KNI caught up with Eli Ben Moshe again, the founder of the Messianic record label Ashira (“I will sing”) established in 2015. It’s a unique record label in that it’s not a business, but a non-profit which Ben Moshe manages in his free time. Any Messianic artist wishing to produce their music is welcome to use their services for free and publish their work through all streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and more. KNI interviewed him in 2015 about this concept.
In the last few months, three new songs were published by Ashira by three different talented Messianic artists. “The vision is that believers who write music but don’t have the capacity to publish it can use our services. So far, we have published over 30 songs.” Ben Moshe tells KNI. They own a studio in Kiryat Yam, close to Haifa, where they do the recordings, and the only standard is that the artists are Israelis living in Israel and their lyrics are in Hebrew, sung without a foreign accent. There are no limitations to the genre of music. “One of the newest songs, ‘Jonah,’ is rap and hip-hop, which is not a genre we usually produce,” Ben Moshe says. “As long as it’s worship or tells the truth about God, then we are for it.”
The three new songs are on Ashira’s YouTube channel and on all streaming platforms. The YouTube videos include full lyrics in Hebrew and a translation into English.
Psalm 8, “Through the praise of children and infants,” is written by Dennis Gordishtyan and performed by Dana Miller and is in a slightly upbeat indie style.
“Jonah” is by Liat Archer and Messianic rap and hip-hop artist DBReal.
Finally, “Shum Davar Lo Yafrid,” Nothing can separate, written and performed by Alona Naumov.
Naumov is from Ashdod and came to Israel from Russia when she was three. She has cerebral palsy from birth, which has mostly affected her legs and makes it hard for her to walk and makes her depending on crutches. She appeared on the Israeli music reality show “Aviv or Eyal” on channel 12 back in 2018 and touched everyone’s heart with her love for music and overcoming her difficulties. She disappeared from the spotlights after the reality show, but told KNI that she never stopped writing music, and with this song decided to turn to Ashira.
“I write a lot of songs, mostly in English and sometimes in Hebrew. Both worship and a lot about faith, but it usually just stays among my close group of friends and family. This time I felt I wrote a song I wanted to reach out with, so I turned to Ashira. I wanted people to use it for worship in congregations and youth groups, and that everyone would just take it to where they are and let us worship the Lord together. I’ve already seen an Israeli youth group that uploaded a cover of my song to Instagram. Just a small group of girls and a guitar, and it made me so happy. That was exactly what I wanted when I wrote the song.”
As for working with Ashira, Naumov is filled with gratitude.
“They were very professional. Eli worked on the project and did a great job. He guided me throughout the process and it was really important to him I’d be happy with the final result. His wife, Vanessa, arranged everything and invited me to the recordings. She listened to me and gave me brilliant advice about the song. It was a great experience working with them.”