Samson Kehimkar was a Jewish violinist and sitar player from India. One of the pioneers of ethnic and world music in Israel. Before emigrating in 1976, he played in Indian classical orchestras, film and pop bands. One of the founding members of “Habrera Hativit” (literal translation: The Natural Selection, known in English as The Gathering). Shlomo Bar considered Kehimkar to be his mentor, both musically and otherwise. He died in 2007, after battling severe diabetes for years, in the course of which both legs were amputated.
His son, the cricketer Benzi Kehimkar, died shortly after.
Violinist and musician Samson Khmkr passed away after a long illness. His funeral will be held tonight (Saturday) 22: 30 Ashdod cemetery. Khmkr, violinist and co-founder of the band “natural selection”, considered one of the great symbols of world music in Israel.
“I went with him a lifetime,” he told Ynet his longtime friend and collaborator Shlomo Bar, “he would write each show we ever did together, and he would say, for example, when we passed the 4,000 performances. He was an entertainer and a very funny, he also was an amazing player who took things in the right proportion, a very smart man. I learned from him a lot. even the music and the wisdom of life. it is a sad day. “
Six years ago he retired from the band following the Khmkr health condition.At that stage, he held a huge farewell show at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv attended by musicians who played with Sampson during his lifetime, including Ehud Banai, Etti Ankara, Meir Banai and David D’Or. “The period was one of the highlights with our away this was already a different era. There is the period with the period after Samson and Samson.” Says Bar. “Samson was not age, for five or six years, he was the same age, for five years he was 76,