Ranjha is the first single and title track from the album by Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood and The Rajasthan Express.

Sung in Punjabi, the song sets a poem by Bulleh Shah, an eighteenth-century Sufi poet and mystic, to original music by Ben Tzur. Bulleh Shah writes in the voice of Heer, the heroine of the Punjabi love story Heer and Ranjha, who repeats her beloved’s name until she becomes Ranjha herself. Her love becomes a metaphor for devotion to the divine beloved, in which the boundary between lover and beloved gradually dissolves.

Greenwood’s arrangement brings his guitars and bass together with the drumming of The Smile’s Tom Skinner and the Qawwali voices, percussion and brass of The Rajasthan Express.

The single was produced by Jonny Greenwood and Sam Petts-Davies and recorded at Greenwood’s studio in Oxford. The album was released in May 2026 on World Circuit / BMG.

Musicians
Shye Ben Tzur — Guitar
Jonny Greenwood — Guitar, Bass Guitar
Zakir Ali Qawwal — Qawwali Vocals, Harmonium
Nafees Khan Ajmeri — Qawwali Vocals
Ehtisham Khan Ajmeri — Dholak, Qawwali Choir
Raish Naimee, Shabbir Khan, Shazeeb Khan, Sitab Khan, Sohrab Khan — Qawwali Choir
Nathu Lal Solanki — Nagara
Aamir Bhiyani — Trumpet, Tuba
Tom Skinner — Drums, Percussion

YOM (Day) explores the search for hope and grace amid a sense of uncertainty and lack of control. The EP’s songs seek the glow in ordinary moments, in wandering through the city and pausing for reflection amid the bustle of everyday life. Ben Tzur’s Hebrew lyrics take a more direct turn here, exploring time, doubt, solace and renewal.

Shye Ben Tzur co-produced the EP with Ben Aylon, a key creative partner in its making. The minimalist production combines gentle psychedelia, layers of synthesizers and floating guitars.

The album cover was created by Sharona Katan, combining photography and weaving.

Label and distribution: Kamea — Independent Music Group.

An artistic journey moving from meditation to ecstasy.Filmed and recorded in the Augusta Victoria Church and on the outskirts of Jerusalem's sacred landscape.

During a period of two live sessions Shye stationed a minimalistic "sound laboratory" in the Augusta Victoria Church.

The Sessions were all recorded live as one takes. Shye played short phrases which were sampled into two separate loop stations.
These repeated musical segments produce a mosaic of musical patterns. Melodies serve as a linear narrative changing the perspective of the music on every repeated
looped patterns.

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During the weeks of lockdown, while spending time at home, I often found myself humming the song “We Shall Overcome”. I always associated this song with the elevating force of people singing together. Suddenly, in this reality of seclusion, we found ourselves making efforts to reach out, striving to experience each other from a distance.

As people lost their lives and health, their livelihood and future, the lines: “We'll walk hand in hand.” And, “We are not afraid...” resonated with renewed meaning. I sang to myself, repeating those comforting words to my wife and daughter, clinging to the sentiment that, “Deep in my heart, I do believe that we shall overcome someday!”

On a recent afternoon, while the streets around were empty and the quarantine enforced its silence, I sat in our living room to record. This rendition is an intimate contemplation on our present times.

Get to know JUNUN

Released in 2015, Junun is a collaborative album by Shye Ben Tzur, Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and The Rajasthan Express. It features songs in Hebrew, Urdu and Hindi, composed by Ben Tzur and arranged together with Greenwood. Qawwali singing and the musical traditions of Rajasthan meet guitars and electronics, with brass and percussion at the heart of the sound.

Produced by Jonny Greenwood and recorded and mixed by Nigel Godrich, the album was made in a studio set up inside the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur. Paul Thomas Anderson documented the recording sessions and the collaboration between the musicians in his film of the same name.

Following the album’s release, the ensemble performed at festivals around the world and joined Radiohead on tours across Europe, South America and North America.

Label: World Circuit / BMG.

Shoshan, Shye Ben Tzur’s second album, was released in 2010. Sung in Hebrew, Urdu and Hindi, it brings devotional poetry and the Qawwali tradition together with Rajasthani rhythms and Western influences. Love, both human and divine, runs through the album, connecting its languages and musical worlds.

Ben Tzur composed, arranged and produced the album, which features vocalist Shubha Mudgal, Qawwali brothers Ustad Zakir Ali and Ustad Zaki Ali Qawwal, guitarist Fernando Pérez, Yossi Fine, Mishko M’ba, Eli Magen, Zohar Fresco and many others.

Shoshan received international critical recognition and was included in Songlines magazine’s Top of the World selection.

Label: EarthSync.

Heeyam (“Ardent love” in Arabic), Shye Ben Tzur’s debut album, was released in 2003. It was recorded in India, Israel and the United States.

The album grew out of his life in India and his encounter with Qawwali, the Sufi tradition of devotional singing. Its songs include “As You Will” and “Dancing”, which have become enduring favourites in Ben Tzur’s repertoire.

Brothers Ustad Zakir Ali and Ustad Zaki Ali Qawwal, Qawwali singers from Ajmer, Rajasthan, perform Ben Tzur’s original songs in Hebrew. The album also features oud player Mikhail Maroun, sitar player Niladri Kumar, santoor player Ulhas Bapat and shehnai player Madhukar Dhumal.

This debut gave the first recorded expression to a personal connection between Hebrew and India’s musical and spiritual traditions, one that would continue to shape Ben Tzur’s work in the years to come.

Originally released by GlobaLev Music.