The Historama
Alex Ben-Arieh
P.O.Box 32128
Tel Aviv, Israel 61321
Tel/Fax: +972-3-546-1971
Mobile:  +972-547-680-086
e-mail:   alex@historama.com


The Music Room
A dream of mine for years has been to find a way of presenting Israeli music to foreign ears. The motivation stems partly from a desire to share our identity with others, even if it seems on the surface 'foreign' and un-understandable; it also stems from my belief that Israeli music is excellent music, whose melodies and lyrics (when translated) are at once local, universal - and profound.

Though not being a scholar of music I can still say portable instruments like the guitar, accordion or horn have been central pieces in Israeli music since pioneering days. And with that, these instruments - particularly the guitar - live on in our songs: powerful, untainted and played in styles that give our music a unique sound. In an age where electronic instruments have replaced most musical instruments, and marketing companies now assemble together 'stars' for public consumption, our music remains pure (and for the few impurities that we have, they're still so few that we can digest them as amusements), with no shame for simple vocals or piano accompaniments.

And our songwriters are probably even more famous and revered than the musicians who sing their songs. There's a refreshing reality in that Israeli music is really a coming together of experts in complementary fields - gifted vocalists, skilled musicians, and talented songwriters; each with a name and each with an identity of his/her own.

It's a cliche which many would agree with, that in order to understand a country - or in my case, her collectibles, her heritage - one has to understand its culture. Given the easiness of occupying space online and providing inexpensive 'facilities', I'd like to invite you to sample the sounds of the music we live here with everyday. I've divided the songs by category, and the songs have a number which you can ask the music player to play - like a jukebox. If you click the link next to the song titles on this page, you'll be taken to the translated lyrics, which include some information about the musician and/or the song. The music selection is by no means complete: this page will be continuously updated with more songs, but as a basic principle it is based on real, legal disks sitting on my shelf and therefore many great hits and music legends will still be missing from the offering here until I buy those disks. Enjoy the music!

Click Here to Activate the Jukebox

Main Music Genre Menu
CONTEMPORARY HITS CLASSIC / ROCK POLITICAL & WARTIME ANTHEMS
YEHORAM GAON ARIK EINSTEIN SHALOM HANOCH MATTI CASPI
YEHUDA POLIKER EHUD BANAI MASHINA 80'S AND 90'S
CONTEMPORARY FEMALE ARMY (IDF) ENSEMBLES



Contemporary Hits

Song Name Artist Name Genre Song # in Jukebox
"Something Small and Good" Mashina Pop / Rock Song #3
"Birthday" (remix) Berry Sakharof and Infected Mushroom Techno Song #5
"Not Suckers" Hadag Nakhash Hip Hop / Rap Song #6
"Borders" Ehud Banai Rock Song #17
"Perhaps on the Sea-Shore" (remix) Yehoram Gaon and The Doves Classic Rock revised Song #20
"The Child in You" (live) Yehuda Poliker Rock Song #22
"On Full Moon Nights" Eran Tzur Rock / Pop Song #23
"In a Striped Shirt" Ivri Lider Rock / Pop Song #24
"15 Minutes" Assaf Amdurksy Techno / Instrumental Song #25
"Dark Dream" Assaf Amdursky Techno-Rock Song #26
"Nails and Feathers" Micha Shitreet Pop / Rock Song #27
"Enta Omri" Micha Shitreet Dance Song #28
"Landscape of Childhood" Shlomo Artzi Pop / Rock Song #34
"Overtakes From Above" Mookie Hip-Pop / Rock Song #38
"Today" Shalom Hanoch (featuring Monica Sex) Pop / Rock Song #39
"City Evening" Yossi Banai Pop / Rock Song #43
"I See You" Shlomo Artzi & Shalom Hanoch Pop / Rock Song #63
"Arik" Shlomi Shaban Pop / Rock Song #71
"America" Ethnix Pop / Rock Song #73
"My Old Friends" Ivri Lider Pop / Rock Song #78
"Preelie" Fools of the Prophecy (Shotei Ha'Nevuah) Indie Song #79
"The Doll House" The Doll House (Beit Ha'Bubot) Indie / Rock Song #80
"Here Again (Part B)" Shabak Samekh Indie / Rap Song #82
"Going Wild in the Countryside" Fools of the Prophecy (Shotei Ha'Nevuah) Indie Song #83
"Better Nothing Than Almost" Ivri Lider Pop / Rock Song #88
"Iris Fields" (live) Yehuda Sa'ado Pop / Rock Song #99
"How 'Yossi'" (live) Berry Sakharof Rock Song #110
"Haifa Across the Sea" Micha Shitreet Rock Song #119
"Momentum" Boaz Banai Rock Song #120
"Dog Competition" Eviatar Banai Rock Song #122
"Sigapo" The Doll House (Beit Ha'Bubot) Indie / Rock Song #124
"End of Summer" Micha Shitreet & Berry Sakharof Rock Song #127
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Song Title: Something Small and Good [live] ("Mashehu Katan ve Tov")
Musician: Mashina
Video: From September 2003 concert in Caesaria (Yuval Banai - vocals, Shlomi Brakha - lead guitar, Avner Khodorov - keyboards/sax/accordion, Michael Benson - bass, Iggy Dayan - drums)
Year Released: 2003
Credits: lyrics and music by Yuval Banai and Shlomi Brakha
Website: www.mashina.com
Comments: Mashina's first release - and a major hit - after a hiatus of 8 years. Recorded live in Caesaria.
Hear the song!


Mashina album: Mashina Live, 2003
I don't see now the light, looking for it in vain
Wandering across the whole area, from place to place
Like a scratched old record, like a knight on a white horse
Going on no accomplishments, everything will be done alone by himself

And it seems that this is good, that's how he needs to love
And it seems that it's close, something small and good...

You won't be able to hold it, if you seek it it will get lost
A man needs to move from place to place
Deep in the heart of darkness something comes and goes
The liight that's on the hurt is exposed, in sadness and joy it lies

And it seem that this is good, that's how he needs to love
And it seems that it's close, something small and good...

I don't see now the light, looking for it in vain
Wandering across the whole area, from place to place....

And it seems that this is good, that's how he needs to love
And it seems that it's close, something small and good
And it seems that this is good, that's how he needs to love...

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Song Title: Birthday (remix) ("Yomuledet")
Musician: Berry Sakharof and Infected Mushroom
Video: Video of Infected Mushroom's remix featuring Berry
Year Released: 2002
Credits: lyrics and music by Berry Sakharof; remixed by Infected Mushroom
Website: www.berry.co.il
Comments:
Hear the song!


Infected Mushroom & Berry Sakharof single: Birthday (Yomuledet), 2002
Today is a birthday
Look, there is an old-new secret here
To slice the bread
To touch something nearly perfect
It's already the middle of the night
I thought perhaps its worthwhile to sleep
But something is stuck
Stuck deep down in my throat

That's right, you know
You make me crazy
Before you run away, come without fear
And take me like this

Today is a birthday
I thought of almost all of the details
I ordered a room
Blue skies with stars

That's right, you know
You make me crazy
Before you run away, come without fear
And take me like this

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Song Title: Not Suckers ("Lo Freierim")
Musician: Hadag Nakhash ('Fish Snake')
Video: From Israel Channel 24 Music TV
Year Released: 2003
Credits: lyrics by Sha'anan Street and Hadag Nakhash; and music by Hadag Nakhash
Website: www.levantini.com/hadag/
Comments:
Hear the song!


