featured! The whole story behind Madonna's atmospheric Confessions gem "Isaac"

[Illegally EATEN]

"Isaac", one of Madonna's most unique and spiritual tracks, was recorded for 2005's Confessions On A Dance Floor.

Below is the full story of how one of Madonna's most meaningful and atmospheric tracks came to be.

The song samples a traditional Yemenite Jewish song, sung in an ancient dialect of Hebrew preserved for millenia by Yemen's Jewish community, called "Im Ninalu". Nearly all of Yemen's Jewish population immigrated to Israel between 1949-1950 following Israel's rebirth in 1948.

Written in Yemen in the 17th century by a Jewish sage by the name of Rabbi Shalom Shabazi, the opening line of "Im Ninalu" translates to "even if the gates of the rich are locked, the gates of heaven have not been locked".
 

Why did Madonna choose to sample this specific ancient poem in her song? What relevance did it hold to her?

The story goes all the way back to 1988. Ofra Haza, an Israeli-born singer whose parents immigrated to pre-state Israel from Yemen, releases her first international single, "Im Ninalu". This marks the first time the ancient poem is exposed to an international audience.
 

The recording combines lines from the ancient text with newly written verses in English in order for the track to be more relatable and understandable to an international audience.

The single is a huge success, mostly in Europe and Asia, initially selling 4 million copies and charting from number 1 through Top 20 in many countries, including #15 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.

The song marked the begining of an incredibly successful international music career for Ofra Haza, the first and most successful of its kind to come out of Israel to this day.

It also caught the attention of Kabbalah enthusiast Madonna, who loved Ofra Haza and her Yemenite style so much that she was inspired to feature explicitly Yemenite jewelry, which Ofra Haza notably liked to perform in, on the cover of her 1989 album "Like A Prayer".
 

In 1990, Madonna participated in a movie titled "**** Tracy", and being by then a solidified fan of Ofra Haza, got her to sing in the movie's soundtrack.

Tragically, Ofra Haza passed away suddenly in the year 2000 at the young age of 42 due to complications from AIDS, which she had unknowingly contracted from her husband.

In 2005, Madonna released the song "Isaac", sampling an Israeli of Yemenite origin singing Ofra Haza's greatest hit- Im Ninalu. The song serves as a powerful tribute to a remarkable, spiritual singer.

The text of the ancient poem is incredibly spiritual and filled with hidden meaning, which made for an extraordinary spiritual track on its own.

Soon after, Israeli DJ Offer Nissim- one of Madonna's favorite- created the following mashup of Madonna's Isaac with Ofra Haza's Im Ninalu, as an ultimate tribute.
 

 

Now you know :-)

 

[Roxxy]

Omg not you making a thread to celebrate this masterpiece. Isaac is underrated on Confessions On a Dance Floor. 

I didn't know about this back story and sample so thank you. The ime ninalu ime nina-a-e-lu-uuuhhh on Isaac is catchy af. 

6 minutes ago, DonoDotto said:

The story goes all the way back to 1988

Everything from 1988 is 

[Illegally EATEN]

Organizing and revealing this story is literally my single biggest contribution to Exhale  I can never top it 

[Spicechinodiva]

I always loved when she did a Kabbalah track. 

 

Plus Madonna was known for having a weird track on each album. 

[Roxxy]

Main paged @DonoDotto 

[Jordan Miller]

Omg what a flawless thread @DonoDotto 

[Illegally EATEN]

1 minute ago, Roxxy said:

Main paged @DonoDotto 

 

1 minute ago, JordanMiller said:

Omg what a flawless thread @DonoDotto 

Omg thank you so much now I can retire in peace  

Not that Im planning on retiring any time soon 

[Jordan Miller]

1 minute ago, DonoDotto said:

 

Omg thank you so much now I can retire in peace  

Not that Im planning on retiring any time soon 

I gave you 100 points. 

[Marley]

my FAVORITE song on Confessions album so THANK YOU for this great work ❤️

[Illegally EATEN]

14 hours ago, Roxxy said:

Omg not you making a thread to celebrate this masterpiece. Isaac is underrated on Confessions On a Dance Floor. 

I didn't know about this back story and sample so thank you. The ime ninalu ime nina-a-e-lu-uuuhhh on Isaac is catchy af. 

