Charlie Megira - Tomorrow's Gone

Goodbye 2016 and goodbye Charlie. Charlie Megira, also known as Gabi Abudraham, died in his Berlin apartment on November 9th at the age of 44. He wasn't very well-known before his death but many of those who knew him felt that the 50's style rocker from Beit Shaan was no less than a musical genius. A genius who insisted on staying true to himself throughout his career while working as a cook in Tel Aviv and later in Berlin. He left us beautiful music like this hazy lullaby, a fitting way to end a stormy year.

*And goodbye Carrie Fisher :(  As a young girl I was so inspired by Princess Leia's strength and independence and later grew to admire Carrie's own strength and grace while battling addiction and mental illness. What a devastating loss.

Don't say maybe
No, no, you shouldn't
Don't say maybe
Maybe today, maybe tomorrow
Tomorrow's gone

Tell me quickly
What do you love?
Tell me to the heart
But quickly
Tell me quickly
What do you love?
Tell me
Who is that?

What do you love?
What do you love?

Ahuva Ozeri - A Voice Calls to Me In the Desert

A voice calls to me in the desert and I am alone
My eyes I will turn to you in prayer
My tortured soul my tortured soul
I lift my voice to you in prayer
Go to Israel they are crying to you
And I am in the desert they want my soul
Merciful and compassionate maker of wonders
Please my God send me to my people

Ahuva Ozeri rose to fame thanks to her soulful voice but she will also be remembered as a talented composer, beloved vocal coach and captivating performer, who never ceased to smile and encourage young artists, even after she lost her vocal chords to cancer 16 years ago. Many considered her to be the mother of Mizrahi music and she is alreay greatly missed.

Cafe Shahor Hazak - Another Day

Cafe Shahor Hazak have come a long way since they first started out (more info on them here) and have now become one of Israel's biggest hip-hop acts. It seems like they have a lot of weight on their shoulders as representatives of the Ethiopian community but they're also respected role models for kids and teens growing up here from all different backgrounds and they're doing an amazing job. Their sound just gets better and better and I love the use of Amharic in their music. Keep on smiling :)

Uri:
Another day another day another day has begun
Nothing in this life is guaranteed
God gives and God takes
Between the victories and the defeats I'm looking for the gap

Nothing is free it's first you give and then you take
What's mine is mine and it stays that way
Everything is simple: it's art or we die, it's not that complicated
Every day I come home drained with my backpack I feel blessed

It's a privilege to make money from love and no
I don't feel that I'm going to work
It's a good time to emphasize and say thank you
To everyone who came to everyone who bought

And anyone who hated, keep hating
You're there I'm here
Fulfilling and creating dreams for me and for others
You'll slowly see my friend that everything works out

Chorus:
Today is a day to shine
To get outside of the box
To stretch the limits of imagination
To be conscious of the subconscious
When it feels like there's no more strength around the corner
I always find a place to bloom a light of comfort
This is another day that begins with hope
Give me good music to spread love


Ilak:
It's my life I want to win
From a young age I'm always running and making sure
To go head-on and enjoy the view
To take care of myself to be strong till the end

What was in difficult times I don't forget
Give me one chance and I'll take it
In front of small-minded people I don't open my heart
A square screen is mashing everyone's brain

To wake up to a good morning at my place
What I've lost will go to redemption
Dreams of an album without a penny
Music from the heart, black and pure

Everything with love slowly building the business
Conquering peaks not everything is a ceremony
Even If I'll have millions in my pocket
I promise that you'll find me in a t-shirt and jeans

Ella Shik Blum - I jumped head-first into the pool

While this video was shot on a warmer day (Yom Kippur, to be exact), its melancholic tones go perfectly with this weekend's rainy weather. Ella Shik Blum has been chosen as Tsuzamen's artist of the month, meaning you can catch her perform with her band and with other artists she admires every Wednesday night.