Until when
will we stop dreaming we're a MIG in the sky flying high
over the stench at a safe distance of 5 minutes from Kfar Sava...
Until when
will we stop closing our eyes to what's going on
under our nose and accepting that everything's just groovy

Beer from the fridge we'll bring, to a different channel we'll surf

Until when will we stop thinking of endless alcohol and non-stop f**king
So what if my neighbor is Danny Yatom
I went to the funeral and went to him in mourning
but the cycle of suffering is too big for me to break

And we'll do reserve duty, and we'll pay taxes
And we'll stand in traffic - for us they'll never screw
We're definitely, definitely, definitely not
We're definitely not suckers

My friends says "enough, stop being heavy"
And I'm not arguing, but the situation is absurd
Try to find some examples
And if you don't succeed, wait for me
'Cause if here falls a missile, over there is still more worthlessness
What does it matter who succeeds - Jordan, Katash or Shaqueel
And if here is a firing zone, over there is a mine
What does it matter if I pay by cheque, credit or cash
And with 700 [Shekels] for water and 2000 for city tax
It's certain that I participate in the deal for...
Left, right, look on the sides

And we'll do reserve duty, and we'll pay taxes
And we'll stand in traffic - for us they'll never screw
We're definitely, definitely, definitely not
We're definitely not suckers

And sometimes everything simply looks strange, not put together
Like a nun in a whore-house, or a whore in a convent
Everything's going from failure to failure
A tear from the eye slides down the cheek, and you?
I'm crying about it all
Crying about how everything could have been good
there could have been h-a-r-m-o-n-y...
From the Synagogue to the flack jacket to the Mosque
Shopping mall, Church, everything could have been one
Instead of this, there's a feeling of "Help"
Living in a sense of such an "As if"
Without looking at the reality in the face
Without moving ahead, just trying to watch
To disconnect
Doing everything, just not to get screwed
Doing everything, just not to get screwed

And we'll do reserve duty, and we'll pay taxes
And we'll stand in traffic - for us they'll never screw
We're definitely, definitely, definitely not
We're definitely not suckers

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Song Title: Borders ("Gvulot")
Musician: Ehud Banai
Year Released: 2004
Credits: lyrics and music by Ehud Banai
Website: www.ehudbanai.co.il
Comments: This song is an allegory of Israel during the period of the current Intifada. Politically, it's pessimistic message came 'late' - after the IDF managed to subdue the main force of the Intifada in operation "Defensive Shield" (2002); musically however, this song and the album itself are probably the finest pieces of Israeli music produced in the last 10 years. Backing vocals with Salaam Darwish
Hear the song!


Ehud Banai album: Answer Me (Aneh Li), 2004
He's already not so young, more than 50 years old
And he's experiencing difficult times
Fighting with the irritating neighbor in the yard
Each one saying: "I'll die (first), but with you I won't speak"
He's completely not at peace, living on the edge
Never understanding what he really wants
Curses and apologises, going wild and relenting
He cries alone at night when no one's watching

Rises every morning and sees that the night continues
Doesn't remember where he came from and now where he'll go
Turns from side to side, torn up from within
Confused and divided, he lives on pills
He has no time to sit and eat like a human being
Everything he sticks in a pita, flies on the street ahead of everyone
Overtakes from the right, then cuts sharply to the left
He'd like to straighten up, but now can't really manage to

Between and you, between us and them
Between darkness and light, between land and sea
Between religious and secular, between sweetness and bitter
Without borders there's no limit for anything

There's a border to despair, there's no limit for hope
There's a border to hate, there's no limit to love
There's a border to reality, there's no limit to the dream
There's a border to war, there's no limit to peace

From time to time he remembers when he was young
There was a dream, there was hope on the clear horizon
But now he sees clouds of fear
And he runs straight home after work
Stuck in a traffic jam, helpless, honks in rage
Turns on the radio and thinks: "just not this, just not again"
Smokes like a chiminy, worries for the kids
And the path to his heart is strewn with bypasses

Between and you, between us and them
Between darkness and light, between land and sea
Between religious and secular, between sweetness and bitter
Without borders there's no limit for anything

There's a border to despair, there's no limit for hope
There's a border to hate, there's no limit to love
There's a border to reality, there's no limit to the dream
There's a border to war, there's no limit to peace

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Song Title: Perhaps on the Sea-shore ("Ulay Al Sfat Ha'Yam")
Musician: Yehoram Gaon (remixed by The Doves - "Ha'Yonim")
Video: Yehoram Gaon (remixed by The Doves - "Ha'Yonim")
Year Released: (1971) 2005
Credits: lyrics by Ehud Manor; music by Nurit Hirsh
Comments:
Hear the song!


Go find the happiness
Between the pillow and the blanket,
In me, or her, or in yourself
Or perhaps on the sea shore

Brooks are streaming towards the sea
And at the sea every path ends
Also the sun sets there
Don't tell me why

Go find the direction
In the notes of the music
In the tail of the octopus
Or perhaps on the sea shore

Brooks are streaming towards the sea
And at the sea every path ends
Also the sun sets there
Don't tell me why

Brooks are streaming towards the sea
And at the sea every path ends
Also the sun sets there
Don't tell me why

Go find the Truth
In the Torah or the scriptures
In a sad barn owl
Or perhaps on the sea shore

Brooks are streaming towards the sea
And at the sea every path ends
Also the sun sets there
Don't tell me why

Go find G-d
In the gardens, in the stones
In the leaves, in the stamen
Or perhaps on the sea shore

Brooks are streaming towards the sea
And at the sea every path ends
Also the sun sets there
Don't tell me why
Don't tell me why

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Song Title: The Child in You [live] ("Ha Yeled She'bekha")
Musician: Yehuda Poliker
Year Released: (1995) 1996
Credits: lyrics by Yehuda Poliker and Ya'akov Gil'ad; music by Yehuda Poliker
Website: www.nmc-music.co.il/nmc/artists/poliker/
Comments:
Hear the song!


Yehuda Poliker album: Live in Caesaria (Hofaah Khaya), 1996
There is out there some kind of record
There is some kind of sadness

But there is life outside
There still is more love

You burn dead hours and piles of newspapers every weekend
Family pictures of others, on the windows burn you
You go out when it's already dark, dressed in black
You drive and drive at the speed of light
As if there's some kind of record that only you can break

You hide the beatings, the open wounds and scars that haven't healed
You remember little details that others before years already forgot
Sometimes you sink and sustain everything
Sometimes you hurt someone dear, from coldness
As if there's some kind of pain that only you can tolerate

There is out there some kind of record that you haven't broken yet
And there is some kind of pain that you already know
There is some kind of switch that only you can close
But there is life outside that you haven't finished
And there is more love that you haven't yet loved
There is some kind of switch that no one ever will be able to close

The child there is a man lost, feeling abandonned, rejected, robbed of dreams in the darkness
And he falls asleep and wakes up, thrusts his hand and forgets that there's no one there
And in the dream descends a child tied from behind, and this is the child that's in you
But they call for him to return, and there's some kind of switch that only you can close

There is out there some kind of record that you haven't broken yet
And there is some kind of pain that you already know
There is some kind of switch that only you can close
But there is life outside that you haven't finished
And there is more love that you haven't yet loved
There is some kind of switch that no one ever will be able to close

There is out there some kind of record
There is some kind of sadness
There is some kind of switch that only you can close
But there is life outside that you haven't finished
And there is more love that you haven't yet loved
There is some kind of switch that no one ever will be able to close

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Song Title: On Full Moon Nights ("Be'Leilot Shel Yare'akh Maleh")
Musician: Eran Tzur
Year Released: 2000
Credits: lyrics and music by Eran Tzur
Website: www.eranzur.com/main.htm
Comments:
Hear the song!


