A Smoggie-Sabra story: Charles & Tali Kohn, from London to Jerusalem, 1994

Charles and Tali Kohn are celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary this month, which is also the last month that Charles can honestly sing “When I’m 64,” the charming, bouncy elders' anthem written by The Beatles, before the arrival of the milestone birthday that every ‘70s pop music lover more or less looks forward to.

Kohn and his Sabra wife, Tali, settled in Israel 30 years ago.

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Charles, the first of Ruth and Stuart Kohn’s three sons, was born in 1960 in the northeastern town of Middlesbrough, England, which had “maybe 50 Jewish families at the most,” he says. “The nickname for people from our town was ‘Smoggies’ because if the wind blew in the wrong direction, most of the town would be enveloped in a choking yellow bromide haze [smog] from the nearby chemical works in Billingham.

“I never really thought, as a youngster, that I would end up in the land of milk and honey,” Kohn says. “I was a secular kid – and still am – and I didn’t have any ambitions to immigrate to Israel; maybe Canada or New Zealand, but never Israel.”

As an industrial town boy, his main interests were guitars and motorbikes. “I taught myself to play guitar when I was 11 and bought my first one when I was about 12. It was a Kay red SG Gibson copy. My first album was Lou Reed’s Transformer, which I bought in 1973. I still have it today – a real classic,” he beams.

His first real job was working weekends and summers in the town’s only record shop. Apart from having the opportunity to listen to a wide range of music, he says, “The performers who came to play often popped in to browse. Elvis came in one day – Costello, not Presley; another day, it was Patty Hinds,” he reminisces. “This was heaven: I earned a little money and also got to meet the current music stars and go to their shows.

“I bought another guitar in 1976 – this time, an acoustic jumbo Eko Ranger, which I also still have. I guess this was the start of an obsession because now I own a collection of guitars.”

KOHN’S OTHER boyhood passion was motorbikes. “I started riding at 14 and built my first one from several cardboard boxes full of parts that a friend had in his garage and wanted to get rid of,” he recalls. “It all cost me five pounds plus another pound to repair it – all it needed was a piston ring.” His interest in building motorcycles would come in handy later when he became involved in a project to rehabilitate young ex-offenders by rebuilding motorcycles under the auspices of Kensington and Chelsea Social Services.

But music was in his genes. “Victor, my grandfather on my mother’s side, along with his brothers, were professional jazz musicians. My grandfather on my father’s side was a noted concert pianist whom I never got to meet, as he died at an early age from lung cancer. My father was first violinist in the London Youth Orchestra, and my mother sang opera.”

Kohn grew up listening to the rock music of the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. Bands such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, AC-DC, Black Sabbath, David Bowie, and Lou Reed “all influenced my tastes until today. And I was one of those who preferred the Stones over the Beatles,” he admits.

Serious music took a back seat while he studied psychology. But when he heard that John Lennon had been killed in New York, he was devastated. “I think I must have finished a bottle of whisky that night to drown my sorrows.”

Despite returning to sober reality and work, Kohn continued to dream about playing live music. “I played in a couple of pub bands in London. I had no illusions of fame and fortune; I just wanted to have fun, drink a lot, and play rock or folk music.”

SO HOW did a Smoggie end up in a war zone, married to a Sabra?

Kohn was playing in bands in his early 20s and had moved into his own apartment. 

“In 1988, my mother was the director of the British Israel Arts Foundation, which brought over an Israeli mandolin orchestra on a cultural exchange following successful tours of the US and West Germany a few years earlier,” Kohn explains.

The mostly female Rosh Ha’ayin Mandolin Orchestra (established in 1973, the year he bought Lou Reed’s Transformer album) was “made up of 50 young Yemenite instrumentalists,” playing a repertoire of “Mozart, Vivaldi, Purcell, etc., alongside folk songs and original Yemenite rhythms” according to their 1986 record album. Not exactly the young rock guitarist’s taste in music.

Charles met Tali Bassel, a beautiful, mandolin-playing, Yemenite girl when his mother invited her over for dinner. She was 23, he was 28. “We met on a Friday, and 10 months later we were getting married in Tel Aviv,” he says. 

