Ran Danker - Babel

Ran Danker's bold new single speaks for itself but here are parts from an interview he gave earlier this week which provide a bit more context:

"This song was written a year ago, during the judicial overhaul. There was an internal urge of mine amidst all the anger and frustration to add to it and say 'What a fear, we're in a free fall and we don't see that we're losing our language with each other'. And then October 7 came and made it more tangible".

Listening to his song, I'm reminded of how I felt when I went to bed on October 6th, not fearing a security incident, but fearing how the Simchat Torah celebrations the next day would play out in Tel Aviv, after the clashes on Yom Kippur due to forced gender segregation in Dizengoff Square. I looked at the news before going to bed and there was a notification that the police had called up extra forces to be on guard in Tel Aviv, should things get out of hand...

"I think it's kind of a warning sign for all of us," Danker says of the song in the interview. "It's a place to say that we need to find a new language, that we're tired of the language of divisiveness and everything that leads us to not seeing each other because of people's cynical interests. We the people must find our new language because we have lost it. In this song, I talk about not wanting to leave this place. I want to make an effort and find another, creative way to another language".

The truth is, at this point in time I'm apprehensive of any calls for 'unity', especially when said in response to protests and criticism. There can't be real unity if we don't respect each other and our differences. It still feels like each group is fighting for their language to not get silenced, I'm not sure we're ready to create a new language, but we might not have a choice. 

I have to admit that while visually beautiful, the sight of people falling from the steps made me uncomfortable, but I guess that's the point. As Danker says, "I think the point is to look reality in the eyes and say 'the fall is already happening, we're already in it' and it could happen a second, third, fourth time, to infinity' I want to believe that it does make people think, to question, to wonder - why are we fighting for this place? In the name of what do we hate each other so much? The difference within us is enormous and that is the beauty. Even if we learn to live with each other here amid Israeli complexity, we need to understand that we are required to take action".

li.sten.to/randankerbabel

Even if here is where the path splits

Even if the tower we built is falling

Even if everything we planted is withering

Babel

We had a language

And unified things

There were words

For the simple things

After two thousand years

The value changed

If we stop we could ask

What was the intention

What was the intention when we said "Justice, Justice"

Why when we said "created in His image"

How else can we understand

You shall love

And you shall love fellow man

That is the whole Torah

Even if here is where the path splits

Even if the tower we built is falling

Even if everything we planted is withering

Babel

So what will be tomorrow

It depends on who you ask

If you ask me

It's not the time yet to pack up

Where do you look when the horizon blurs?

Babel

It's sad that the path has split

Everything we built is falling

If everything we grew is withering

Then what is the truth

Who do I ask

I keep getting confused

Do you want to leave or to stay

Where will I go

I don't have anywhere else

Say, don't you remember

You've already been an immigrant

The words are the same words

But what am I saying

What are you saying

What am I saying

Even if here is where the path splits

Even if the tower we built is falling

Even if everything we planted is withering

Babel

So what will be tomorrow

It depends on who you ask

If you ask me

It's not the time yet to pack up

Where do you look when the horizon blurs?

Babel

Babel

Even if here is where the path splits

Even if the tower we built is falling

Even if everything we planted is withering

Babel

It depends on who you ask

If you ask me

It's not the time yet to pack up

Where do you look when the horizon blurs?

Babel

Even if here is where the path splits

Even if the tower we built is falling

Even if everything we planted is withering

Babel

Thank you to forwards24 for the very helpful translation!

Ran Danker - Madhouse

Well, here we are again. It could be worse, I guess. The words 'fifth election' started floating around even before the first ballots were cast, in an election that felt like a full-frontal car crash. I voted more out of civic duty than excitement and like many of my friends I deliberated a bit between Meretz and the Labor party. In the end, I went with Meretz and was very happy that they passed the threshold and at the same time I was very happy about Merav Michaeli's success as the leader who brought back Labor from the dead. Everything else about the elections was pretty depressing. When the Tuesday night exit polls gave Netanyahu's bloc 61 seats together with Naftali Bennet's Yamina party, an extreme right-wing government seemed closer than ever. But the exit polls missed the Arab population that voted for Mansour Abbas' Islamic Ra'am party which in itself speaks volumes about the poor relations with the Arab society. The final results gave his party four seats, making both him and Bennet kingmakers. There's still the possibility that some kind of government will be created out of circumstances but there's no doubt that it will be a strange and incohesive one, and it's not clear how long it could hold up. I'm disappointed that Gideon Sa'ar didn't get more votes though it seems that he did take away some votes from the Likud party to the 'Just Not Bibi' camp, which as opposed to last year's elections didn't have a major contender but included two right-wing parties-Saar's 'New Hope' party and Avigdor Liberman's secular-focused Yisrael Beytenu party. The true winner of the elections was Eretz Nehederet which stole the show with a sharp satire skit that put an ugly mirror in front of us and laid out the true state of the nation.

Ran Danker's extremely catchy new single 'Madhouse' also seems to give a glimpse into the state of the nation in these almost post-Covid days. Everyone is still wearing masks, and there are still some limitations, but the general feeling is 'let's just open everything and party' at least until the next lockdown, which at the moment isn't a possibility but could become one if a new and more dangerous variant shows up.

Excellent translation by forwards24

Who are you and what do you love?

And how many thoughts, say what are you thinking about?

And how aren't you inviting (anyone) to the wedding?

Say was there a Rabbi there or was it just a ruckus?

Let me answer, let me explain

How I love the catastrophe of the city

Let me enjoy myself, let me move

To open up everything like champagne in Paris

At night I feel like

Dancing with stars

Like throwing off my clothes

Not thinking about whether they are watching

And at sunrise I feel like

Celebrating life

Like running away sometimes

Because anyways it's a madhouse here

When did you choose to come out?

Say aren't you the one who was with Ninet (Tayeb)?

When will you bring us a telenovela?

Whoa your life is really like a movie

Let me answer, let me explain

There's a chance that then I was with half the city

Let me enjoy myself, let me move

To open up everything like champagne in Paris

I came back from New York

After a few years 

One suitcase

To a two-room apartment

In Jaffa on the roof

I wrote songs to myself 

There wasn't anywhere to run to

I just wanted to come straight back 

To the madhouse