Singer Rika Zarai, one of the stars of the 1950s, died in France at the age of 82. Zarai was born in Jerusalem and from a young age discovered a singing talent. In her youth she knew the composer Yochanan Zarai who became her husband. In the mid-1950s, Zarai starred in the play “Five Five” for which her husband composed the music. Thanks to her role, she gained much fame as an actress and singer and began working on her first songs, the most notable of which were “Garden of Sycamores”, “Multi-Light and Azure” and “Clock Orlogin” became huge hits (and classics over the years).
In the early 1960s, the Zarai couple moved to France and Rika developed a successful singing career when she was one of the first Israeli singers to perform in the prestigious “Olympia” hall. In the mid-1960s, Mazrai divorced but took care to cultivate her international career and recorded her biggest hit in France – “Kazachuk”, a French version of the Russian song “Katyusha”.
After a fatal car accident from which she miraculously survived, Zarai turned to natural medicine and even authored books on the subject. She made frequent visits to Israel and divided her performances between Israel and France.
In 2008 she suffered a stroke but also recovered from it. Zarai planned to release a new song in early 2021, which ultimately did not materialize.
The full interview with Rika Zarai will be published soon in Maariv