Nostalgia Sunday – Al Bano Carrisi

December 19, 2010 - 10:44 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Art, Entertainment, General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Music, News, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture, Profiles 

Israeli culture is made up of subcultures that coexist but are not necessarily aware of one another. For example: this past weekend, a very famous singer packed not one but two auditoriums with adoring fans and the story went completely unreported by the mainstream Israeli press, Hebrew and English alike.

No matter. For the record, Al Bano Carrisi was in Israel and if the name doesn’t ring a bell, then you either aren’t 1. a survivor of the Europop Seventies, 2. Italian, or 3. Russian.

But if you are one of the aforementioned three, then the name Al Bano elicits cries of joy and sighs of nostalgia.

Without going into the details of how it happened, last night I found myself a member of Al Bano’s backstage entourage at the concert in Tel Aviv’s Mann Auditorium. The night before, he had packed ‘em in at the Haifa Auditorium. This was not his first trip to Israel. He’s toured here before and — due to popular demand — will likely be here again.

This is why: Russians love Al Bano’s singing and Al Bano loves singing. In the Sixties and Seventies, Al Bano was a crowd-pleasing singer of sentimental songs, so famous in his home country that he opened for the Rolling Stones on their 1967 Italian tour. He participated in the San Remo Music Festival and Eurovision Song Contest and together with wife Romina Powell (daugher of actor Tyrone Powell) won both competitions in the Eighties. In the Nineties he turned to opera and even stood in for Luciano Pavarotti, singing alongside Plácido Domingo and José Carreras in their Three Tenors performance.

He also sued Michael Jackson for plagiarism. He didn’t win but still, how great is that? You can read about that and more about his storied career here.

Somehow during his career, Al Bano’s music managed to slip through a chink in the Iron Curtain. And so, although today he lives the life of a gentleman farmer and vintner, a few times a year Al Bano ventures out on tour, performing in countries with large Russian emigre populations who are wild for Al Bano.

Yesterday’s audience turned out in all their lacquered, manicured, hair-sprayed, sequined and fur-trimmed finery (PETA has no place at a Russian event). The majority were middle aged and up but that doesn’t mean they were tame. Not by a long shot. Between almost every song, women climbed, bounded or hobbled onto the stage with bouquets for their idol, as is the Russian tradition. And once on stage, they serenaded him, got his autograph and even had the backup singers take their picture.

Al Bano reveled in every moment he had with his audience — he loves connecting with the crowd by talking directly to them — and they responded with waves of affection. He opened with a few transliterated words in Hebrew and Russian. Before singing the song “Nostalgia” he explained that he’d had a long-standing songwriting collaboration with journalist and lyricist Willy Molcho, a Jew whose daughter now lives in Israel. And for his third ovation — “Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves” from Verdi’s Nabucco — he dedicated it to the audience. They wept.

And that’s the thing about seeing a master showman with four-and-a-half decades of performing experience, a true creature of the stage — his music might not be to my taste but just watching him command the crowd was an unforgettable experience.

Standing backstage after the show, it turned out that in addition to the Russian-Israeli majority, (and the Italian-Israeli minority) there were also members of another subculture present: sabra Israeli doctors who had studied medicine in Italy and — as one M.D. put it to us — spent their nights burning the midnight oil with Al Bano’s music on the radio, playing in the background.

The good doctors wanted express their gratitude by taking him out to dinner. He wasn’t able to but clearly, given the love his Israeli fans have him, Al Bano Carrisi could dine out every night this week in Tel Aviv if he wanted to.

Here’s Al Bano and Romina Powell singing their 1981 hit Felicita.

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Foto Friday – Olga Dragunsky’s Forgotten Heroes

August 21, 2009 - 12:01 AM by · 4 Comments
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Life, Profiles, War 

Americans know that Jews fought in the US Army in World War II but many are less aware of the Russian Jews who fought equally as valiantly against Hitler. According to the Center for Jewish History: “An estimated 500,000 Jewish men and women served in the Soviet military during WWII… in every branch of the armed forces and on every front… More than 100 Jews held the rank of general, and in many important battles of the eastern front, Jewish generals held key commands.”

