Ehud Manor, Rest In Peace

April 12, 2005 - 7:58 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General 

One of Israel’s most important songwriters and translators died last night – Ehud Manor.

I just saw Manor, last week…I sat a few seats away from him at an Idan Raichel concert, the kick-off for the concert tour for his second album. Raichel acknowledged the presence of the Israel Prize winner at the opening of the concert. It was really moving to see Manor, one of the country’s elder statesmen of classic songwriting enjoy the music of ayoung, fresh, and somewhat edgy talent like Raichel.

I’ve interviewed Manor by telephone several times for newspaper articles, and we had pretty long conversations. I even translated one of his songs — the one he wrote right after Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated — so I could put it in an article for The Jerusalem Post, and I faxed it over to him for his approval.

But we’d never met face to face. When I saw him at the concert, I thought of going up to him and introducing myself and saying hello, but was feeling shy and worried that he wouldn’t remember who I was, anyway.

Now I’ve missed my chance.

He was, of course, a great songwriter — but less acknowledged was his talent as a translator. My favorite song of his is “Halevai” — here’s an English translation that doesn’t really do his lyrics justice.

You have to be completely bilingual to really appreciate Manor’s talents as a translator. It’s not easy to translate a timeless pop ballad, Shakespearean monologue or a Broadway hit like “Hair” or “Les Miz” into a different language and he was the master — his most recent triumph in that department was translating “Chicago” for a production that was a smash this past fall.

To get an idea of how loved he and his songs were by the general public, check out this link to the report of his death in the Hebrew Ynet. It’s still morning here and there are already almost 600 comments and tributes by readers.

(Crossposted to An Unsealed Room)

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Saving the World

March 1, 2005 - 2:17 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: General 

I write a lot of stories for Israel 21c, and I don’t promote every single one. But ever since I interviewed Dr. Mickey Alkan, I really haven’t been able to stop thinking about him and what he has been doing in Botswana. I have such admiration and respect for people like him who have both the ability and motivation to literally go out into the jungle and try to save lives on a large scale, the way he is doing with AIDS in Africa. When you look at the frightening statistics in the story, it’s really not overdramatizing to say that the project he is part of is trying to rescue a whole continent.

It really inspires me to try to think of ways I can make the world a better place, and not just plod along every day in my own little world with my own little worries.

Something interesting he told me that didn’t make it into the story were his observations about the internal dynamics of Botswanan society — even though everyone is black, there are clear cultural castes and distinctions and blatant snobbery and discrimination. He said that when the bushmen came into the towns, that people turned up their noses just like they do in the Negev when Bedouin show up, claiming that they “smell.” Well, the bushmen and the Bedouin who are living in shacks and tents “smell” for the same exact reason — they cook their food on an open fire and they smell like smoke!

If the Alkan story makes you too serious and sad, and you need something fluffy, read the story we put up today on the babelicious Mrs. Israel who took the title of Mrs. World. (I couldn’t believe there still exists a beauty pageant that is Neanderthal enough to have subcategories like “Most Beautiful Legs.)”

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And Sometimes, Israelity Becomes Surreality

February 26, 2005 - 7:45 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General 

While the aim of our blog is to focus on Israel beyond the conflict, we certain can’t ignore the conflict completely.

So if you are interested in reading about how it felt to hear the news of the Tel Aviv bombing yesterday, I’ve posted about it here, and Imshin’s written about it here.

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Pvt. Superstar

February 24, 2005 - 10:19 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General 

Britney Spears doesn’t have these kinds of problems.

There’s been a lot of fussing lately in Israel about pop stars who receive deferrals from their army service. It’s a problem in a country with a universal draft.

You have cases of young people for whom national service just happens to directly interfere with a career like modeling, sports, or other forms of show biz with a very short and lucrative lifespan.

Now, it’s not so hard for Israeli women to elude the draft. The time they serve is relatively short and the positions they are permitted to fill relatively limited, so the supply and demand is such that the army doesn’t put up much of a struggle when a woman claims she’s too religious, too crazy, or just unsuited to the army. Another easy out that a lot of models take – just get married. Married women are automatically exempt.
roni superstar
The problem comes when the public gets mad that pop idols, who are inevitably admired by the nation’s youth and become role models – are draft-dodgers – not a very good role model.

So some of them – whether it’s due to real motivation, or career advancement – do role up their sleeves and sign on. The latest to do so is a blonde bubble-gum pop star named Roni Douani, known as “Roni Superstar” for her Hebrew-language cover of the dance hit “Superstar” (who did the original version? Usher? It was an American song originally, right? Oof, I’m so uncool…)

ANYWAY, so Roni joins the army. Problem solved, right? Wrong. Now you may think we shouldn’t shed tears for her, but it’s not easy to be a foxy 18-year-old celeb in the army in a really small country. On her second day, she’s already run into problems that other models/actresses/singers whatever have run into during basic training – like group showers with the other women overly interested in potential body flaws that they can report back to their friends or maybe a tabloid. And leering male soldiers. And guard duty. It’s not just going to be hard for her, but a bit disruptive to the functioning of the army if everyone’s looking for an excuse to invade the army base, hoping for an autograph from the guard who catches them.

So accommodations are made: Roni gets to shower alone, is exempt from guard duty – if not from midnight runs and scrubbing toilets. NOW, her “special treatment” is getting the other soldiers pissed off, and they are grumbling over their cell phones to their pals, who are passing it on to the newspapers.

So the poor celebrity princesses can’t win. They look bad if they get out of serving. They can’t be treated like everyone else in the army. And they are accused of being spoiled if they sign up and ask for accommodations.

Crossposted on An Unsealed Room

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Making Beautiful Music

February 22, 2005 - 12:46 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Pop Culture 

Great story on musician Idan Raichel on NPR. Give it a listen.

What a waste to just read a story about Raichel in the newspaper. It’s so much better in audio where you can actually hear the music that they are talking about.

(Full disclosure — my husband does legal work for Raichel. But I was a big fan before he did the work…)

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