I recently sat down with Israeli electronic music maker Or Golan to find out about his career in music, his process and where it all goes from here.
I first came across your music via the recent single, “I Am Greedy,” can you tell me a bit about the journey from your earliest experiences in music up until this point?
I have already done everything probably from one song, thank God for giving me talent in this life. Thanks to this song I did Times Square, Radio Plays, articles, and radio and television interviews, and my music has entered more than 70 countries.
# Over 10000 radio plays for the song I am Greedy worldwide
#9 times first place in the radio charts
# 16 radio interviews to audiences of millions of listeners
# 4 TV appearances in Brazil to an audience of 2.5 million viewers
# More than 20 official remixes for the song I am Greedy
That’s a lot, isn’t it?
Are there any particular influences that you draw on when making music, musical and otherwise?
I always say that I’m just a fan of Britney Spears. An amazing artist and singer, an excellent performer, a career of international achievements but also a lot of sadness
Can you tell me a bit about your creative process? Is it the same every time or is each song created differently?
I never learned musical notation, I never went to music schools, I never learned anything about marketing. Thanks to God I have a career
I have worked with several artists from Israel over the years from dream pop to rock to blues. How vibrant is the music scene there?
Let me tell you something: Israel has oriental music, and this music is the strongest in Israel. All other music is almost pushed to the corner and not played. Here they do not accept me as an artist because I have succeeded in all the countries of the world, where I have not reached in Israel (if it is television, morning shows, magazines in Israel, radio stations) I am slandered here, and it is a terrible thing that in your country you are not accepted
Did lockdown affect your music career? Did you find being shut off from studios and stages a problem or were you able to navigate such problems easily?
I will tell you in general: if you are not a strong person in life you will not survive in this world even for a minute. Here in the State of Israel they stole all the money I made in this world from the song I am Greedy (and I’m talking about a 7-digit number) You have nothing to do but do things to forget this black pit
Are there any recurring messages and meanings in your music? Are there ideas that you are hoping to communicate with the audience, or conversations that you are trying to start?
When you are a person who stutters, everything is destined for disaster, you will always wake up the demons in the world because you are equipped with tools that are not good in the world. I believe that I managed to change my mind about stutterers and openness and acceptance of the different in society.
At the moment, I believe, you are happy to be a studio project. Are there any plans to take things out onto a live stage?
I don’t believe it will happen but if it does I will make something good out of it
Where next for Or Golan, both musically and personally?
I hope that I will have a page on Wikipedia about this song because I really deserve it, I want to perform at the Super Bowl and maybe also make a small comeback for the American public who managed to forget the sensationalism called Or Golan.
