GIDI & MATI:
The strangers are the friends
By composer Gidi Farhi and poet Mati Shemoelof.
Released on February 13, 2026, and celebrated with an intimate release concert at Berlin's Lettretage, The Strangers Are the Friends is a meeting point between diaspora and belonging, personal memory and shared emotion. It is a space where Hebrew lyrics meet handmade music in a raw, honest atmosphere.
Recorded with modest means and gentle layering, the album holds onto the warmth, breath, and human closeness of its creation, letting the songs remain unpolished and real.
An Emotional Map
The songs move between Tel Aviv, Haifa, Prague, Berlin, and Jerusalem, tracing the shared emotional map of the global immigrant experience. They follow universal stories: a father searching for a lost child, a man aging inside his own reflection, memories of homeland and exile, prayers that fall silent, masks of identity, and the fragile inheritance of a father’s name. Each song stands as a small story of migration, vulnerability, and the deeply human need for connection.
One Composer, One Poet, One Room
Sung in Hebrew, the album preserves the rhythm and intimacy of the language - a language carrying both ancient roots and modern fractures. Yet, the collaboration between Gidi and Mati remains simple and brave: one composer, one poet, one room, allowing the songs to stay exposed, human, and close to the listener.