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
