Karolina (singer)

Keren Karolina Avratz, professionally known as Karolina, is a singer/songwriter from Eilat, Israel. She is the lead singer of the trio Habanot Nechama.

Keren (Karolina) Avratz was born in Jaffa and raised in Eilat. Given the nickname "Karolina" by her grandmother, Karolina's musical influences came primarily from within her household, as well as from attending the Red Sea Jazz Festival. She listened to Greek, Arabic, Turkish and other music on a daily basis. Her brother, Joseph Avratz, introduced her to soul, jazz and new wave music, and she collaborated with another brother, Shlomi Avratz, in his project Madbooja. After a few lessons in classical guitar at the age of fifteen, she studied on her own.

At the beginning of her recording career, in 1999 Karolina recorded a track with Spoiled and Zigo under her given name "Keren". Later creating "MC Karolina" a concept project that initially focused on a solo sound system shows for the club scene. This project led to multiple recordings with various artists.

In 2000, Karolina founded Funset with musicians in Tel Aviv (bass: Uri Kleinman, keyboards: Shaul Eshet, drums: Atraf Moshe Assraf, dj: Yoav Rattner, sound: Guy Margalit, guitar: Shai Pertz). In 2004, she was invited by Israeli producers crew "Soulico" to record "Lo Tzipity" - an Israeli version of a track called "It's a Pity" originally released by Tanya Stephens and Seeed. Intending for the track to just be for fun, it eventually became a top 5 hit on the airwaves even though it was never officially released.

That same year Karolina formed a trio, Habanot Nechama, with Yael Deckelbaum and Dana Adini. Their debut was an acoustic night at the Jah-Pan club in the artsy Florentin neighborhood in south Tel Aviv.

In 2005, Funset released their first album, a unique combination of Reggae, Nu Soul, and live Trip-hop that enchanted crowds all over the country. The album, called Ragga Pumpkin received critical acclaim, including an ACUM (Israeli ASCAP) award for composition.

Karolina continued to be featured on compilations and tracks, including the hit song, Music is Ruling My World with Kutiman. In 2007, Habanot Nechama released its debut album, which went platinum in Israel and the track So Far, written and composed by Karolina, won her second ACUM award for "Best New Song of 2007".

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