Shai Tsabari-Difficult at Night

Difficult at night without a person
Not good at day with people
Rising to sow in their season
Stars of nights faint lights

And the streets in the city are as an abyss
At night clumsy sadness
Difficult with people at day
At night they have no fault

Such a perfect soundtrack for a hazy Saturday like today. Shai Tsabari became a household name with the stunning "Silence Above Me", the title track of Ahuva Ozeri's latest album featuring various artists, but he had already gained himself a name of respect as a back-up singer for "Adumey Hasefatut", Berry Sakharof and Rea Mochiach's joint project as well as his work with the Idan Raichel Project. This is his first official single and while it highlights his beautiful voice it doesn't capture his endearing stage presence which can be seen here. A while ago he created a weekend playlist for Kol HaCampus and opened with this statement: "In recent years almost everyone who speaks to me about music and especially Israeli music hears the same sentence-the last decade is the best time of Israeli music I got to live in. Israeli artists young and old, from all backgrounds, are digging their roots, discovering them and renewing them, and are doing it an amazing level of musicianship and professionalism. Different artists are taking the influences they absorb in the street or in the vast archives of the internet-from America, the Middle East, India and Africa and where not, and are making from them little diamonds. I collected a few bits like these which caught me in recent years and I added to them some of the artists which I always come back to. Pleasant listening". Tsabari's collection of diamonds is a must and can be streamed here.
This song is written by Avraham Chalfi who wrote Arik Einstein's beautiful "Adorned is your Forehead (with Black Gold)" which appears in Einstein's 1988 collaboration with Yoni Rechter "From the Songs of Avraham Chalfi". The album was recently issued for the holiday and now includes 5 unreleased Einsten tracks which can be sampled here. "Difficult at night" has been performed by different artists over the years, most notably by Israel Bright and Alon Eder, but I love how in this version despite the dark lyrics there is a whiff of optimism and comfort.