Rotem Shefy Covers Nirvana’s Lithium

The last time we featured Rotem Shefy, aka Shefita, she had done a brilliant cover of Radiohead’s Karma Police, combining middle eastern melodies and western pop. Since then, that formula’s kind of been her thing, touring in Israel she has regaled audiences with similar Arab accented covers like Pump Up the Jam by Techtronic, Pink by Aerosmith, You Ought to Know by Alanis Morisette and this epic cover of Bittersweet Symphony by the Verve:

And now Shefy’s fans have just received the treat of another professionally produced video – a cover of Nirvana’s Lithium that channels both rock and roll saint Kurt Cobain and a decadent, drug abusing Egyptian singer and “Star of the East,” Umm Kulthum. No one has ever thought to combine Eastern and Western music quite like this before. Of course there are several Algerian Rai singers who incorporate Western beats into their music but this is different as the synergy occurs in reverse – Western music is re-imagined as having originated in the East. Quite the mindfuck there right? But the end result delightful – Shefy is kind of like an Israeli Tortelvis, lead singer of Dread Zeppelin, a band that combined Reggae and Led Zeppelin songs and then had an Elvis imitator singer. Yeah. Check it – it’s genius:

The point is that you can mix humor, insight and good music and still have something that is funny, thought provoking and legitimately good to listen to. Rotem Shefy is a talented performer and I for one will never tire of this crazy shit!

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