I was so sad to hear of Astar Shamir's death today after battling cancer. She wrote so many classics, and one of them that stands out is 'Mid-September', which she wrote in 1982, following the Lebanon War and the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Gali Atari first performed it four years later, as the title track of her classic album, capturing the heavy mood at the time.
The year begins in mid-September With great and growing rage Stormy winds do battle on every front Winter kills and reaps
They say the end of the world is coming
At night the dark deepens
All summer long the sky was red with pain
Beneath it the earth was burning
Between us madness comes and goes
Life makes fools of us too
I look for the stillness in myself but can't find it
Shamir wrote 'Fireflies' 20 years later, and it's become one of her most beloved songs. Her beautiful soul shines in the song, and she will be dearly missed.
I am returning to the forest to gather fireflies
I left little lights behind when I left
Words heavy with sorrow, that couldn't fly
Songs I didn't gather when I left
I'm going back to the past to gather fireflies
To build from them a ladder of stars
Paths I didn't walk because they couldn't be
Maybe they are still waiting there for me
If my heart goes there
Come to the past without stopping
We'll gather all the good
We'll gather all the innocence
We'll gather fireflies and return
A girl there is waiting for me, she falls in love without seeing
From Yoni Rechter: This is the first song I wrote with Arik Einstein 50 years ago. And this is the first time I'm recording a performance of it.
I thought it would be interesting to divide the role of the speaker in the song between two performers and I was very happy when my friend Eli Degibri agreed to sing it with me.
I have been collaborating with Eli for over 20 years in various settings, and it's always been a great pleasure for me.
The song will be released on a new album, 'Closed Open Closed', most of which contains instrumental pieces."
Lyrics - Arik Einstein, Composition - Yoni Rechter, Arrangement - Yoni Rechter and Eli Degibri
I can't wait for the new album to come out. In the meantime, make sure to check out Yoni Rechter and Eli Degibri's concert for the 2020 Piano Festival. I still remember what a delight it was to watch it during the pandemic. And here is a beautiful performance of Arik Einstein performing the original with a young Yoni Rechter.
Serenada is the Hebrew word for Serenade, a musical composition dedicated to a loved one, often performed outdoors at night. It's also the name of an antidepressant medication given to people to treat depression, panic attacks, OCD, and PTSD. Netta Barzilai and her ex-boyfriend, Guy, have been courageously open about Guy's struggles with PTSD after being called up to serve in Lebanon during the war, and their struggles as a couple, an all too familiar reality in this country.
From Netta: "If there's a word that has been used too easily in the last three years, it's 'post-trauma'. 'The society is in post-trauma', 'the country is in post-trauma'. No, first and foremost, it's the people, and for them too, this word is a sticker or title, not something that scratches the complexity and the coping or the depression and the mental crisis that are an inseparable part of it.
We live in a visual, flat world. Sometimes what you don't see doesn't exist. And this damage is transparent. There are no visual signs.
I loved one person, but so many people around us are standing before the abyss during this time, and so many people who love them are standing before them helplessly - like me."
Netta's new seven-song album was made to be heard and seen in one sitting, track by track. For 21 minutes and 52 seconds I encourage you to join Netta's journey as she learns to breathe instead of drown.
Serenada
I can count
On one hand, the times that
You said it was hard for you
But I see it all
Don't lie to me, tell me when
Because it burns me to see
You consciously
Hurting
Yourself a bit again
It hurts me, my heart hurts
I can't
See you like this
And hopefully
Someone will stop the
Serenada
All the demons, the ghosts, now
They are all singing
We stayed up at night
We heard in our heads the
Serenada
All the good words that turned into songs
We were already happy
I don't know anything
Just to love you like this
And to try to give you
Everything I can
And then to cry in the shower
Because it burns me to see
You consciously
Hurting yourself a bit again
It hurts me
My heart hurts
I can't see you like this
And hopefully
Someone will stop the
Serenada
All the demons, the ghosts, now
They are all singing
We stayed up at night
We heard in our heads the
Serenada
All the good words that turned into songs
We were already happy
Oxytocin
It's best if we get back to routine
Deep sleep
We'll wake up to the birds
Breathing, not speaking
Even when we do everything by the book
And it's impossible to say okay
Yes, we can say we're trying
Oxytocin
Let's hug and wait
Until we feel close
Oh my love
Let's inhale and exhale
Air from the lungs
Something's not going through the indicators
It's stuck between the heart and the uniform
And to tell you honestly, I don't have the strength for a high alert
Because you already left and you're still inside
Oxytocin
Let's hug and believe
Until it feels good here
Oh my love
It scares me too
Between darkness and light
Air to the lungs
Until dawn we'll wait together, I have patience
Even Rome wasn't built in a day so patience
Brick by brick we'll build an empire of gentleness
I sing all the way
Rounds
Talking is taboo
So I got a tattoo
About things that touched me
A life I had
Just so they wouldn't suspect
Emotions were robbed
The demons that burned in me
Dreams I had
The conclusion suddenly drips down on me
Anemones won't bloom in a cotton field
And you can't live a life without intention
I know
Just rise up, up
To release what's not mine, not mine, what's mine?
And the road is not easy, not easy
Holding tight during all the rounds
It's a necessary change
Fate insists
A bowl turned upside down
Walking on the border
Between the good and the forbidden
Between the gray and the clear
I'm not satisfied
And I'm not holding back either
Without floats, I jump into the abyss
Giving up on yesterday for today
To be swept away by the violence of the imagination
Not afraid
Just rise up, up
To release what's not mine, not mine, what's mine?
