Rotem Shefy is a 28 year old Israeli singer, and the voice of the most unique cover of Radiohead's Karma Police.
Shefy's oriental version of Karma Police was uploaded to YouTube on April 23rd and in less than two weeks reached over 210,000 views, becoming a must hear song. In an interview to Israelife, Shefy, a singer from Tel-Aviv, seems quite surprised from the clip's overnight success, and explains that it actually started as a private joke:
“In 2009, I started my first year in the music academy- Rimon. In my second year there, I joined a Radiohead ensemble, which performed covers of the band's songs. There, I met cellist Leat Sabbah, and we became very close friends. Karma Police started as a private joke between the two of us, and then between all members of the group. Before we started playing Karma Police, I would sing a short oriental version of a part of the song and everyone would laugh. After we graduated, this “private joke” of us became the real deal, as we decided to turn Karma Police around and rearrange in into a middle-eastern song. We started a Kickstarter campaign and raised the money for the production. After recording, we filmed the video, where we created those new fun characters, and the rest is history…”
Did you have any ideas it would become such a great hit?
“None of us imagined it would become such a viral hit. The song was born out of respect to Radiohead, when our main goal was to enjoy ourselves and have fun.”
Will we be hearing more from you in the near future?
“Both Liat and I are musicians, and we work both together and separately. In the past two years, I've been working on my own original material and perform with a band. Soon, we will start recording.
My plans for the future is to never stop creating music, whether it is original or covers that inspire me, record everything and then release them. I also hope I would combine acting with my musical life.”
Karma Police: