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Last update - 19:01 11/06/2008 Music A voracious appetite for Hebrew music By Nissim Calderon Tags: Hebrew music, Shalom Hanoch  A look at Hebrew songs over the generations reveals intense, genuine love sprung from absolute rejection Shi'ur moledet: Shirim al ha'aretz udevarim al habayit (Home Land), by Yoav Kutner, edited by Aliza Ziegler Am Oved (Hebrew), 265 pages, NIS 148 Was Shalom Hanoch expressing love or was he being tongue-in-cheek when, in "Deja-vu," he sang: "To paradise lost have I returned/To the silence called nostalgia/Through this door I pass into time's expanses/Back to my youth and my feelings/To the dirt path outside the village/When you felt so close to me in the silver nocturnal night, love of my life/ For me you were ... a vision/Of deja-vu, for who knows what is real and what is a dream/And what we said about tomorrow and what we said today/Like a past that is already past/And here it has returned, despite time's passage/Late at night, in the barn/I hear people calling me to return/To the land of my youth, oh love of my life/Goosebumps, dizziness/Has this really happened or was it my imagination/So sweet is illusion, so sweet is nostalgia/For me you were ... a vision/Of deja-vu"? In an interview with Yossi Harsonsky (Maariv Lanoar, Oct. 15, 1985), Hanoch, referring to this song, said, "The truth is that I wanted to create a parody about the phenomenon of nostalgia, and here as well I am expressing social criticism.... But something more sophisticated came out, something romantic that clicks for all who love the songs of Eretz Yisrael [Land of Israel]... In the final analysis, even a good parody can be true." "Deja-vu" is a moment when Shalom Hanoch is ambivalent. He looks retrospectively at popular Israeli music and the music he himself writes, and his heart is full of love and trepidation. Similarly ambivalent moments appear in "Home Land"; unfortunately, not enough. Without many ambivalent moments, I don't believe that it's possible to touch the energy that existed, and still exists, in popular Hebrew music. Yoav Kutner's book presents texts of Hebrew songs, from "Po b'eretz hemdat avot" ("Here in the land our ancestors loved so much"), which dates back nearly a century, to songs written only last year by Shlomi Shaban and by the Hadag Nahash hip-hop group. The texts are accompanied by short "postcards," in which writers and other public figures write about their relationship to the land, and by background explanations Kutner has written. How many Israelis are not ambivalent toward popular Hebrew songs? A large number. However, they keep their love intact by ignoring the whole picture. Out of 100 years of popular Hebrew songs, they choose the 20 to 30 years closest to their heart, and overlook the other decades. For instance, fans of patriotic songs written for the most part between the 1920s and the '50s (and mostly under Russian influence), and fans of rock songs written after the '60s (and mainly influenced by British and American music). Those who, like Kutner in this book, want to look at all periods together, must take into account not just the love, but also non-acceptance, even outright rejection. I am referring here to the rejection of one musical generation's aesthetics by the next musical generation, and to the rejection of one generation's attitude toward the land by the following generation. I'm not talking about rejection coexisting with love, but about rejection that facilitates the love that nurtures the creation of music and lyrics that were altogether new. Shalom Hanoch would never have been the -- politically angry Shalom Hanoch of "Mehakim lemashiakh" ("Waiting for the Messiah") had he not rejected the nostalgia he himself indulged in when he sang idyllic songs like "Agadat desheh" ("Legend on the Lawn"). Much genuine love has sprung from genuine hate, or at least from genuine rejection, and that statement especially applies to modern Hebrew songs. It is hard to think of anyone more qualified than Kutner to tackle the job of taking a complex, intimate look at modern Hebrew songs over the generations. His years of intelligent editing for radio and television, his curiosity (which led him to develop an encyclopedic knowledge), his love without the slightest trace of snobbishness -- all made Kutner the perfect individual for producing a book like this. The stage was set for a brilliant success; the book, however, never quite gets off the ground. Had Kutner brought to "Home Land" what he has brought, and what he continues to bring, to his radio programs, he would have effectively dealt with the fundamental problems of modern Hebrew songs. The first problem is the importance of, or the value attached to, a song sung in Hebrew. Is "Elifelet," the post-War of Independence song about an unlikely war hero (words by Nathan Alterman, music by Sasha Argov), one of the most important moments in modern Hebrew culture? Is it as important in its sphere as Habima theater's "The Dybbuk," or Yitzhak Danziger's sculpture "Nimrod," or S. Yizhar's novel "Days of Ziklag"? In most cultures, the distinction between high-brow, such as Shakespeare's creations, and popular, such as the ballads of marketplace minstrels, has existed for generations. In modern Hebrew culture, this tension is more painful, more troublesome, and it creates the ambivalence we note in Hanoch's "Deja-vu." Homage to the poets Many of the most popular modern Hebrew songs have been written by our finest modern poets -- Haim Nahman Bialik, Nathan Alterman and Haim Gouri, to name but a few. Yet Alterman did not include his "Kontzertina vegitara" ("A Concertina and a Guitar") in any of the books of his work published in his lifetime, and it is unnerving to discover that Gouri has not included "Shir hare'ut" ("The Song of Friendship") in any of his collections. Songs every Israeli is familiar with, songs many Israelis deeply love, were not considered worthy of publication by their authors. Why? Because the pizmon (light song) has been considered -- for years, and not just today -- second-rate art. One could also ask why the esteem accorded to the anonymous English ballad, which is far less complex than the poems of William Blake, has remained almost perfectly intact in English culture. Land of Israel songs, in contrast, are in a bizarre situation: Although adored and even dreamed about, they are still considered by many Israeli intellectuals a superficial, marginal segment of their culture. Why? The ballads of pubs in Liverpool and the songs of slaves in the cotton fields of the American South have a down-to-earth wisdom that has been appreciated for generations. Furthermore, because each generation in England and America respectively repeated and adopted those ballads and songs, they became anonymous. The popular culture -- spoken and sung -- in these two countries was the culture of the poor and the social outcasts: farmers, drunkards, sailors, prostitutes, vagabonds. Since these ballads and songs were not taught in school and did not challenge high-brow culture's norms, they were liberated to tell the unadulterated truth about suffering, sex and the heretical defiance of gods and monarchs. This freedom to sing in a raspy voice and to be iconoclastic is the freedom most intellectuals cherish. When Hebrew was reborn as a living language, the modern Hebrew ballad did not appear as the ancient wisdom of the dregs of society. It was instead the contemporary wisdom of an elite; moreover, the modern Hebrew ballad was committed to a cause and tried to recruit others for that cause. It was sung not by slaves and merry-makers or by outlaws and iconoclasts, but rather by the early Zionist pioneers, the vanguard of their people, who were concerned with educating themselves and the next generation. Thus, the modern Hebrew ballad lacked the roughness, anonymity, rebelliousness and wild sexuality of the popular songs of other nations (or the popular, cheeky songs sung by Jews in Yiddish, Judeo-Arabic and Ladino). Kutner wanted to present "songs of the land"; however, we are the only nation whose "songs of the land" have, for 50 years, been concerned only with what is beautiful about the land and with sad subjects; they never referred to the land's ugly or wild aspects. That is why Hanoch is more suspicious of his musical past, which consists of Land of Israel songs, than Bob Dylan is of his musical past, which consists of folk songs and the blues. Does that mean that all Land of Israel songs are just kitsch? Hanoch does not think so, nor does Kutner and nor did the great poet Alterman. In the latter's view, the "gypsy experience" of the War of Independence, the chaotic life and chaotic fear generated by that war of salvation, should not be sought in "pure poetry." He believed that "only the common ballad, which is not regarded with much esteem,/which is not considered a precious gem, can shout in a loud voice, emitting the scream of the raucous colors of its flute." When was a Land of Israel song a "scream of the raucous colors" and when was it the didactic sentimentality of "Late at night, in the barn ... /Goosebumps, dizziness" ("Deja-vu")? I very much wanted for Kutner to answer this difficult question. However, his selection presents the readers with a basket containing both the good and the bad, both the strong and the self-righteous, both true and feigned beauty. When we read the songs in this book consecutively, we must ask, "Yoav Kutner, do you really love all these songs? Do you really believe everything that is said in them? Why did you not select only the best, the most incisive, the most wildly colorful, of these songs? Why did you not select the light songs that touch places that cannot be reached by heavy words?" Of course Kutner did make a selection, but it seems to display no guiding principle, no expression of character. I really tried to force myself to believe that Kutner selected only those songs that he himself loved; however, as I progressed through the book, Kutner's image grew fainter and fainter. The selection appears random, without any direction, without any expression of his personality. And that is precisely what cannot be said about his radio shows. Why is his personality so vividly expressed there and why is it absent in this book? Introducing the age of rock Rock appeared on the Israeli scene in the 1970s and substantially changed the nature of popular Israeli songs. Not only did Kutner broadcast this change; he was one of those who brought it about. First of all, rock eliminated the concept of second-rate poetry in popular Hebrew music; instead, it created singer-songwriters who write their own texts, compose the music and sing the song in their own unique way. This all-embracing personal commitment rejected the inferior idea of the Hebrew pizmon. After learning from Anglo-American rock artists, Meir