And the road is not easy, not easy
Holding tight during all the rounds
Alone alone alone
We did everything
We tried to go with the wind
We drowned in the sand
When we stopped to rest
All night climbing up the walls
Don't turn on the lights I want to cry
You and I
We were a perfect chaos
Yell at me again that it's not for me
It was real
That's what I wanted
You left yourself when you left me
Alone alone alone
Alone alone alone
Alone alone alone
Small in the world
Not anyone's
Keeping my distance
Paving a new, safe path for me
I tried hard
Not to bite the apple
All the dreams I left behind
Sad to be alone
Sadder to return
You and I
We were a perfect chaos
Yell at me again that it's not for me
It was real
That's what I wanted
You left yourself when you left me
Alone alone alone
Alone alone alone
Alone alone alone
Small in the world
Not anyone's
Leftovers
The cheese in the past few days
Has been packing up all its belongings
It said goodbye to the peppers
And to the apple, which they ate a bit of
There are three slices left
Slowly rotting away
Poor thing, they opened it and didn't finish
See what it has to offer
And they exhausted the idea
Everyone wants to be the first
You're not so pretty without the nylons anymore
Leftovers, you're just leftovers
Everyone ate from you
You're all marks and traces
Get yourself outside
There's something a bit sour about you
And say hello
To the cats
They once told you that you were pleasant
Smooth and comforting
They skipped a beat
They messed with you from all directions
And you let them take
Because you thought they were giving
You're sorry you gave up the lid
And because you were so hurt
You covered yourself with a hard crust
You told the cats
And you kept asking
If I'm so delicious then how come they didn't finish everything?
This too will happen
Something in me below is dying
Something in me above is dying to be with you
If I had anything to give
Everything I had was already yours
In bright lights
You wanted it all
Begging, wait
With time
This too will happen
I'm a new person tomorrow
I promise
I promise you
I'll manage
To love you
Just as you deserve
As you deserve
We had a nice ride
I don't have to worry about you, you'll be happy
I didn't want you to see this
One day I'll manage to ask for forgiveness
In bright lights
You wanted it all
Begging, wait
With time
This too will happen
I'm a new person tomorrow
I promise
I promise you
I'll manage
To love you
Just as you deserve
As you deserve
Elevator
Not yet
I promise that you don't have to worry about him yet
This stunning cover of Chava Alberstein's classic was released a few months ago as part of Beit Avi Chai's Song of Hope series. The song starts at 5:00, but I highly recommend listening to Shye Ben Tzur (there are English subtitles in the video). He says that he felt that something inside him wrote the song, and I can really feel in his performance the connection to Rachel Shapira's beautiful lyrics, which have brought comfort to so many people.
Shye's much-anticipated new album with Jonny Greenwood and The Rajasthan Express will be out next week and in the meantime you can see the video for Shemesh, a gift that couldn't have come at a better time. ♥
I used to like watching the torch-lighting ceremony marking the beginning of Independence Day celebrations, but I felt like I couldn't see it last night. In the past few years, it has become so political, organized by Transport Minister Miri Regev, with constant camera cuts to her seated next to Netanyahu and his wife. I heard that Netanyahu gave an election-style speech, in which he talked about returning all the hostages from Hamas captivity, without differentiating between those who were returned alive and those whose bodies were returned. I thought of the moving interview I saw with Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7th and was executed in August 2024, along with five other hostages. In the interview, Rachel talks about the day of the funeral and how she saw people in the streets carrying signs reading the word "sorry". I remember the anguish during that time. It wasn't just "we are sorry for your loss", it was "we are sorry that we didn't bring Hersh back sooner, before it was too late". We will always have enemies, but he should never have been kidnapped from a security-cleared music festival within Israel's borders.
This song was written in 1990, in response to Shimon Peres's attempt, and failure, to form a narrow government with the ultra-orthodox parties, in what became known as "the dirty trick". Reading the lyrics, this could have been written today, and it's not a surprise that Zehu Ze chose to perform it on their show last week, together with T-Slam, who are still rockers to their core.
He went out in the morning of a tiring summer's day Kissed his wife, crossed the road
An elegant car, a skillful driver
Galloping to the capital - a new day for the small businessman
Places a call during the trip - party business
And worries about his part of the slice of the cake
The conversation streams, things were promised to him
For many years now, he hasn't represented those who voted for him
Documents for review, budgets for development And cigar smoke out the open window
He says to a member of the party, "Just a moment Gedalia
Perhaps you'll be the Ambassador to Australia"
He observes the landscape of the nation he loved
So what if on the way, he lied and stole
His face is reflected in the window in the corner
His face is
The face of the nation...
The halls of power and the floors of bureaucracy
Budgets for Yeshivas at the cost of inflation
He cut in a minute three factories
And four hundred workers were made unemployed
Driving south in his car - bluish window blinds
He stopped for a visit to bereaved parents
He forgot he advocated for war
His face is
The face of the nation
He's important and well-connected and will continue, come what may
He is the one who will decide if there will be a war
He is the one who will determine your children's education
He is the one who will set procedures, and you'll lose your temper
In a fiery speech to an emotional crowd
Redeeming ground with sickle and scythe
Vote correctly and I implore you...
Give me power
Let me scream
Whatever I desire
Because I had
A land of milk and honey
Play music now...
And I don't understand what changed
If I'm the only idiot in the country,
Who is anxious about tomorrow and dreams of olive leaves
