{{Short description|Israeli record label}} {{Infobox record label | name = Hed Arzi<br />{{Nobold|{{Script/Hebrew|הד ארצי}}}} | image = File:Hed Arzi Music recording company.jpg | image_size = 182px | image_bg = | parent = | founded = 1946 | founder = Zvi Levin | status = | distributor = | genre = Various | country = [[Israel]] | location = [[Tel Aviv]] | url = {{url|http://www.hed-arzi.co.il/}} }}
'''Hed Arzi Music''' ({{langx|he|הד ארצי}}, meaning: ''Echo of My Country'') is an Israeli [[record label]] founded in 1946.
== History == The company was founded in [[Tel Aviv]] in 1946 as a partnership of Zvi Levin (also known as Hirsch Lewin) with Josef Grossman, Alexander Borowitz and Ephraim Ruttenberg. Mr. Levin was a refugee from [[Berlin]] where he has owned and operated a bookshop and recording label ''Semer'' (from the Hebrew "Zemer", meaning song). The Semer label operated from approximately 1932 until the recording masters and inventory were smashed and burned during [[Kristallnacht]]. Hed-Arzi started operating in September 1947, managed by Ephraim Felix Rzeczynski, making it the oldest recording company in Israel (followed by [[Makolit]] in [[Jaffa]], [[The Recording of the Israel Declaration of Independence#The "Tslil" Recording Company|Tslil]] in Tel-Aviv and others<ref>P. Gradenwitz, Music publishing in Israel, Music Library Association Notes, v. X, 1953, p. 391-393.</ref>).
Originally the company produced 78 rpm gramophone records (including re-issues of Semer recordings), the most popular among which were ''Agala Vesoussa'' and ''Bab El-Wad'' by [[Yaffa Yarkoni]] as well as ''Kalaniot'' and ''Ani Mitzfat'' by [[Shoshana Damari]]. In 1951, company started building a plant in [[Ramat-Gan]]. In 1955, the first LP was manufactured (6 songs of Shoshana Damari).<ref>Israel digest: a bi-weekly summary of news from Israel, 1955, v. 6-8, p. 48. [https://books.google.com/books?id=sGo8AQAAIAAJ&q=%22hed-arzi%22++Shoshana+Damari]</ref> In 1958, it recorded its first stereo record and was considered "the biggest and most modern record manufacturer in the Near East with steady increasing export activities to nearly 30 countries"<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=VAVXAAAAMAAJ&q=hed-arzi Who's who Israel, 1958, p. 452] </ref> or the "leading distributor and manufacturer in Israel".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=PwoEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22leading+distributor+and+manufacturer+in+Israel%22&pg=PA8 The Billboard, Sept. 7, 1959, p. 8]</ref> Until 1960, the company has produced over 1250 titles of conventional records, about 700 records 7" in diameter and over 320 LP records; its income was $25,000 a year.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xftWAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Hed-Artzi%22 The Israel yearbook, 1960, p. 293]</ref> In late 1961, the company issued a documentary LP ''Echoes of the [[Adolf Eichmann|Eichmann]] trial''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ziAEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22hed+arzi%22&pg=PA42 The Billboard, Nov. 13, 1961, p. 42]</ref>
In 1980, 50% share was sold to Modi’in Publishing House, ltd. (the parent company of the newspaper [[Maariv (newspaper)|''Maariv'']]), since 1993 owned by [[Israel Land Development Company]], ltd.
Since 2008, ownership is held by NMC United (owner of [[NMC Music]]).
==Notable artists== *[[The Dudaim]] *[[Shoshana Damari]] *[[Yaffa Yarkoni]] *[[David D'Or]] *[[Gidi Gov]] *[[Sarit Hadad]] *[[Ofra Haza]] *[[Poogy]] *[[Harel Skaat]] *[[Teapacks]] *[[Dana International]] *[[Boaz Mauda]] *[[Yehoram Gaon]] *[[The Churchills (Israeli band)|The Churchills]]
== See also == *[[Music of Israel]] * [[Piposh]], a video game franchise published by the video game subsidiary Hed Arzi Multimedia.
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == *[http://www.hed-arzi.co.il/ Official site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070624073621/http://www.hed-arzi.co.il/ |date=2007-06-24 }} {{in lang|he}} *[http://www.russian-records.com/categories.php?cat_id=349 List of some of Hed-Arzi recordings, with photos of their labels] {{Authority control}}
[[Category:Israeli record labels]] [[Category:Record labels established in 1946]] [[Category:IFPI members]] [[Category:1946 establishments in Mandatory Palestine]]