good bye ehud
today i feel israeli
and i'm sad.
there's been no terror, no outright chutzpa, no crazy financial injustice, no unbearable weather.
today i feel israeli
and i'm sad.
because ehud manor died
every now and again in any country, an icon - maybe a tv star, an author or an artist - passes away and people are really affected. not because this person was a political or religious leader determining the country's fate or direction, but because he/she was an inseperable part of their childhood, their upbringing, their moulding as a person, their very basic cultural reference.
although i've lived in israel for quite a while now, i've grown used to still being an outsider when it comes to these kind of things.
for example:
- i may know that tzipi shavit was *the* children's presenter when israelis my age were young, but her songs will never resonate with me half as much as george, zippy and bungle or even floella benjamin.
- i can sing along with danny sanderson when he performs at a purim work event and hails back to his kaveret days, but i just cant close my eyes and remember where i was when listening to poogy playing on the radio and tv.
- i can laugh at tal brody's terrible israeli accent, even after all these years, but i can't remember the thrill and excitement he brought to the country when he led maccabi to its first ever european cup championship in 1977.
but ehud manor was different.
this is the first time that an israeli cultural icon has died and i think i feel the loss like any other israeli because i really feel like i grew up with ehud manor. and not just because he wrote israel's first eurovision hit abanabi back in 1978 (although i, like any other proud, identifying and self-respecting british jew, do remember that momentous occasion.)
i will miss ehud manor because i owe my knowledge of anything musical and israeli to ehud manor.
just as i can trace my english music tastes back to journeys in the car with my dad listening to 4 seminal tapes; i can trace my education in israeli music to a tape of ehud manor songs recorded for me by a boyfriend on kibbutz back in 1990.
the tape was brit olam - a collection of ehud manor songs sung by an array of israeli music stars including matti caspi, yehudit ravitz, gidi gov to name a few. it was a varied group of songs - some slow, fast, serious, loving, joking - different to what i was used to but i listened to it fervently and as it soon became the soundtrack to my year in israel. and as i pined for israel in my first (rather miserable) year back in england i bought the next cassette in the collection and devoured it even more, together with all the other tapes i had bought by then by israeli artists that that first tape had led me to.
it was simple: ehud manor's music conjured up for me all the smells, sounds, thoughts and feelings that i associated with the country that would become my home just three years later.
later on, i would find out that he was also the huge talent behind many clever hebrew musical translations such as blood brothers, hair - which i saw with same boyfriend in the cinerama in tel aviv (except by that time we were just friends or perhaps more accurately oblivious guy and obsessed women) - and even far more recently chicago. and his talent didnt stop with music. ehud was also responsible for high quality hebrew adaptations of theater including shakespeare, harold pinter and tennessee williams.
ehud manor was one of the few israelis that one would consistently hear good things about. he succeeded in appealing to a broad range of israeli society (another no-mean feat) and he was associated with excellence and modesty, outstanding traits indeed.
through his music ehud helped me begin to understand israeli society. he also represented some of the things that i wished we saw more of in that society.
today i feel israeli
and i'm sad.
good bye ehud.
and i'm sad.
there's been no terror, no outright chutzpa, no crazy financial injustice, no unbearable weather.
today i feel israeli
and i'm sad.
because ehud manor died
every now and again in any country, an icon - maybe a tv star, an author or an artist - passes away and people are really affected. not because this person was a political or religious leader determining the country's fate or direction, but because he/she was an inseperable part of their childhood, their upbringing, their moulding as a person, their very basic cultural reference.
although i've lived in israel for quite a while now, i've grown used to still being an outsider when it comes to these kind of things.
for example:
- i may know that tzipi shavit was *the* children's presenter when israelis my age were young, but her songs will never resonate with me half as much as george, zippy and bungle or even floella benjamin.
- i can sing along with danny sanderson when he performs at a purim work event and hails back to his kaveret days, but i just cant close my eyes and remember where i was when listening to poogy playing on the radio and tv.
- i can laugh at tal brody's terrible israeli accent, even after all these years, but i can't remember the thrill and excitement he brought to the country when he led maccabi to its first ever european cup championship in 1977.
but ehud manor was different.
this is the first time that an israeli cultural icon has died and i think i feel the loss like any other israeli because i really feel like i grew up with ehud manor. and not just because he wrote israel's first eurovision hit abanabi back in 1978 (although i, like any other proud, identifying and self-respecting british jew, do remember that momentous occasion.)
i will miss ehud manor because i owe my knowledge of anything musical and israeli to ehud manor.
just as i can trace my english music tastes back to journeys in the car with my dad listening to 4 seminal tapes; i can trace my education in israeli music to a tape of ehud manor songs recorded for me by a boyfriend on kibbutz back in 1990.
the tape was brit olam - a collection of ehud manor songs sung by an array of israeli music stars including matti caspi, yehudit ravitz, gidi gov to name a few. it was a varied group of songs - some slow, fast, serious, loving, joking - different to what i was used to but i listened to it fervently and as it soon became the soundtrack to my year in israel. and as i pined for israel in my first (rather miserable) year back in england i bought the next cassette in the collection and devoured it even more, together with all the other tapes i had bought by then by israeli artists that that first tape had led me to.
it was simple: ehud manor's music conjured up for me all the smells, sounds, thoughts and feelings that i associated with the country that would become my home just three years later.
later on, i would find out that he was also the huge talent behind many clever hebrew musical translations such as blood brothers, hair - which i saw with same boyfriend in the cinerama in tel aviv (except by that time we were just friends or perhaps more accurately oblivious guy and obsessed women) - and even far more recently chicago. and his talent didnt stop with music. ehud was also responsible for high quality hebrew adaptations of theater including shakespeare, harold pinter and tennessee williams.
ehud manor was one of the few israelis that one would consistently hear good things about. he succeeded in appealing to a broad range of israeli society (another no-mean feat) and he was associated with excellence and modesty, outstanding traits indeed.
through his music ehud helped me begin to understand israeli society. he also represented some of the things that i wished we saw more of in that society.
today i feel israeli
and i'm sad.
good bye ehud.
posted by LG at 10:37 PM
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