A-WA first stole our beating, dance-floor hearts this summer when we learned about their undeniable throwback hit, “Habib Galbi.” A-WA is a trio of sisters (Tair, 31; Liron, 29, and Tagel Haim, 25) who hail from southern Israel, although they are based out of Tel Aviv. Recently, Vogue published a short video of the trio hanging out in Old Jaffa in Tel Aviv, where they visited a jewelry shop, the Levinsky Market, a traditional Yemeni restaurant, and a record store where they have spent a lot of time “scavenging for rare records.”
Said Tar Haim to Vogue, “When we started working on this album, we collected a lot of old records of Yemenite singers that immigrated, like our grandparents did, to Israel.”
A-WA is currently on the final leg of a summer European and American tour (here’s the group performing at The New York Times yesterday), so catch them if you can. Or, just hop a plane to Israel and hope you run into them in Old Jaffa.
Jonathan Zalman is a writer and teacher based in Brooklyn.