I jumped head-first into the pool
It takes a few seconds and it felt to me like a long minute
Without air

I jumped head-first
The heart is pounding and not exactly in the spot
It should

I sat down on the concrete
You were reading some trashy newspaper
A plastic girl is looking at me
With a smile she communicates

Nothing bad ever happens to her
A balanced character
The parents are still together
A gifted child

I jumped head-first into the pool
You shouted something at me but it was already too late
I jumped head-first into the pool
And I landed on my stomach

I sat down on the concrete
You were reading some trashy newspaper
A plastic girl is looking at me
With a smile she communicates

Nothing bad ever happens to her
A balanced character
The parents are still together
A gifted child

Soul J - A Little Bit More

So sweet! ♥

Just a little bit more and soon we'll get there
Just leave a little more air to breathe
Just a little bit more up to the sky
Believe me, there is something to dream about

We fell and got up, we loved, we we got mad, yet we continued anyways
To see the good, to support, to love, look at what we've been through
From here it's together, we'll find peacefulness, listen to what I'm saying
Everything will work out
Even when I was wrong you still waited for me with open arms
Sealed lips and loving eyes
I know it's not easy to live on luck
But I was born a winner
Everything will work out

A little bit more...

I promised you a starlit sky
I told you you'll see that life will work out on its own
And in the meantime the years are pasing by, we're still not there yet
Thet say that a woman is like the moon, a man is like the sun
The light is reflected through her
In the darkness, on the road, sometimes the flame is small
As long as we're together planting faith
Love will grow
Take a breath and you'll see that we'll reap in joy

A little bit more...

https://www.facebook.com/originalSoulj

Avi Goldfinger - Famous Blue Raincoat

Yesterday was the second time this week that I woke up to depressing news. But unlike waking up with a shock to a red electoral map, this time I was more prepared, and more at peace with the news. Leonard Cohen was a poet of the blues but his real talent was finding the light in the darkness and laying it out so beautifully. "Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes // I thought it was there for good so I never tried". This sincere optimism appears in many of his songs, but my favorite has to be in "Tonight will be fine", which I take pride in discovering all on my own, and not as one of the songs I heard at home off of his Essential album.
"Famous Blue Raincoat" is one of those songs included in the Essential album which I first heard and loved before I could even understand the lyrics. Avi Goldfinger presents a beautiful translation to the song and an even more beautiful vocal performance with chilly Berlin as the perfect setting. Discover more of Avi's music here.

Original lyrics:

It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better
New York is cold, but I like where I'm living
There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening.

I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert
You're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record.

Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night you planned to go clear
Did you ever go clear?

Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You'd been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without Lili Marlene

And you treated my woman to a flake of your life
And when she came back she was nobody's wife.

Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
Well I see Jane's awake

She sends her regards.
And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I'm glad you stood in my way.

If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
And your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.
Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.

And Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear

Sincerely L Cohen

Avi Adaki - Suddenly

Avi Adaki is known as the singing plumber because that's what he does for a living, in order to be able to make meaningful protest music for his soul, and ours. Adaki just released his third album titled Eretz, though in Hebrew it is written in initials, standing for Public Rock Album. Adaki delivers his political poetry out of sincere concern, capturing the frustration and absurdity of our time.

Suddenly | thoughts took me over | about life | at least about this one
They say | And what they really | show | a middle finger

Sara wants too much | The Finance Minister less
And when they're on the same line | You are asked to be quiet

Suddenly I bumped into the facts | helplessly | I wanted others
Destroying | And when will we come to our senses | they're doing to us what they please

The Minister of Regional Cooperation | Economy | Communications | Foreign Policy
The Prime Minister | The Interior Minister | everyone can just jump it | can jump

Organized crime | financed evil | ten on a scale of nine
An armored vehicle | a well-oiled motto | whatever you want | it's there

It's there | it's | fire fire | fire fire | fire fire | shhh


An exchange of words:
lyrics: Avital Keshet

Me, dad and Nissim from the grocery shop
Exchange speech with products
It's good that speech hasn't scorched yet
There are days when you can't exchange speech
The streets are empty
The next day we get up
As if nothing happened
Luckily Nissim returns and sells to us on credit
In exchange, the word is replaced
With another word
We'll pay tomorrow
It'll be okay
Nissim says
The fear is reflected from his eyes
Brush your tongue
Always be a nice girl
And we'll buy the paper
My father sighs and says
There is no news in there

For already a whole year my father has been unemployed
In coffee shops the crowds wait for him to speak, for an understanding
My father analyzes for them what the newspaper and the Prime Minister say
It's always good
That there is someone to exchange words with