“I had no plans that the outcome of my mandolin orchestra’s trip to England would be finding a husband,” Tali Kohn says with a chuckle. They tied the knot on August 16, 1989 – exactly 20 years after the historic Woodstock music festival.

“It was a time when there were no mobile phones and no WhatsApp – the only method of communication was by post and land lines,” Kohn says. “It’s a miracle we even managed to sustain contact, and even more of a miracle we are still married after 35 years. We are like complete opposites. They say opposites often attract – I guess that’s what happened.”

Tali concurs: “We both came from different backgrounds – Yemenite Israeli/English, religious/secular – but still, we have managed to respect and love each other for 35 years, and have three lovely children and four granddaughters.”

Kohn exchanged the study of psychology for a degree in urban planning, followed by a first job working for an Israeli planner in London for a year and a half. “By then, the promise I had fatefully and faithfully made under the chuppah had to be fulfilled: that we would return to Israel within three years. So we made arrangements with the Sochnut [The Jewish Agency for Israel] to come to Israel; I did indeed keep my word.”

KOHN KNEW that living in Israel wouldn’t be easy. “In 1994, we came, having had one child in the UK. Off to Ulpan Etzion – probably my fifth attempt to learn Hebrew. I still struggle with the language, the culture, and the heat,” he says.

“Charlie didn’t find it easy in Israel, to say the least, and he never really felt connected, but he always said he wanted to keep his promise to me and live in Israel – and I thank him for that,” Tali says. “Even the language is still difficult for him – like reading newspapers, for example.”

Fortunately, he managed to find a project advising the Housing Ministry on urban renewal. After that was completed, he was invited to start at the Jerusalem Municipality as a senior economist urban planner. “I was employed by the municipality for the next 26 years,” Kohn says. He worked on many projects, such as the light rail, the Chords Bridge, the Jerusalem master plan, building conservation, environmental works, and housing projects.

In 2016, while representing the municipality as captain of its mountain bike team in a competition, Kohn broke his right wrist. “After recovery, it was never the same, and I could never settle back in,” he laments. “So, they pensioned me off as disabled.” The accident triggered psoriatic arthritis and fibromyalgia, which have progressively worsened. 

Before the accident, Kohn had started running at around age 49. The following year, he ran his first marathon. He has run 23 marathons, three ultra-marathons, three Ironman triathlons, and countless half marathons, triathlons, and 10k runs. “Now I find it difficult to tie my shoes, let alone run,” he says, grinning and bearing it.

MUSIC IS still a big part of the Kohns’ lives: Tali is still in the orchestra and also teaches mandolin, and Charles writes songs, plays and sings in a band, and builds string instruments.

“Around nine years ago, I bumped into a friend, and we decided to form an Israeli rock band, the Achim Brothers: I played bass guitar.” They performed together until recently, and Kohn played with other bands in parallel.

His new band, Brain Storms, which plays “covers of the music I like the most,” performed for the first time at last week’s Woodstock Revival Festival in Jerusalem. Kohn sang Creedence, Joe Cocker, and Procol Harum; the audience was duly impressed.

Brain Storms will be performing again at this month's rendition of the festival, again at the Kfar Shaul health and cultural center in Har Nof on Thursday, September 26. Both are put on by long-time Jerusalem music promoter Tracey Shipley.

He also writes and records original songs. “Music is an emotional medium that allows me to express myself. I have come to understand that it is a very powerful tool that is useful in both therapy and recovery from mental illnesses.”

Since his forced retirement, he has been building stringed instruments: mandolins (of course), guitars, dulcimers, and bouzoukis. And he still rides a motorcycle – a Suzuki Bandit 1200S, looking like a Hell’s Angel on it.

“I’m glad that Charlie still has music in his life – whether it’s singing, playing, or building instruments – as a source of happiness and achievement,” his wife says.

Although he had to stop his loves of working and running, Kohn says, “I soldier on, one day at a time. Music saved me and continues to save me – through listening, playing, performing, and building. Finally, I have found my voice.”■

For more info about the upcoming Woodstock Revival Festival, call Tracey at 054-810-8918.

Charles & Tali Kohn From London to Jerusalem, 1994

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