FOR YOUR GRAMMY® CONSIDERATION

Best Global Music Album
Singing of the Herbs

Avadim Hayinu
Best Jazz Performance
Yotam Ishay

Singing of the Herbs
Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella
Arranged by Yotam Ishay

Eight years in the making, "Singing of the Herbs"
is a collection of reimagined Jewish folk melodies, exploring tradition, memory, and renewal through a contemporary chamber-jazz lens.

Get the Album on Bandcamp

Released December 12, 2025

Photos

SINGLES

Evening of Roses / ערב של שושנים

The recording that started the whole album
"Erev Shel Shoshanim" is one of the most beloved Hebrew love songs, carried for decades through Israeli folk culture, Jewish weddings, synagogue melodies, and international interpretations.
Yotam approaches it as a modern standard: familiar, but not fixed - allowing the piano, bass, and percussion to rediscover the song's pulse, fragrance, and tenderness from within.

Hear some background
about the song
< - - - -

Hear some background
about the song
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Singing of the Herbs / שירת העשבים

This is the title track of the album, and is based on Naomi Shemer’s setting of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov’s timeless text, reimagined through spoken word in seven languages by voices from around the world. Bringing together people of different backgrounds around a shared message, it reflects the album’s broader exploration of tradition, identity, and human connection.

Always Change / להשתנות תמיד

Originally written by Matti Caspi and Ehud Manor, Always Change becomes, in Yotam’s arrangement, an intimate piano-vocal-bass ballad. With Maayan Zitman on vocals and Youngchae Jeong on contrabass, the song is given more space, stillness, and vulnerability — turning its meditation on transformation into something quiet and deeply human.

TRACK LIST

1. Singing of the Herbs / שירת העשבים - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2. Song of The Vineyard / שיר הכרם - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3. Always Change / להשתנות תמיד - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4. Avadim Hayinu / עבדים היינו - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5. A Japanese Tale / אגדה יפנית - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6. Youngchae's Intro - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7. Erev Shel Shoshanim / ערב של שושנים - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8. The Wheat Grows Again / החיטה צומחת שוב - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9. Next Year / בשנה הבאה - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10. Im Eshkachech / אם אשכחך - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
11. Maoz Tzur / מעוז צור - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12. I Wanted You to Know / רציתי שתדע - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13. A Joyful Choir / מקהלה עליזה - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

3:39
1:30
4:35
3:04
6:43
1:15
4:06
3:54
3:07
4:11
1:35
4:28
3:21

"Singing of The Herbs" LIVE

Footage from the TLV album release concert. "Singing of the Herbs" becoming a living, breathing conversation between folk melodies, impressionist harmony, and spontaneous moments of improvisation and interaction with the audeience

NY Concert

Unique album release concert in Cafe Ornithology in Brooklyn, NY with
Kan Yanabe on Percussion and Roni Eytan on Harmonica

THE ROOTS

Before these songs became part of Singing of the Herbs, many of them reached me through earlier recordings and familiar voices. This playlist gathers some of those original versions — a way to hear where the melodies come from before entering the world of the album.

C R E D I T S

Yotam Ishay - Piano, Accordion, arrangements, production

Vocals - Maayan Zitman (track 3)
Vocals - Harshitha Krishnan (track 8)
Vocals - Zalmi Katz (track 9)

Bass Clarinet - Sam Sadigursky (track 1)
Violin - Bengisu Gokce (track 7,9)
Cello - Emanuel Keller (track 9)

Bass - Youngchae Jeong (tracks 2,3,4,6,7,8)
Percussion - Kan Yanabe (tracks 2,4,6,8,12)
Percussion - Thomas Antonio Debelian (track 6)
Drums - Gal Petel (track 1)

Spoken Word - Pedro Osuna Ardoy, Kento Tsubosaka, Sam Newsome,

Adirchai Haberman-Browns, Simona Smirnova, Pravah Khandekar, Bahar Badieitabar (track 1)

Mix - Iyar Dalva (tracks 3,5,7,10), Gal Petel (tracks 1,2,4,6,8,9,11,12)
Recording - Anothony Nguyen, Iyar Dalva, Todd Carder, Leah Dunn
Master - Iyar Dalva

Artwork - Ofir Shlomi

Special thanks to: Tamar Shrek, Moshe Elmakias, Maya Cohen, Anastasiya Voytyuk

SONG CREDITS

Track 1 was composed by Naomi Shemer, with text based on Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
Track 2 was composed by Sasha Argov
Track 3 was written by Matti Caspi and Ehud Manor
Track 4 features traditional Passover text, with music by Shalom Postolsky
Track 5 was written by Ariel Zilber
Track 7 was composed by Yosef Hadar
Track 8 was composed by Haim Barkani
Track 9 was written by Nurit Hirsch and Ehud Manor
Track 10 features text from Psalm 137, with music by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach
Track 12 was composed by Uzi Hitman
Track 13 was composed by Nurit Hirsch

All arrangements by Yotam Ishay

FOR YOUR GRAMMY® CONSIDERATION

Best Global Music Album Singing of the Herbs

Avadim Hayinu Best Jazz Performance Yotam Ishay Singing of the Herbs Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella Arranged by Yotam Ishay

Eight years in the making, "Singing of the Herbs" is a collection of reimagined Jewish folk melodies, exploring tradition, memory, and renewal through a contemporary chamber-jazz lens.