Ester Rada

Ester Rada (; born March 7, 1985) is an Israeli actress and singer.

Biography Rada was born in Kiryat Arba, Israel, to a religious Ethiopian-Jewish family. Her parents, originally from a village near Gondar, were rescued by Israel from a refugee camp in Sudan during Operation Moses, in 1984.

She grew up speaking Amharic at home and Hebrew in school. Her father was known as a cantor in the Ethiopian community in Kiryat Arba. Her parents divorced when she was a child and later on, she moved with her mother and older brother to Netanya in 1996, when Rada was 11 years old, which she considers a turning point in her life, since the family moved to a less observant neighbourhood where the majority were Ethiopian Jews, and also started to interact with French olim, who were familiar with funk and rap, something unheard of in a religious Jewish settlement like Kiryat Arba.

Career Rada started her acting career in musical theater, and won an award for her role in Habima Theatre's The Troupe. In 2007, she played a major role in the TV serial Deus. Jill Scott, traditional religious Bnei Akiva songs especially Mulatu Astatke and Mahmoud Ahmed

Rada has performed in several Israeli and international events, such as: InDnegev festival. Mitzpeh Gvulot, 2012 Glastonbury Festival, 2013 Festival des Musiques Métisses. Angoulême, 2014 Festival Banlieues Bleues. Aubervilliers, 2014 Small World Music Festival. Toronto, 2015 Lotus World Music and Arts Festival. Bloomington, 2015

Life Happens In early 2013, Rada released an EP, Life Happens with four of her songs. The album was positively received by critics, who describe her music as "cross-cultural sound that is a deep reflection of the Israeli born Ethiopian's heritage" and "graceful composition of Ethio-Jazz, funk, soul and r&b, with mixed undertones of black grooves". BBC called this album her debut, highlighting her "powerful, soulful voice and seductive combination of Ethiopian Jazz, funk and R&B". In addition to the singles already included in her EP, the album included three singles – No More, Sorries and Nanu Nay; the first two became hits on the Israeli radio stations and Nanu Nay reached number seven for a few weeks on the charts, becoming the first song in amharic to be in the top 10 of the Israeli radio charts.

In May 2014, she sang at the Torch-lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl held as part of the Israel Independence Day celebrations.

On early 2015, Rada signed a contract with the label Discograph (belonging to Harmonia Mundi), for the distribution of her Ester Rada album across Europe.

Filmography and TV appearances

Od ani holeh (2010) Zrubavel Kirot The Special

Discography Studio albums Ester Rada (2014) Different eyes (2017) Chesed (2020) ZION (2025)

EPs Life Happens (2013) I Wish (2015) Lady (2019)

Nominations and awards AwardCategoryRecipientResult2013 MTV Europe Music AwardBest Israeli ActThe Ultras