Eran Tzur album: Underground Meaning (Takhlit Batakhtit), 2000
On full moon nights
I see you next to me
Us lying on the bed in darkness
All the windows open
The light reflects on us
Silvery and milky

Here is you face
Here are the eyes
Here is the refined smile
Here are the fears and detatchment
Here is worry for me
And here is happiness
Because we're here together

We have love
Would you believe it
After all this desert
What a consolation

On full moon nights
Fantasy turns into reality
Almost as if you can touch it
By way of memory - in the imagination
I know, it's true you're not mine
But now, in the darkness you're with me

We have love
Would you believe it
After all this desert
What a consolation

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Song Title: In a Striped Shirt ("Be'Khultzat Pasim")
Musician: Ivri Lider
Year Released: 1999
Credits: lyrics and music by Ivri Lider
Website: www.ivrilider.com
Comments:
Hear the song!


Ivri Lider album: Better Nothing than Almost (Yoter Tov Klum MeKimat), 1999
In a beautiful city full of longings, I walk
To give into my desires to fall in love
And to the beauty that sends me to the clouds
Love like this without boundaries
Now I swallow the spit which has accumulated in my mouth
Opportunities like these in life won't be many
In a thin striped shirt with an unusual hat
It's the eyes that make the difference so beautiful

Now I'm shocked and then return
Take my time, don't hurry
I hear from outside
That my mouth is saying, what my mouth is saying
Now it's forever or else to give up
I came for one, and left with another
In a new Japanese car
At the [bus] stops I drive fast

In a beautiful city full of believers
I want to find my life, to get adjusted
When you drink just a little everything seems suddenly so nice
When the girl beside me tells me how hard it is
And how the people around her stop her, and what will be
In a thin striped shirt with an unusual hat
It's the lips that give me a kiss on the mouth

Now I'm shocked and then return
Take my time, don't hurry
I hear from outside
That my mouth is saying, what my mouth is saying
Now it's forever or else to give up
I came for one, and left with another
In a new Japanese car
At the [bus] stops I drive fast

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Song Title: 15 Minutes ("Khamesh-esre Dakot")
Musician: Assaf Amdursky
Year Released: 1999
Credits: lyrics and music by Assaf Amdursky
Website: www.amdursky.com
Comments:
Hear the song!


Assaf Amdursky album: Silent Engines (Menoyim Shketim), 1999
Flies over the city
Shooting at them flashing arrows in the eyes
Air in the bays
floats in the currents
Pleasant like tickles
Electricity in the ears, shivers of pleasure
Fifteen minutes, flutes and violins
I simply want to be someone they'll remember

Give a sparkling smile, end of the balloon will explode

It's not worth over-exerting yourself
In any case, from end to end it's always summed up in the same point
The stains are removed
The nights get shorter
To a white line between background to background
Sweet revenge
Silent engines
Trains of words cross paths like shadows above me and above the city, lifting me up
The bulge of the breasts hides the face
Fifteen minutes
Photographers and ashtrays
I simply want to be someone they'll remember

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Song Title: Dark Dream ("Khalom Keheh")
Musician: Assaf Amdursky
Video: Assaf Amdursky with the band Knesiat Ha'Sekhel ("Entry of the Mind")
Year Released: 1999
Credits: lyrics and music by Assaf Amdursky
Website: www.amdursky.com
Comments:
Hear the song!


Assaf Amdursky album: Silent Engines (Menoyim Shketim), 1999
They'll always find us thrown out on the pavement
Days which fell off from us will be presented on display in the newspapers
Headlines which reverberate, and the heart breaks
Something inside died already years ago
And the noise in the head
We don't manage to breath
Many emotions
Guilt
Many deviations from the conscience
And a hole of emptiness

One foot squeezes the gas
Sunken eyes, deep inside a dark dream
Can't stop
In the newspapers, headlines which reverberate
And the heart breaks
And everything remains pale like always

I have freedom, I have a goal
You don't have to go back
There's still a desire
You can find a corner
Give me the end or find me the beginning

[TV clip:]
There are things that exist inside and we're like not aware of them
We're always full of dark feelings, opening the papers and saying
"Well, another disaster"
but it's not like that
It's a shame that we reached such a terrible condition where it's
normal to wake up and see this
I know I woke up, I woke up somehow

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Song Title: Nails and Feathers ("Masmerim ve'Notzot")
Musician: Micha Shitreet (pronounced "Shetreet")
Video: original music video
Year Released: 1998
Credits: lyrics by Micha Shitreet and Miki Zar; music by Micha Shitreet, Berry Sakharof and Yizhar Ashdot
Website:
Comments:
Hear the song!


Once I could swallow the whole world
I rode on a bicycle with my hands in the air
Once I was a bad animal and you were a sweetie
Once I really lived

Once you were close to me, now you're distant
Once you used to cry less and laugh more
Once, when you were happy you used to dance
Once you really lived

And now? What now?
Nails and feathers - a bird that doesn't fly

And now? What now?
Nails and feathers - a bird that doesn't fly

Once I could swallow a full moon
You didn't bite your fingernails, you used to scratch
You got dressed in full light before me, now you're embarrassed
Once you were real

Once I could tell you "Behold you are my bride..."
I broke the glass and left the house
Once you could twist me around your finger
Once we were real

And now? What now?
Nails and feathers - a bird that doesn't fly

And now? What now?
Nails and feathers - a bird that doesn't fly

Once.. no, no there won't be another time
Twice you gave up for me and once on me
Once you wanted to know and I forgot
What we really were

And now? What now?
Nails and feathers - a bird that doesn't fly

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Song Title: Enta Omri (You Are My Life) ("Inti Omri")
Musician: Micha Shitreet (pronounced "Shetreet")
Year Released: 1998
Credits: lyrics and music by Micha Shitreet
Website: On Um Kulthum
Comments: Based on the Arabic song 'You Are My Life' (Enta Omri) by Um Kulthum, the Egyptian diva.
Hear the song!


They're closing the plant, come we'll go home
It doesn't pay, doesn't pay... doesn't pay
It's a matter of economics, of politics
Issues of a global scale
But not on the issue, not on our issue

And you're beautiful, oh so beautiful
And like then, so also now 'Enta Omri'

We listened to the man who said and said
And we believed in everyone who spoke about G-d
Words, words, words
Many, many, many
But not on the issue, not on our issue

And you're beautiful, oh so beautiful
And like then, so also now 'Enta Omri'

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Song Title: Landscape of Childhood ("Nof Yaldut")
Musician: Shlomo Artzi
Year Released: (1971) 2000
Credits: lyrics and music by Shlomo Artzi
Website: www.shlomoartzi.com
Comments:
Hear the song!