Ariel taught generations of Israeli rock artists that songs are "charcoal etchings" (as he called one of his albums) on the heart of culture, on the Israeli heart hardened by the country's continual state of war, and that they should not be relegated to the inferior status of light songs created merely for entertainment and located on the margins of culture. Kutner knows this and that is why he brings to "Home Land" an additional aspect of the singer-songwriter: a critical outlook. With Shalom Hanoch and rock bands like The Friends of Natasha, the period of "only the beautiful and the sad" in popular Hebrew songs ends, and the period of the "beautiful and the ugly joined together" begins. From this standpoint, Kutner is right on the ball. He brings to his book not only "Here in the land our ancestors loved so much," but also Aviv Geffen, who writes, without apology, "The fear, the animosity/the voices of war/and the fraternal hatred/that increases with each passing day." Missing a beat For this reason, the selection of songs in "Home Land" does not round off corners with regard to the political rivalry dividing popular Hebrew music into two hostile camps; however, it does round off corners with regard to the artistic rivalry dividing it. What is truly bizarre is that Kutner, of all people, who comes from the very heart of this music's artistic sensitivity, has failed in this area. You cannot present to readers a text by rocker Berry Sakharof in the same way you would present a text by a consensus lyricist like Ehud Manor; yet Kutner commits precisely that error. No matter how beautiful they are and no matter how cogently they attest to the artist's feelings toward this land, the words of Sakharof's "Kama Yossi" ("How much Yossi") are not his "text." A rock artist's "text" is the combination of words, music and presentation, all of which emanate from a single artistic personality. An Israeli rocker's song is constructed out of an aesthetic rivalry that continues to this very day with Land of Israel songs. Yet this book represents a continuity in the very spot where a fault line exists. If you ignore that fault line, you are depriving the texts that Kutner offers of their strength, acridity and opposing energy. I know that it is no easy matter to create a book that articulates, through the written word, an art form that is an amalgam of words, music and performance. The solution Kutner has come up with, "postcards" written by public figures -- from Anat Gov to Sami Michael, from Shlomo Bar to Yossi Sarid -- just does not do the trick. Even if the writers of these "postcards" tried, and sometimes even succeeded, to say something succinct but weighty about their favorite subject, they have not connected their statement with the songs. Nor are the background explanations Kutner affixes to the songs and their creators adequate. They contain reliable, vital information but, in the vast majority of cases, they do not offer an expressive portrait of the artist. When all is said and done, what is the text of a song without the powerful, emotional personality of an artist like Shoshana Damari or Arik Einstein, who is able to touch culture's delicate strands? Nevertheless, this book has considerable value and presents an important challenge. "Obviously, what we have here is a great, authentic success," writes Kutner in his introduction. "In the area of modern Hebrew song, we have made greater achievements than in any other sphere." Abundantly true, and that truth is faithfully communicated in "Home Land." The book does have an abundance -- of songs, artists and bands -- that, like an avalanche, falls upon Kutner, and he transmits to his readers his sense of this plenitude as well as his esteem. Readers of this book will certainly detect Kutner's feeling that Meir Ariel should be assigned the same place in Israeli culture that we assign to painters like Rafi Lavie and writers like Yaakov Shabtai, who gave a deep artistic expression to the experience of Israeliness. However, that has not yet happened, because the giants of Land of Israel music, like Alexander (Sasha) Argov and Hatarnegolim (The Roosters) group, are concealed from the eyes of many Israelis by a thick curtain of nostalgia and didacticism, while the giants of Israeli rock, like Sakharof and The Friends of Natasha, are concealed from the eyes of many Israelis by a thick curtain of noisy, intoxicating, hard-on-the-ears guitar strains, which vividly articulate modern society's alienation and panic. As noted above, the roots of popular Hebrew are ambivalent: With great intensity, this music is aware of both its beauty and its destructive poison, to which its audience and fans are exposed in their daily lives. The popular Hebrew song is not a sterile creation; therein lies its strength. Israelis, for whom ancient Hebrew offers only written creations, have voraciously pounced, and continue to pounce, upon this new creation, which is not sterile and which has been produced by the speaking and singing mouth. In "Home Land," Kutner skillfully transmits this voracious appetite for modern Hebrew music. Prof. Nissim Calderon teaches Hebrew literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Marketing ploy Israeli satellite TV has a new star - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Through her lens Madonna's next project: documentary about the Israeli-Arab conflict.

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