Everything from 1988 is 

The "im ninalu im ninaluuuu" hook is actually taken from another similar traditional arrangement of the song, you can hear it performed here by Ofra Haza ten years prior to the release of her international single:

You can also hear it in this 1984 recording of the song by Ofra Haza, (sans the English verses) which was originally released only in Israel (skip to 2:31 to hear the im ninalu im ninaluuuu hook):

She truly had an angelic, one of a kind, once in many generations voice... Rest in peace Ofra Haza ❤

[RadicalOptimism]

Not you channeling your inner @Spicechinodiva 

[Roxxy]

11 hours ago, DonoDotto said:

The "im ninalu im ninaluuuu" hook is actually taken from another similar traditional arrangement of the song, you can hear it performed here by Ofra Haza ten years prior to the release of her international single:

You can also hear it in this 1984 recording of the song by Ofra Haza, (sans the English verses) which was originally released only in Israel (skip to 2:31 to hear the im ninalu im ninaluuuu hook):

She truly had an angelic, one of a kind, once in many generations voice... Rest in peace Ofra Haza ❤

Ok I just listened to both songs in full and I'm already on my 4th or 5th play. It's such a satisfying listen.  No shade to Madonna and Isaac but the "ime ninaluu ime nina-a-a-lu-u-uhhh" hook is what made that song. 

So the im ninalu hook present on Isaac is not sampled from another song? It was originally recorded for the song? What I mean is like you know Stan by Eminem? The "my tea's gone cold" hook was not recorded for that song. It was sampled from Dido's song Thank You and were not newly recorded vocals for Stan.

[Roxxy]

8 hours ago, CrazyButItFeelsAllright said:

Not you channeling your inner @Spicechinodiva 

Why is this so accurate. 

[C0CKy]

Beautiful thread, tbh. 

[Barajas]

This is my favorite track from Confessions...!! the tour performance is flawless!! (that spectacular cage dance. .. wow )

I knew about the poem but didn´t know about Ofra Haza.. thanks for the info!! 

[Illegally EATEN]

6 hours ago, Roxxy said:

Ok I just listened to both songs in full and I'm already on my 4th or 5th play. It's such a satisfying listen.  No shade to Madonna and Isaac but the "ime ninaluu ime nina-a-a-lu-u-uhhh" hook is what made that song. 

So the im ninalu hook present on Isaac is not sampled from another song? It was originally recorded for the song? What I mean is like you know Stan by Eminem? The "my tea's gone cold" hook was not recorded for that song. It was sampled from Dido's song Thank You and were not newly recorded vocals for Stan.

I still get goosebumps when listening to her singing.

All the Hebrew vocals for Isaac were recorded by an Israeli of Yemenite origin. Pretty sure I remember reading somewhere that his name is "Isaac" which is why she named the track?

Offer Nissim's mashup though combines Ofra Haza's vocals from a live performance with Madonna's song instead of the random other guy's vocals :-)

Not sure tbh why Madonna didnt use Ofra's vocals. Perhaps there were copyright issues; her family is very sensitive about her music being used or exploited for profit after her death.

[Roxxy]

3 minutes ago, DonoDotto said:

All the Hebrew vocals for Isaac were recorded by an Israeli of Yemenite origin. Pretty sure I remember reading somewhere that his name is "Isaac" which is why she named the track?

The guy singing the hook was named Isaac??? 

What a revelation omg mindblown, like the best piece of trivia I have heard in quite some time.  

6 minutes ago, DonoDotto said:

Offer Nissim's mashup though combines Ofra Haza's vocals from a live performance with Madonna's song instead of the random other guy's vocals :-)

Yeah I listened to that too. It's just different cause my ears are so used to "Isaac's" voice omg we're close now i feel like I know him. 

8 minutes ago, DonoDotto said:

Not sure tbh why Madonna didnt use Ofra's vocals. Perhaps there were copyright issues; her family is very sensitive about her music being used or exploited for profit after she has passed.

This makes sense. Imagine tho if Madonna used her vocals, the song would be called... Ofra? 

[Illegally EATEN]

12 minutes ago, Roxxy said:

The guy singing the hook was named Isaac??? 

What a revelation omg mindblown, like the best piece of trivia I have heard in quite some time.  

Yeah I listened to that too. It's just different cause my ears are so used to "Isaac's" voice omg we're close now i feel like I know him. 

This makes sense. Imagine tho if Madonna used her vocals, the song would be called... Ofra? 

Im not 100% that hes named Isaac lol just pretty sure I remember reading that somewhere.

Lol you feel like you know him 🤪

And ya that would be cool. Not meant to be I guess. 

 

[Leolileinstein]

Isaac should have been a single!!!