Shlomo Artzi album: I Loved Them (Ahavti Hem), 2000
The landscape of the old buildings
Which were shadows in my childhood days
Since then have passed many years
Since then have passed many years
The landscape of the old buildings is already crumbling
And its walls are disappearing
Since then have passed many years
Since then have passed many years

In the Garden of Eden of childhood
Which had flourished
I was part of the landscape.
Today I'm just a visitor

In the tree garden which is peeling
Which were shadows from my childhood days
The branches have already broken
Old age suddenly surged forth
I am walking and you're with me
And they altogether are disappearing
Old age suddenly surged forth
What a day it is.

In the Garden of Eden of childhood
Which had flourished
I was part of the landscape.
Today I'm just a visitor

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Song Title: Overtakes From Above ("Okef Mi Lemala")
Musician: Mookie
Video: Original music video pulled from the "Musika 24" channel; features Mookie and Piloni
Year Released: 2005
Credits: lyrics by Danny ("Mookie") Niv; music by Danny ("Piloni") Kirk
Website: shabakmusic.co.il
Comments:
Hear the song!


Mookie album: Higher Trod (Okef Mi Lemala), 2005
I deliver the message to you telepathically
Hitting in the head in my problematic way
When I beat, I hit mathematically
One by one I kill them automatically
I present the anti-plastic reality
Life I wrap up, rhyming bombastically
This is the truth which strikes us drastically -
The alternative which is fanstastic
If we try to examine our being objectively
We'll see ourselves rotting passively
What turns me on over and over aggressively
Flows and froths with the massive music
Indulge myself on the microphone psychopathically
My splif sits on my hand aristocratically
I march on the way to freedom systematically
With a desirous heart and a militant spirit.

On my way to the beyond, I overtake from above
Between myself and the tomorrow separates just the night
Moving towards the beyond - overtaking from above


Because what is freedom after all
If not the victory of the man over himself?
We're dust in space, everything we could have been and we're not.
Because what is freedom after all
If not the victory of the man over himself?
We're dust in space, everything we could have been and we're not.

I build my existence logistically
Against the events I'm prepared militaristically
Against a world which goes and dumbs down sadistically
A world whose heart froze it statistically
How is it to live in a post-traumatic society
Which gets addicted to hate narcomatically?
How she drowns in the bureaucratic morass
Dead eyes which gaze at me antipathically
As she fries my brain cellularly
She and her conscience which crumbles molecularly
This is the stored thing for the moment of need modularly
This is the branded thing, all of it fattened dollaristically
Mook comes and brings the fire, sparking it vocally
The words burn and don't get burned, attacks verbally
Always in motion, managed multistylistically
I fight my battles mentally.

On my way to the beyond, I overtake from above
Between myself and the tomorrow separates just the night
Moving towards the beyond - overtaking from above


Because what is freedom after all
If not the victory of the man over himself?
We're dust in space, everything we could have been and we're not.
Because what is freedom after all
If not the victory of the man over himself?
We're dust in space, everything we could have been and we're not.

And if you'll say I'm exaggerating with this dramatically
I say that your idea is not relevant
I cut and avoid the brain-washing acrobatically
And it's impossible to squeeze me into a compact slogan
It's impossible to take me and market me authentically
It's impossible to dazzle me, to lie to me cosmetically
The good which returns to the creator of it magnetically
Peels all the masks from you poetically

On my way to the beyond, I overtake from above
Between myself and the tomorrow separates just the night
Moving towards the beyond - overtaking from above


Because what is freedom after all
If not the victory of the man over himself?
We're dust in space, everything we could have been and we're not.
Because what is freedom after all
If not the victory of the man over himself?
We're dust in space, everything we could have been and we're not.

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Song Title: Today ("Ha'Yom")
Musician: Shalom Hanoch (featuring 'Monica Sex')
Year Released: 2003
Credits: lyrics and music by Shalom Hanoch
Website:
Comments:
Hear the song!


Shalom Hanoch album: Israeli Light (Or Israeli), 2003
Just yesterday, just yesterday
I simply got fed up with everything
To die I wanted, not to suffer
But to die I always can

And today the wind changed
It took away the pain
I don't know how
It's definitely because of you

Just yesterday, not long ago
I was a king, Don Juan
The most known, the biggest of all
The most artistic without falling

And today there aren't anymore clouds
Everything lightens up the face
I've started to smile
I don't know how
It's definitely because of you

Just yesterday, not long ago
Late at night, far from here
Barefoot in the weeds, walking in the forest
To smoke in the rain on the little bridge
And to dream

Today the wind turned over
I started to smile
I don't know how
It's definitely because of you
There aren't anymore clouds
And everything lightens up the face
I don't know how
It's definitely because of you
Because of you...

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Song Title: City Evening ("Erev Ironi")
Musician: Yossi Banai
Video: Clip from his performance "From So Much Love"
Year Released: 1987
Credits: lyrics by Natan Alterman; music by Yoni Rechter
Website:
Comments: Yossi Banai (1932 - 11 May 2006) is one more in a string of musical treasures that have left us in the last three years, following Natan Yonathan, Nomi Shemer, Arik Lavie, Ehud Manor, Uzi Hitman and Shoshana Damari. Banai began his musical career in the first draft of the Nachal brigade band ("Lahakat Ha'Nachal", which became legendary for its songs and the subsequent stars it produced in the '50s and '60s), in 1951. After his army service he joined the "Ha'Bima" theater and became a successful stage entertainer. Later he wrote the materials for the country's legendary comedy troupe "The Pale Scout Trio" ("Ha'Gashash Ha'Khiver"), and released musical albums of his own which became successful in their own right. One of his key contributions to Israeli music was his incorporation of the French 'Chanson' tradition of careful language, storytelling and sound into the arena of popular Israeli song. He translated songs of Brel, Brassens and Moustaki into Hebrew and incorporated them into his presentations of Israeli song. Though this song is already almost 20 years old, out of respect to him and the poet of the words I've placed it in as 'contemporary' as nothing about its sound justifies consigning it to more out of date music periods.
Hear the song!


Yossi Banai album: Collection of Songs (Osef Shirim), 1990
A pink sunset between the rooves
Blue asphalt from below
Womens' eyes, sad, sad, say to the evening
Why did you come?

