Alon Farber Hagiga

Hagiga in Hebrew means “celebration” and in our music we celebrate the cultural divergence of our Israeli heritage. Hagiga is inspired by the variety of musical flavors and colors of the “Israeli soundtrack." Our compositions cross musical genres and are influenced by Swing, Moroccan, Funk and Brazilian backgrounds. It is this unique "celebration” of original Israeli jazz that is Hagiga.
​ Alon Farber Hagiga was founded in 2001 by Alon Farber and Dani Benedikt, and have since then released four albums: Exposure and Optimistic View were released by Fresh Sound Records (Barcelona). Nathan Halaway from jazzreviews.com named Hagiga "one of the finer groups that the Fresh Sound label has produced." New Directions, released by QFTF (Berlin), prompted internationally acclaimed saxophonist Eli Degibri to note: "Taking their time, the band captivates the listener through a deliberate, fascinating and wondrous journey." In September 2021 Hagiga's new album Reflecting on Freedom was released on one of the leading jazz labels in the world, Origin Records.
Hagiga has performed at local and international jazz festivals, and venues, including the Paris Jazz Festival, Copenhagen Jazz festival, Red Sea Jazz Festival, Jerusalem International Jazz Festival, OCT-LOFT Festival (Shenzen, China), Tel Aviv International Jazz festival, The B-flat (Berlin), and Israeli International showcases. Over the years Hagiga has collaborated with amazingly talented and important artists such as Omri Mor, Eli Degibri, Anat Cohen, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, Ofer Ganor, Omer Klein, Amit Friedman, Amos Hoffman and many others.
Alon Farber, the band leader, studied Jazz composition at Berklee College of Music, Boston, and is a recipient of the Israeli Prime Minister's Award for Jazz Composers (2016) and the Wayne Shorter Award for Composers (1998). He is one of the founders of the Israeli Jazz Orchestra in which he plays lead saxophone, and also serves as associate arranger and composer.