Queens of Sheba Nothing less than that.

This is how I envisioned the representation of Yemenite women, the women of TEIMAN: golden, noble, and majestic.

And the more I became aware of the difficult stories and grim realities in which they lived, the more I wanted to showcase and bring out the lioness women.
The strong and powerful queens. Because that is how I see them.
This is what they are.

Our mothers, our grandmothers, our great-grandmothers – generations of women who, for hundreds of years, bore unspeakable sufferings, bitter frustrations, utter helplessness, countless disappointments, and unimaginable distresses with grace, dignity, and brilliance. Women who were silenced, deprived of their basic freedoms, relegated to arduous daily labor, and compelled to face indescribable situations such as forced marriages and marriages of convenience, all at the tender age of nine or ten.

Young girls who did not dare to dream, who grew into hardworking and exemplary women, navigating their lives with quiet wisdom and extreme caution amidst strict family laws and an unimaginable reality in which despair lurked like a black hole, every day and every night.

Living life under harsh Muslim rule, governed by tyrannical laws, a patriarchal social structure, and rigid Jewish customs that oppressed them, diminished them, abused them, silenced them, and sought to erase them. 

We – the daughters, granddaughters, great-granddaughters, and descendants of the dynasty of Yemenite Jewish women – give them expression on stage, singing out loud and in public what our mothers could do only in secret, within the confines of their private chambers. Personal songs in which they expressed their bitterness, rebuke, grief, rebellion, and subversion, along with their humor, passion, love, and laughter. Songs that no one wanted to hear and were even advised against listening to.

From the texts and sounds emerge hundreds of years of feelings and emotions, long suppressed and repressed. The yearning for freedom, the longing for fulfillment, the desire for true love and sincere closeness. Every song we have chosen is intentional and expresses a clear message. Each has been translated in a definitive and coherent fashion, its meanings and significances brought out into the world in an honest and clear manner.

Even on our filming days, we chose not to wear buckets of flowers on our heads, burdensome accessories, or multi-layered, restrictive, and cumbersome clothing. Because honestly, we want to bring an end this dismal homage to exoticism. We wish to extract the beauty found beneath these layers: free women, laughing, liberated, light-hearted, and independent, exactly as they were born and dreamed to be.

The tradition we chose to bring to light is a tradition of tribal wisdom, a tradition of the enduring female soul; a noble spirit, pained but proud. An age-old tradition of beautiful and strong women who exemplified incredible strength and unbelievable resilience.
Queens of Sheba

Talya G.A Solan,
Artistic director