The street-lamps are the flowers of the city
Blooming in the scented light
A sad electric Spring in the city
From its intoxication it's forbidden to run away

He's just an orphan and just innocent
Born for a moment and then no longer
Between the nights and the days
He comes to color our eyes

[Chorus]
He's just an orphan and just innocent
Born for a moment and then no longer
Between the nights and the days
He comes to color our eyes


Between the days and the nights
Shows a blue appearance which we go towards
All our breaths are worn out
Over there the grass, which the weeds consume

The naive wave of a small girl
Her smile carried in a car
What there was and what there wasn't
It seems as if it will come to be again

At the moment I'm just one
And I look, very quietly
How the moon extracts a breast
From the wall of the building opposite

[Chorus]
At the moment I'm just one
And I look, very quietly
How the moon extracts a breast
From the wall of the building opposite


My body gets smaller and dwarfed
But my head is so high up
So that even if I go
I won't look at where I'm going

A pink sunset at the end of the road
Like a tunnel of light blue
He who reaches the end
Will want to cry from all what could have been

[Chorus]
A pink sunset at the end of the road
Like a tunnel of light blue
He who reaches the end
Will want to cry from all what could have been


A pink sunset between the rooves
Blue asphalt from below
Womens' eyes, sad, sad, say to the evening
Why did you come?

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Song Title: I See You ("Ani Ro'eh Otkha")
Musician: Shlomo Artzi and Shalom Hanoch
Video: from their concert in Caesaria 2005
Year Released: 2005
Credits: lyrics and music by Shlomo Artzi and Shalom Hanoch
Website:
Comments: Near contemporaries of one another, Shlomo Artzi (born 1949) and Shalom Hanoch (born 1946) developed into the country's most popular and prolific singer-songwriters even though they never performed or collaborated together, much to everyone's retroactive suprise - including theirs. Artzi pursued a pop-rock sound from the late '60s while Hanoch focused mostly on blues, though much of early Israel's rock music was written by him as early as the mid-'60s. Last year and this they went on tour together, with the concept being that each would chose and sing songs from the other, playing it with his own band (Hanoch: Moshe Levy, Roni Peterson, et. al.; Artzi: Meir Israel, Avi Singolda, et. al.), and this song - conveying their awareness of each other and their relative similarities through the distance and the years - was the thematic emblem of their "Connection" concert series.
Hear the song!


Shlomo Artzi and Shalom Hanoch album: Connection (Hitkhabrut), 2005
[Artzi]: If I look, I see you
[Artzi]: If I count, I count on you
[Artzi]: You're not always like me, just similar to me sometimes
[Artzi]: If you call for me I come right away

[Hanoch]: If I look, I see you
[Hanoch]: If you remain, I'll stay with you
[Hanoch]: If you call for me, I'm here nearby
[Hanoch]: You're a little like me, you're like me a little

If I become silent don't take it to heart
Let the music sing to the soul
[Hanoch]: I catch a guitar, and begin to sing
I come home, don't leave the city

If I look, I see you
If I count, I count on you
[Hanoch]: You're a little like me, and also a little different
[Artzi]: Speak to me, if that suits you

If I listen I understand you
If you remain, I'll stay with you
Sometimes on the path, you're not alone
[Hanoch]: You're a little like me, you're like me a little

If you lie on a beach, thinking about nothing
[Hanoch]: What is redemption if you don't see the end?
[Hanoch]: Like the question, "where is G-d?"
[Hanoch]: A conversation that begins itself, so how don't they see?

[Artzi]: If things will be a little good, that would be wonderful
[Artzi]: If we sing for fun like there's no tomorrow
Call me up, it's not such a big deal
[Artzi]: You can leave a number, I'll get back to you on time

[Artzi]: If I look, I see you
[Hanoch]: You're a little like me... a little... a little... a little... a little...
[Hanoch]: If things would be a little good
[Hanoch]: You're a little like me

[Hanoch]: If I become silent don't take it to heart
[Hanoch]: Let the music sing to the soul
[Hanoch]: Look at her and continue to sing
[Hanoch]: I come home, don't leave the city

[Artzi]: If you begin a sentence, I'll find it an ending
[Artzi]: If you draw me a line, I'll add to it a setting
[Artzi]: And if you go, and I come from across
[Artzi]: So let's go together, we'll go on a journey

[Hanoch]: If you begin a sentence, I'll find it an ending
[Artzi]: We'll go on a journey
[Hanoch]: If you draw me a line, I'll add to it a setting
[Artzi]: We'll go on a journey
[Hanoch]: And if you go, and I come from across
[Artzi]: We'll go on a journey
[Hanoch]: So let's go together, we'll go on a journey

If I look, I see you
If I count, I count on you
If you call for me I come right away
You're a little like me, you're like me a little

[Hanoch]: If I become silent don't take it to heart
[Artzi]: You're a little like me
[Hanoch]: Let the music sing to the soul
[Artzi]: You're a little like me
[Hanoch]: Look at her and continue to sing
I come home, don't leave the city

If I look, I see you
If I count, I count on you
You're not always like me, just similar to me sometimes
If you call for me I come right away

If I look, I see you
If I count, I count on you
You're not always like me, just similar to me sometimes
If you call for me I come right away

If I look, I see you

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Song Title: Arik ("Arik")
Musician: Shlomi Shaban
Year Released: 2000
Credits: lyrics by Shlomi Shaban; music by Shlomi Shaban
Website:
Comments: Amusing song based on a real experience by Shaban who was dating a girl who was seeing him and another man ("Arik") at the same time. The phrase "Bleed for me" comes from the Velvet Underground song 'Venus in Furs'.
Hear the song!


Shlomi Shaban album: Shlomi Shaban, 2000
When you're in my bed
Don't talk about Arik
Don't talk about Arik

Me and my thing don't like Arik
Arik causes us to shrink

Don't talk about Arik
Don't talk about Arik
Don't talk about Arik
Don't talk

You want to talk about Arik
Go be with Arik
Don't talk about Arik
Don't talk about Arik

What's the story with this Arik anyway?
You always remember him when you're with me
Is your game double-meaning-ed?
Do you throw my name around in Arik's room?

Don't talk about Arik
You just said Arik
You just said Arik
I'm getting tired

You want to talk about Arik
Go be with Arik
Don't talk about Arik
No more
Ho-ho

"This Arik", she continues
"He's got on himself"
If he has on himself, I thought
Why are you on me?
And if you're already on me
Why is he on top of us?
Why is he burdening us?
What, what did we do wrong?

Don't talk about Arik
Don't talk about Arik
Don't talk about Arik
Don't talk
You see, you just said Arik to me
I'm getting emotionally disturb-ariked
Don't talk about Arik
No more

And now the truth
Tell me the truth
Who f***s better, Arik or I?
What does that mean, everyone is different?
Speak in grades, lady, speak in numbers

Don't even answer me
Don't even answer me
Don't even answer me
It's not my business

You see, you just said Arik to me
I'm getting emotionally disturb-ariked
Don't talk about Arik
No more

And now I'm a cowboy
In the wild, wild west
And I'm gonna shoot Arik
Yes, I'm gonna shoot Arik now
Bleed for me

Don't talk about Arik

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Song Title: America ("America")
Musician: Ethnix
Video: original music video from Channel "Musika 24"
Year Released: 2005
Credits: lyrics by Ze'ev Nechama; music by Ze'ev Nechama and Tamir Kalisky
Website: www.ethnix.co.il
Comments:
Hear the song!


Ethnix album: America (America), 2005
People travel to America,
When there's America everywhere
There's something good in a faraway land
And sometimes it's just a dream

And you, why don't you cast a glance over here
For how may years can you possibly dream of America? Oh America...

