
The lyrics alternate between Hebrew and Arabic, culminating in the refrain which is sung simultaneously both in Hebrew and Arabic. In the arrangement of the song, Gronich included the traditional Arab instrument oud, and a traditional Jewish musical instrument - the shofar.