Songs of the Tribe - feature

Israeli poems by Naomi Shemer, Yaakov Orland, Lea Goldberg and others are at the center of a one-night-only Israeli Opera Tuesday performance called “Israeli Song.”  Five sopranos and one Mezzo-Soprano, Anat Czarny, will renew songs originally set to music by Moshe Wilensky, Nurit Hirsh, and other great composers, marking the opera reopening its doors during these difficult times.

“Classic Hebrew songs are without parallel in other world cultures,” conductor David Sebba told The Jerusalem Post. “It is said that when the cannons roar, the muses are silent, but this is false. Here, the cannons roar all the time, and poems are written all the time too.”

“When nations take their first steps, some works become classics,” Czarny told the Post. “This is why Shakespeare and Mozart are always relevant. For us in Israel, the poems of Nathan Alterman and the compositions of Sasha Argov serve a similar function. This makes a song timeless.”

Czarny will perform Still, There is Some Charm to Her (Bekol Zot Yesh Ba Mashehu). Performed in 1949 by Jenny Lovitz, it will always be a true love song to the first Hebrew city. Despite being derided by “the people of Jerusalem” as lacking professors, prophets, or history, the city depicted by Alterman and Argov in the song comes out on top as having “some charm still.”

Written in 1946, the poem contains another interesting verse. In it, politicians ask what the point is of having a Jewish state in a world in which “there are countries like water.” The poet responds that, for a Jewish heart, a Hebrew state offers something more powerful than even tanks and guns.

Escapism, no; but shared comfort, yes. 

Soprano Goni Knaani, who performed in What Do the Gazelles Do (Ma Osot Haayalot), based on Goldberg’s child-oriented works, suggests that the songs selected for the Tuesday concert are multigenerational in nature. In this performance, Knaani will perform a new version of To Sing is Like Being the Jordan River (Lashir Ze Kemo Lehyut Yarden) by Shemer

Raised in Kibbutz Hulata, Knaani grew up singing Golden Wheat Stalks (Shibolay Paz). The song was written by Nir Oz resident Amiram Cooper, who was among those kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attack. She expressed her hope that he will hear this version of his work when released from captivity.

“We can’t call this performance escapism because there is no room for that today,” Knaani said. “However, there is a need for shared comfort,” she suggested, “The songs selected respond to that need.”

“We return to the beautiful aspects of Israeli life because many are offering help and donations during these hard times,” Sebba said. “At this concert, the audience will be able to sing along.”  

“Hirsh, Wilensky, and Shemer all graduated from music academies,” Sebba pointed out. “They knew Mozart and Bach, which is why it is not strange when a classically trained voice performs their works.”

“Art always had a role in society, and I hope it always will. That role is to elevate and maintain the human spirit,” Czarny concluded.

‘Israeli Song’ will be performed on November 28, at 6 p.m. NIS 100 per ticket. Call (03) 692777 for bookings. 19 Shaul Hamelech St., Tel Aviv.