Life is not America
And America is another place altogether
Everything's in the mind of the person
If you'll only want here too can be a dream

And you, why don't you cast a glance over here
For how may years can you possibly dream of America? Oh America...
And you, why don't we live with the little that we have
It's not so different in America... Oh America.

And you, why don't you cast a glance over here
For how may years can you possibly dream of America? Oh America...
And you, why don't we live with the little that we have
It's not so different in America... Oh America.

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Song Title: My Old Friends ("Ha'Khaverim Ha'Yeshanim Sheli")
Musician: Ivri Lider
Year Released: 1999
Credits: lyrics and music by Ivri Lider
Website: www.ivrilider.com
Comments:
Hear the song!


Ivri Lider album: Better Nothing than Almost (Yoter Tov Klum MeKimat), 1999
My old friends, they're all the same
One became a big hero and the other got wiped out
A few others traveled far in order to return
The tenth one who I once left far behind

My old friends in the black book
Everyone who I now love
Everyone I will remember
And for whom it interests, we'll smoke and talk
About sport and art until the night will end

Until the night ends, lines and lines of people
Pass through my dreams
Until the night ends I'll still manage to speak
About every subject in the world
If G-d exists or doesn't exist
If there's a reason for disappointments
Whole lives in bags of plastic
And they pull at me by the edge of my shirt

My old friends have an unusual taste
He who was furthest away says he thinks about me a lot
And he who loved to drink remained with the habit
To a world of grownups he tries to get accustomed
He who loved to know, still he asks questions
And he who thought things were good for him is now praying
And even I remained almost the same way
Threatening to go but in the end I remain

Until the night ends, lines and lines of people
Pass through my dreams
Until the night ends I'll still manage to speak
About every subject in the world
If G-d exists or doesn't exist
If there's a reason for disappointments
Whole lives in bags of plastic
And they pull at me by the edge of my shirt

Whole lives in bags of plastic
Arguing if this happened or didn't happen

My old friends are not all the same
One became a big hero and the other got wiped out
And a few others traveled far in order to return
This love which I once left behind

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Song Title: Preelie ("Preelie")
Musician: Shotei Ha'Nevuah ("Fools of the Prophecy")
Year Released: 2000
Credits: lyrics by Gil'ad Vitel; music by Gil'ad Vitel
Website: www.foools.com
Comments: Sung/written in a stream of conscience style; parts in italics are supposed to be the "voices" in the singer's head.
Hear the song!


Fools of the Prophecy (Shotei HaNevuah) album: The Fools of Prophecy (Shotei HaNevuah), 2000
I want a little bit of "my fruit" ['Preelie' in Hebrew; the closest I can translate it is "my fruit", otherwise the word has no meaning in Hebrew]
And I want also cherry that lights up eyes
A flower when I enter the garden
Yes, again I'm speaking only with myself
And I have no idea what he
Is hiding for me in my debt
On the side of common sense
There are a lot of things to sleep about
What a drunk he is
That guy who is sitting now at the head
Decides now to conquer
This moment, on the road the people feel the morning which has broken
A gift from G-d
To dance, to jump
What a sparkle
Singing songs from inside the house
Moving the sofas
To wander around, to shout... yes
All this is a surprise
In life there are gifts
Because it's not in feelings and not in logic
Eretz Israel these days is in craziness
"The Enemy Will Attack Tomorrow"
Was written there in the paper
So give me a little honey and milk so we can mix
Arab Palestinian - Arab Palestinian, Jewish Argentinian
It doesn't matter, everyone's a human being
Everyone's here

No one will leave here
No one will leave
No one will leave here
So start to love

Say, is it fun to laugh?
We're a generation of love
And not of wars
Tell me "yes" to pleasant speech and yes to smiles
Five thousand years we're waiting

To dance, to jump
What a sparkle
Singing songs from inside the house
Moving the sofas
To wander around, to shout... yes
All this is a surprise
In life there are gifts
Because it's not in feelings and not in logic
Eretz Israel these days is in craziness
"The Enemy Will Attack Tomorrow"
Was written there in the paper
So give me a little honey and milk so we can mix
Arab Palestinian - Arab Palestinian, Jewish Argentinian
It doesn't matter, everyone's a human being
It's because of this - everyone's here

No one will leave here
No one will leave
No one will leave here
So start to love

No one will leave here
No one will leave
No one will leave here
So start from up close

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Song Title: The Doll House ("Beit Ha'Bubot")
Musician: Beit Ha'Bubot (The Doll House / House of Dolls)
Video: someone's interpretation of the song into video
Year Released: 2004
Credits: lyrics by Amir Atias and Itay Shiff; music by Amir Atias
Website: www.beit-habubot.com
Comments:
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The Doll House (Beit HaBubot) album: Shelves (Madafim), 2004
And again I encounter a moment of sadness
In a dark corner stands the boundary
I think about things in a new rhythm
I run thoughts, I try on a sheet

And again I encounter a moment of loneliness
I feel with all my might what innocence is
Think about Him up there who knows things
And His son all the time plays with the strings

So how is it in the end that we all meet up
With the same problems and the same emotions
In the little doll house of G-d's

And how I'm thrown strongly between the walls
Fall into myself, now I can't see
Lose the sensation, do you now feel
What it means to be alone, to be alone

And so how is it in the end that we all meet up
With the same problems and the same emotions
In the little doll house of G-d's

And how I'm slammed with force on the bed
The light turns black, everything here has changed
I'm sick of shouting into blocked ears
Again I can't see

And so how is it in the end that we all meet up
With the same problems and the same emotions
In the little doll house of G-d's

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Song Title: Here Again (Part B) ("Shoov Kan - Khelek Bet")
Musician: Shabak Samekh
Year Released: 2000
Credits: lyrics and music by Shabak Samekh
Website: Shabak @ Mooma
Comments: The band formerly headed by Mookie, who features on this page above; one of the first groups to introduce the concept of "Israeli hip-hop" (or what we call Zionist hip-hop) - snarling, indulgent, garrish and funny, but not violent. The band's name, Shabak Samekh - ùá''÷ ñ - sounds similar to the State's secret service but it is actually an acronym of partially made-up words "Shufim Bufim Bits and Bravos".
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Shabak Samekh (Shabak Samech) album: Canaan 2000 (Knaan 2000), 2000
Blood and fire and smoked dates
Blood and fire and smoked dates
Blood and fire and smoked dates
Blood and fire and smoked dates
I return from a dark country in a time machine
Cross outer space in a hurricane
I bring the Shabak, we're here
Ask yourself if you're ready
King of the empire like Gengis Khan
Rule over the expanse like Zinedin Zidane
Take all the girls, gather up all the cash
Run away from the law like Jean Valjean
[Wearing] Beads to no end cause I'm a master craftsman
All day drunk so I'm a pothead bringing the revolution, I'm on a cloud
Girls, twist your tushies

Still here
We're here again
We're here again
We're here again
From three came out one,
From three came out one,
From three came out one,
And the one that came out is me
There's no one like me, the orange knight
Returning to the stages to save the crowds
From freezing depression in a period of craziness
Bringing to parades a little happiness and joy
I blow away those who hold the microphone ["blow away" - the expression in Hebrew here is to "give high-schooling to"]
Return to the kindergarden the whole "carton-culture" [possibly a reference to exploitation of workers]
Cook your brains like a cellphone - Ericsson -
Even Simon Le Bon doesn't have this much passion
I'm the voice from outer space, come to the middle east
A super-star who brings honor and vision
If I was in Japan I'd be a Shogun
The Shabak is stronger than Alexander the Great
I'm here in Zion on the way to rulership
I play in the country like Megatron in mega-disaster
Gamble on my last chip
And laugh all the way to first place - because I'm here again!

