HAGIT YASO

Hagit Yaso is of Ethiopian Jewish descent. She was born in Sderot, and has two brothers and two sisters. Yaso’s parents immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia in the 1980s through Sudan. From an early age she loved to sing, and later on became a member of the band “Sderot Youth in which she participated along with her sisters. During her military service, Yaso served in a military band.

In 2011, she participated in the Kokhav Nolad 9, (translation “A Star is Born”) modeled after the UK show Pop Idol. In her audition, Yaso sang Amir Benayoun’s song “Omed BaSha’ar”. 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. The first song Yaso sang in the finals was Ofra Haza’s “Mishehu Tamid Holech Iti” and Idan Raichel’s song “Medabrim Besheket”. Yaso ended up winning the first place with 60% of the votes. She won a scholarship of 240,000 shekels, and a production contract from the well-known music producer Ivri Lider.

After winning, Yaso and her parents were invited to the president’s residence, where President Shimon discussed with her parents their immigration to Israel from Ethiopia, and about her involvement in Kokhav Nolad. In 2012, she released her first single.

Yaso has toured and performed internationally. In January 2013, she toured in several cities across the US 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 Me Softly” with the song’s writer Charles Fox. Later that year she performed in Gondar, Ethiopia. 2014 brought her to additional cities in Switzerland, Canada, London and Paris. In 2015 Hagit and her father returned to Ethiopia to film a documentary about her family’s roots.