Nostalgia Sunday – Mike Brant
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Music, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture
It would be an understatement to say that the American influence in Israel is huge. TV shows, movies, music, fashion, fast-food and retail chains… let’s face it: all that’s missing is Target and WalMart. And Cosco. But back in olden times – the 1950s, 60s and 70s – Europe held far more sway over Israeli cultural tastes.
One Israeli pop singer who truly made it in terms of international success was Mike Brant. Who?, you ask, and I answer: Shame on you for not knowing about one of Israel’s most famous exports of all time! A sex-on-legs power balladeer, Brant achieved international fame in the early 70’s, mainly in France, which is why folks from the US never heard of him. But Quebecers did – take a look at this crowd of Canadians as they sit, transfixed, while their idol sings his biggest hit from 1970 “Laisse-moi t’aimer” (“Let me love you”).
Can you believe those pipes as he hits the high notes. Unbelievable. And he makes it looks so easy. No wonder that when French actress Sylvie Vartan caught Brant’s act in a Teheran night club (yes, that Teheran), she immediately invited him to come and meet French producer Jean Renard, who had made Johnny Halliday into a star. And if you don’t know who Johnny Halliday is, then again, shame on you and click here.
Brant’s string of hits included “Qui Saura”, a French version of “Que Sera” that José Feliciano had performed at the San Remo Music Festival. And if you don’t know what the San Remo Music Festival is, I have no words. How have you managed to evade these major cultural milestones till now? Just click here.
Play that song for any Israeli woman aged 45 and over, and she’ll begin singing and weeping at the same time. Why cry? Because Brant’s life ended tragically, rock star style, with a descent into drugs and a purported suicide in 1975 at the age of 28 when fell or jumped from a Paris hotel room window. 
Supposedly, his Haifa grave is a site for fan pilgrimages. I don’t know, I haven’t been. What is for certain is that he is greatly revered by Israelis of a certain age who recall the European cachet that Moshe “Mike Brant” Brand imparted to us. So close your eyes, lean back, clear your mind of all previous prejudices and repeat after me: “I love Europop… I love Europop,” and enjoy.
A long biography of Brant, written in pidgin English but with great photos, can be found here.
Nostalgia Sunday – Pop Star
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Music, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture
Do Israelis know from the Jackson-5? Puh-leez! This is the country whose government banned the Beatles from performing in the early Sixties on the grounds that they were a degenerate influence on the nation’s youth. But they did know Michael Jackson. In the mid-Seventies, with the advent of third radio broadcaster Reshet Gimmel, which played pop music, and pirate radio station The Voice of Peace, Israelis did become exposed to the international pop music. “Maariv LaNoar”, a weekly magazine for young people, reinvented itself as the local version of “Tiger Beat” with covers like this one:
Israelis tended (and still tend) to be exposed to Euro-pop, rather than good old American rock and soul but Michael Jackson was a massive musical crossover artist, with huge cultural influence all over the Middle East. Once “Thriller” hit, every country had their own ringleted version of Michael Jackson. Israel too*.
His Pied Piper persona already in full-swing, Michael Jackson held particular appeal for the younger set (by this I mean people who are now in their late Thirties) and in the mid Eighties you couldn’t go to any wedding or bar mitzva without the kids breaking out into song: “Triller! Tee lai lai… la lee la la la la la la la la la la la la… Triller! Tee lai lai…” and so on, ad infinitum.
But by the late Eighties, Israel’s media had fallen into lock-step with its international counterparts and stories about Jackson — whom “Spy” magazine once described as “the American version of Prince Ludwig of Bavaria” — focused on the weirdness.
And then, in 1992, speculation began that he was coming to perform in Israel. And he did in 1993.
During the past decade, new albums like “History”, regularly made the mainstream Israeli press, like this cover of Yediot Aharonot’s weekend supplement from 2002 of Jackson pulling his famous crotch-grab move. Famous but not original; the move was copped from Prince-produced Minneapolis band The Time, who doubtless stole the move from some other uncredited act.
Now Michael Jackson is dead and, as a good friend posted the other day on Facebook, in-between all the big hits, “the airwaves are filled with a whole ouevre of repetitive music that we fortunately never had to listen to.” Because our memories are not of Euro-perception post-”Bad” crap. We over-forties remember the J-5 hits, the Jacksons and, of course “Off The Wall” — little of which are being played here. Sadly, Israeli radio — whose knowledge of soul music is limited to the Blues Brothers movies parts 1 & 2 — is as usual, regurgitating only what it knows, not doing any research and depriving listeners of that truly joyous, wonderful music. Personally, I blame it on the boogie.
*Izhar Cohen, he of the Eurovision Europop mega-hit A-ba-ni-bi.
New Israeli booking agency brings the bands to you
Efrat Gosh is one of the top rate Israeli artists available through the IAA.
A new Tel Aviv-based agency – The Israel Artist Agency (IAA) – has launched what they call the definitive Israeli booking solution for placing all Israeli artists abroad, the first Israel-based agency strictly dedicated to the export and promotion of Israeli talent.
With a 30 artist roster featuring both well-established rockers like Berry Saharof, Hadag Nahash, and Meir Banai, as well as young, alternative acts ncluding Useless ID, Coolooloosh, and Midnight Peacocks (who will be playing the prestigious SxSW Festival in Texas this year), IAA is targeting JCCs, college fraternities/sororities, Hillels, Jewish summer camps, youth movements, Federation functions, fundraisers, and festivals that might be looking to bring over some Israeli talent.
According to the agency’s philosophy, people in Jewish communities in the Diaspora need to connect to their roots via Israeli contemporary culture, and need to have easy and full access to the vibrant musical scene here.
“This is an essential solution to a challenge that has existed for so long; oftentimes, those that wish to provide exciting content/artists in their community in order to make Israel a more relevant place cannot connect with the right people to make it happen. The vast &
expansive nature of our work will make it easier than ever to bring live quality entertainment to the community,” said IAA co-founder Michael Tapuach.
With Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations not too far off, now’s the time to think about bringing Aviv Gefen or Efrat Gosh to help celebrate in style.
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