Still here
We're here again
We're here again
We're here again
Everyone talks about the good old days
With expanses and countryside, with chicken-coops and horses, yes
Everyone talks about the good old days
When cash would grow on the trees
They talk
About records and dance halls
They talk
About love, clean air and G-d
They talk
About politicians they don't count on
They talk and talk and talk and talk
After they talk about the good old days
They talk about me 'cause they've run out of subjects
A storm in the garden of eden, hell on the streets
Certain that when we rule we'll bring better days
Still here
We're here again
We're here again
We're here again

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Song Title: Going Wild in the Countryside ("Mishtolelim Ba'Kfar")
Musician: Shotei Ha'Nevuah ("Fools of the Prophecy")
Year Released: 2000
Credits: lyrics and music by Ro'i Levy
Website: www.foools.com
Comments:
Hear the song!


Fools of the Prophecy (Shotei HaNevuah) album: The Fools of Prophecy (Shotei HaNevuah), 2000
It's actually fun for me when you're around
But hard to say that love
Is what I have inside my heart
I'm after all just a hungry wolf
You're not the first and not the third
But we'll start almost from the beginning
Now it's just me and you
So come and let's undress little by little

I feel...
I feel...
I feel you tremble from desire
In the long breaks between thrust and thrust
Yes, you and mother nature are united now
In a moment of truth, in a supreme act
Wave after wave wash the whole body
Fireworks explode inside your head
Deep within the rhythm, aware of every nerve
I hope that this for ever lasts

Going wild in the countryside
Going wild in the countryside
Going wild in the countryside
Me and you, all night long
Going wild in the countryside
Going wild in the countryside
Going-wild-in-the-countryside

You have fruits which entice more than pineapples and coconuts
A wonderful opening like the blossom of a lotus
Froth on the seas, a rainbow in the cloud, how good this is now
To draw near the issue
All the night me and you go wild in the countryside
All the night me and you go wild in the countryside

Going wild in the countryside
Going wild in the countryside
Going wild in the countryside
Me and you, all night long
Going wild in the countryside
Going wild in the countryside
Going-wild-in-the-countryside

Come let's sit in a fig all night
Me and you, all night long
Going wild in the countryside
Me and you, all night long
Going wild in the countryside
Me and you, all night long
Going wild in the countryside
Me and you, all night long
Going wild in the countryside
Me and you, all night long
Going wild in the countryside
Me and you, all night long
Going-wild-in-the-countryside

So he told me
"Come here" and he gave me a kiss - it was sweet
He embraced me standing and the bed was so soft
And in the darkness he took me to a new land
And in the morning I sand and was still in the feeling of a dream
Simply a dream, a dream in broad daylight
I'm not ashamed, I feel like a woman
I'm his, for him and it's good for me because of him
...and it's good for me because of him
...and it's good for me because of him
Come and sit here, come
Come and sit here, come
Come and sit here, come

All night long

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Song Title: Better Nothing Than Almost ("Yoter Tov Klum Me'Kimat")
Musician: Ivri Lider
Video: From a live performance in Caduri, circa. 2006
Year Released: 1999
Credits: lyrics and music by Ivri Lider
Website: www.ivrilider.com
Comments:
Hear the song!


Ivri Lider album: Better Nothing than Almost (Yoter Tov Klum MeKimat), 1999
If it's not her than better it be no one
Better nothing than almost
An English newspaper and cheap perfume

In the middle of the night climbs onto an airplane
Which will take you first class to Germany
There's wine and food and a video movie
Another hour or two and you return home

If it's not her than better it be no one
Better nothing than almost
Nice clothes in luxury shops
All the time together and nothing happened

In the middle of the night climbs onto an airplane
Which will take you first class to Germany
There's wine and food and a video movie
Another hour or two and you return home

And what a lovely day there is beyond the rainbow
From what exactly are you so groggy
A fashion magazine and everything is the same routine
A few more hours and you return home

If it's not her than better it be no one
Better nothing than almost

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Song Title: Iris Fields ("Sadot Shel Irusim")
Musician: Yehuda Sa'ado
Video: Rebroadcast of the competition finals on Channel 2 with the lyrics displayed during the performance
Year Released: (1986) 2005
Credits: lyrics and music by Shlomo Artzi
Website: Yehuda Sa'ado @ MySpace.com and www.shlomoartzi.com
Comments: A wonderful (trunctated) cover of a Shlomo Artzi song submitted and performed for the 3rd season of Israel's American Idol-styled program, "Kokhav Nolad" ("A Star is Born"), which it won. It was performed by a religious singer, Yehuda Sa'ado, in a style defined locally here as "Mediterranean" ("Yam Tikhoni") - an Israeli blend of Arab/Middle Eastern tones with Mediterranean vocals. The song comes from Artzi's Lebanon war-influenced melancholy "Restless Night" album from 1986 and a forerunner to his landmark "Heat of July-August" record from 1987-88 - and for this public performance it seems certain lines with social critiques were removed.
Hear the song!


Album: A Star is Born 3 (Kochav Nolad 3), 2005 Yehuda Saado
In an astounded stadium and short of space
With all the people I sit
Waiting for the concert to begin
The band is already prepared

There, there were buildings, dispersed as islands and islands
There, there was my childhood and all my life
I am a loaded gun of yearnings
And it comes back to me, you understand
Returns to me in the room
Every song is an unavoidable memory

In an astounded stadium and short of space
With all the people I sit
Waiting for the concert to begin
The band is already prepared
The finger on the trigger
Every song is an unavoidable memory

Back then I didn't have a large car
Back then I didn't know what lay by the margins
Of the only road beside which were concealed secrets, fields [a play on words in Hebrew] of irises

Back then I didn't have a large car
Back then I didn't know what lay by the margins
Of the only road beside which were concealed secrets, fields...

Back then I didn't have a large car
Back then I didn't know what lay by the margins
Of the only road beside which were concealed secrets, fields of irises

This is not the same country
Already not the same room
Every song is an unavoidable memory

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Song Title: How 'Yossi' [live] ("Kama Yossi")
Musician: Berry Sakharof
Video: Original music video. Also: Live performance aired on Israeli educational channel 8.
Year Released: (1993) 2003
Credits: lyrics by Berry Sakharof; music by Berry Sakharof and Ra Mokhiakh
Website: www.berry.co.il
Comments: Mima.co.il sheds some light on an otherwise odd song: the lyrics describe Berry's childhood in the city of Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv (i.e. the "Big City" mentioned in the song). Sakharof grew up in the neighborhood of Ramat Yosef, named after Yosef Shprintzak, the first Speaker of the Israeli Parliament ("Knesset"); the neighborhood was also known for the high number of children named "Yossi". The reference to "Shlomo's white guitar" is to Shlomo Mizrachi, a well known Israeli guitarist in the 1960's; "Ahuva" refers to the Israeli singer Ahuva Ozeri. The reference to the "song contest" is of the 1968 competition in which Tom Jones won. "Fanny Hill" is a reference to a childhood pornographic publication which passed through many hands. "A downpour of go-go's, an Arab hole and a Jewish hole" refers to a game of go-go's in which a person has to throw a go-go into a hole and to try to pull out a pair from within it (in an "Arab hole" a player has one go-go, in a "Jewish hole" he has several).
Hear the song!


