"Im Nin'alu" (אם ננעלו) is a Hebrew poem by the 17th century's Yemenite Rabbi Shalom Shabazi (Hebrew: שלום שבזי, Arabic: سالم الشبزي), which has later been put to music, and was sung by Israeli Yemenite singer Ofra Haza and others.
The poem starts with the words :
Im nin'alu daltei n'divim daltei marom lo nin'alu
Even if the gates of the rich will be closed, the gates of heaven will never be closed.
Ofra Haza (Hebrew: עפרה חזה, pronounced [ʕofrɑːh ħazzɑːh]) (Arabic: عفراء هزّاع) (November 19, 1957 – February 23, 2000) was a popular Israeli singer, actress and international recording artist.
Of Yemenite Jewish ancestry, Haza was born the youngest of nine children in the poor Tel Aviv neighborhood of Hatikvah (meaning "hope" in Hebrew). She became an instant local, then national, success story, the subject of great pride for many Israelis of Yemenite origin.
Her voice has been described as mezzo-soprano, of near-flawless tonal quality, capable of lending itself to a variety of musical styles with apparent ease.
Inspired by a love of her Yemenite-Jewish culture, the appeal of her musical art quickly spread to a wider Middle Eastern audience, somehow bridging the divide between Israel and the Arab countries. As her career progressed, the multi-lingual Haza was able to switch between traditional and more commercial singing styles without jeopardising her credibility. The music, too, fused elements of Eastern and Western instrumentation, orchestration and dance-beat. Success was to follow in Europe and the US; during her singing career, she earned many platinum and gold albums.
Ofra Haza became famous in Europe with this song in the year 1988, when a remixed version of the song reached the top ten charts in various countries and becoming a number one in several of these, most notably in West Germany where it topped the charts for nine weeks in the summer of 1988. In the U.K. the track was a Top 20 hit, peaking at #15 and in the U.S. it reached #15 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart and #18 on Hot Modern Rock Tracks. The Played in Full remix single reportedly sold some three million copies worldwide, making it one of the first world music recordings to cross over to mainstream pop chart success. Even though Haza's version of the song shows her own interpretation, and its presentation was modern and popular, it still fit in the Yemenite tradition that she represented.
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