“Im Nin'Alu” by ofra Haza

"Im Nin'Alu" sets to music a 17th-century Hebrew poem by Rabbi Shalom Shabazi, the title meaning "If the gates are locked", and Ofra Haza had been singing it since 1978, when she performed it on Israeli television with the Shechunat Hatikva Workshop Theatre. This original version, sung over a traditional melody, appears on Yemenite Songs, her 1984 album also known as Fifty Gates of Wisdom, with Izhar Ashdot arranging and co-producing.

It refused to stay a heritage piece. Ashdot's remix, part of her 1988 international debut Shaday, stormed Europe, spent nine weeks at number one in West Germany and reportedly sold some three million copies, one of the first world music records to cross over into the pop mainstream. Coldcut even built their remix of Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid in Full" around it.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.