That town there, they named after the Speaker of the Knesset [Israeli Parliament]
Romanians, Moroccans, Poles mixed together on the [sand] dunes
A lot of pickles, a lot of bread with "khalva"
At the sparse first national song contest

So much sand, how "Yossi" [a play on the Hebrew word "Yofi" for "nice"]
It was good, it was "Yossi"

At the daily show Tarzan beats Machista
And Shlomi has a guitar colored in white
And Ahuva gave all she had, all that she had
What she had
And mom and dad feared that I'd turn out a criminal

Fanny Hill from hand to hand to hand to hand
A downpour of go-go's, an Arab hole, a Jewish hole
And far, far to the north, the real thing
In the big city on Fridays and Saturdays, looking for something to do

So much sand, how "Yossi" [a play on the Hebrew word "Yofi" for "nice"]
It was good, it was "Yossi"

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Song Title: Haifa Across the Sea ("Haifa Mul HaYam")
Musician: Micha Shitreet (pronounced "Shetreet")
Video:
Year Released: 2005
Credits: lyrics by Salman Matzlakha; music by Micha Shitreet and Berry Sakharof
Website:
Comments: A song about the Arab poet Emil Habibi; Berry Sakharof on guitars.
Hear the song!


In Haifa, across the sea, smells of salt
Arise from the ground
And sun which hangs on a tree
Which unravels the wind
Within a row of trees is immersed a stone
They planted men, women and silence
Tenants in a building
Whose name is Homeland
Jews whose voice I didn't hear
Arabs whose intentions I didn't know
And more such songs which I didn't know
To recognize
In that moment which became silenced

There in Haifa across the sea
Everyone was there for him
A poet, exiled in the wind, searches for the past
In a question blessed with questions
Fishes up words from within the sea
And again casts towards the waves
Which will return,
Like the Messiah,
To the world
A poet returns to a song which he didn't write
In the night of captivity, and has not yet returned
To the place which he drew as a child in the cloud

There in Haifa across the sea
At the end of summer which has broken
On the head of the tree blooms the moon
I return to the silence which I injured with my lips
I return to
The old words
In a page
Lumps of earth let to live
And a salty path grasp tightly forever the
Fishing rod of the fisherman
Little words grew silent to rest
And a song was silenced there in Haifa, across the sea

And a song was silenced there in Haifa, across the sea

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Song Title: Momentum ("Tnufa")
Musician: Boaz Banai
Video: original music video; Boaz always wanted to play football but his parents disapproved
Year Released: 2007
Credits: lyrics and music by Boaz Banai
Website: Boaz Banai on Myspace and on Facebook
Comments:
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I feel that this is the time
Now or forever
What's the point of waiting?

Something is stopping the momentum
Perhaps it's just a phase
That you just need to get through?

I have to get out to the street
Fresh air is good for me
To feel the movement

I'm in a thousand pieces
Still eating sweets
At night in bed

It always happens when I'm too busy in something else
The body slowly falls apart
And the head works too quickly
My head works quickly

I feel that this is the time
Now or forever
I need something to give me a spiritual elevation

Who is stopping the momentum
Perhaps it's just a phase
From here it can only get better

It always happens when I'm too busy in something else
The body slowly shrinks
And the head works too quickly
My head works quickly

[said to a female]: Only you know what's good for me

If only I could speak
Instead of shouting or dispersing
Words with no explanation
What would I then say

Instead of shouting like a retard
Na na na na...
What would I then say
If only I could speak
Instead of shouting or dispersing
Na na na na...

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Song Title: Dog Competition ("Takharut Klavim")
Musician: Eviatar Banai
Video: original music video pulled from Channel Musika 24; there are probably several personalities and band members (his cousin, Ehud Banai's band) I'm supposed to recognize in the video but can only identify Eviatar's sister, the actress Orna Banai, leaving the restaurant/sitting in the taxi
Year Released: 2005
Credits: lyrics by Eviatar Banai and Amir Lev / music by Eviatar Banai and Amir Tzoref
Website: www.eviatarbanai.co.il
Comments:
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A dog competition
Running in a circle
Eyes that are hungry
Speech with hints
In lovely shoes
I run barefoot
Deep dreams
I arrive first

I drive in a taxi, don't remember the address
So much time in the darkness
The despair, the flesh, the egotism
Big enemies which I cultivated

To light the sun with laughter and tears and music
I'm already coming, I'm already there

The banister is wet
The stairs are high
Quiet whispers on the neck
I hear trumpets at night in bed
I direct the traffic
Without knowing to where

I drive in a taxi, don't remember the address
So much time in the darkness
The despair, the flesh, the egotism
Big enemies which I cultivated

To light the sun with laughter and tears and music
I'm already coming, I'm already there

I drive in a taxi, don't remember the address
So much time in the darkness
The despair, the flesh, the egotism
Big enemies which I cultivated

To light the sun with laughter and tears and music
I'm already coming, I'm already there
I'm already coming, I'm already there

To light the sun with laughter and tears and music
I'm already coming, I'm already there

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Song Title: 'Sigapo' ("Sigapo")
Musician: Beit Ha'Bubot (The Doll House / House of Dolls)
Video: original music video
Year Released: 2004
Credits: lyrics and music by Amir Atias
Website: www.beit-habubot.com
Comments: According to mima.co.il, the song is named after a friend (Sigalit) of the band's lead singer and whose nickname was 'Siga'; when she returned to Israel from abroad her friends would say that 'Siga is here' (in Hebrew "Siga po"), and that's how the song got its name.
Hear the song!


The Doll House (Beit HaBubot) album: Shelves (Madafim), 2004
And the moon was full all night long
And it leaves me up
Write on all four walls in a moment
And it's not enough for her

A wave of hallucinations in nature
Loses reality in for a moment
How in the end she always returns to herself
And it's not enough for her

Suddenly when it seems that the dawn won't ever break
Another light raises an old memory
Suddenly when it seems that the dawn won't ever break
Another light rises and shows the way

Sigapo it's hot and it hurts
Not everything you know
It's the same light that always accompanied you
And it's not enough for her

Suddenly when it seems that the dawn won't ever break
Another light raises an old memory
Suddenly when it seems that the dawn won't ever break
Another light rises and shows the way

She returned from there in order to complete her circle for herself
To the spring came a young goat, a young goat came
With the logic of a legend she feels like a young girl
In a great field of understanding, which is pure

Suddenly when it seems that the dawn won't ever break
Another light raises an old memory
Suddenly when it seems that the dawn won't ever break
Another light rises and shows the way

Suddenly when it seems that the dawn won't ever break
Another light raises an old memory
Suddenly when it seems that the dawn won't ever break...
Another light rises