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“Jews ranked fifth among the ethnic groups, or ‘nationalities,’ who received the highest military accolade of their country, ‘Hero of the Soviet Union.’ About 150 Jews received this prestigious award for their bravery on the battlefield. Altogether, about 160,000 Jewish soldiers received medals and honors of one kind or another, making them the fourth most decorated nationality in the USSR.”

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Olga Dragunsky, whose family came to Israel following the fall of the USSR, began photographing elderly Russian war veterans, “because I was interested in the history of the country where I was born. I heard a lot of stories during my life and I decided to know more.”

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Dragunsky turned her personal interest into a magnificent final project when she graduated of the School of Photographic Communications, Hadassah College Jerusalem.

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Since graduating, Dragunsky has been working as an official photographer for Taglit-birthright Israel. She also self-published a book with personal stories from each veteran.

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In May 2005, the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, the Center for Jewish History launched a fascinating website, Letters From the Front: Jewish War Heroes, dedicated specifically to honoring the heroism of those who gave their lives in the fight against fascism. The site presents postcards, letters, medals and other materials from the Blavatnik Archive , a unique private collection whose mission is to share with the public previously unknown historic documents and memorabilia. Definitely worth a look.

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TV’s The Office to open a Petach Tikva branch

April 13, 2009 - 4:20 PM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Movies, Pop Culture 

The OfficeExciting Israeli pop culture news has reached us with the recent announcement that the local satellite TV provider, Yes, will soon be running its own version of the landmark satirical half-hour comedy series The Office. A full 15 episodes have already been contracted, set to air in about a year from now, with the Israeli firm July August, which was behind the recent success of The Band’s Visit, handling production.

Co-creator Ricky Gervais was quoted in The Guardian‘s piece announcing the project saying,

“I am thrilled and amazed that Israel are making The Office with local writers, directors and actors. I mean, who ever heard of Jewish entertainers?”

Ha’aretz reported shortly thereafter that screenwriting will be handled by B’tipul‘s Uzi Weill and the director will be Eitan Tzur, who also had a hand in that Israeli television export’s success.

When Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant developed The Office as what would become a two-season sitcom for the BBC, they had no idea what levels of universal appeal their odd sense of humor had the potential of reaching. Sure, Gervais’ portrayal of oblivious, over-the-top, tasteless paper company branch boss David Brent was arguably grounded primarily in esoteric British dry humor stylings and in specifically British office culture-inspired mishaps. But the show also managed to tap into the universal phenomenon of “cubicle angst,” and its mockumentary-inspired packaging, complete with uncomfortable silences, helped rocket it into global cult favorite status.

Soon the BBC was licensing local versions of the show to markets outside England, with France, Russia, Chile, Canada and the United States (pictured) creating their own takes. While the US version got off to a rocky start (its short first season was more or less a remake of the original British one, just with some local flavor and accents added), it hit its stride towards the beginning of season two and is now enjoying its fifth successful season on NBC.

It can be argued that one of the reasons that the American Office has been as much of a creative success as it has been is that the writers have allowed for the characters to take on lives of their own in ways that are distinctively American. The action all takes place against the backdrops of corporate booze cruises, office outings to Chili’s (where family members’ drinks might or might not be comped), ridicule of those who count Legally Blonde as an all-time favorite movie, peeking at one another’s high school yearbooks – you know, American office culture type stuff.

Having watched both the British and American versions of The Office for several years, I have wondered many times how an Israeli version might manifest itself. Israeli office culture has its own cultural mores and archetypes.

Also according to The Guardian:

….Giyora Yahalom, head of production at the Israeli satellite broadcaster Yes, added: “We are sure that the universal experience of contemporary office life will speak to Israeli viewers. There is no doubt that our viewers will enjoy the same jokes as their contemporaries in the UK.”

And the Ha’aretz piece makes a good argument that the creators are taking the proper approach, reporting that the show

…will take place at the dreary workplace of “Super Office,” a fictional office-supply firm in Petah Tikva.

….The cast will include a variety of Israeli types – an Arab warehouse manager, an ultra-Orthodox saleswoman and a bitter Russian accountant. The Israeli answer to David Brent, the obnoxious boss of the U.K. program, will be named Avi Meshulam, though an actor has yet to be pegged for the role.

Exciting stuff. Hopefully the creative team will have enough self-depreciating perspective to do it right.

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