Between his annual rock ball, which will be held for the first time in Yarkon Park, and album number 14 on the way (which will include duets with names like Micah Shtrit, Ninet Taib and Anna Zak), Aviv Gefen is releasing a new single today (Tuesday).
"Puts Up the Beauty", as the name perhaps implies, deals with eating disorders and body image and their connection to the world of social networks and the culture of filters.
• "The top of what I did": Teddy Ngosa returns with a new song
• Towards a duet with Ben-El?
Shimi Tabori as you have never heard before
• Hanging with ropes: Inbal Bibi is stunning in a new step
A subject that he says, unfortunately, he knows personally from the circle close to him, and from what he defines as "too many times when I found myself encouraging boys and girls who suffer from eating problems".
He considers the single one of the most important songs he has written in his career.
"I visit a lot of fans in hospitals and their broken families. This is a phenomenon that has gained more and more momentum in recent years," he tells Israel Hayom.
"The networks gave it a lot of space, sanctifying beauty and thinness. Only in reality, or when the battery runs out, there are no filters and there are a lot of identity crises."
The new album will be called "Neon and Candles", and will be the first released by the musician since "Cracks" in 2014.
It will also contain a joint song that Geffen started recording with the late Tamar "Tai" Amar, the young singer who was her mentor during the days of the show "The Voice" and who passed away in August 2021. "It's a particularly sad duet," he says, "We recorded it a few days ago years, and thanks to technology I was able to complete it into a song, with the blessing of her family."
Trying to get a connection
You chose to hold your rock ball this year in Yarakon Park - this is an escalation.
"This year's ball will be the biggest of all the years we have held it to date. Of course, like every year, this will be the most invested performance and production on our part. We really did not prepare for such a response in such a short time - to sell 30,000 tickets in a week is extreme."
Alongside these, it is difficult to separate Gefen from a political statement.
The musician, who for decades was identified with the left-wing camp, has been making considerable efforts in recent years to appeal to new audiences, to reconcile with those he visited in the past and to try to connect political extremes.
Not an easy thing to do in the current cultural climate in Israel - since the elections, the attacks that have returned to the discourse, the planned reform of the courts by the Minister of Justice and the intention of the Minister of Communications to cut the budget of the Public Broadcasting Corporation, as if inviting more songs in the style of "Skins of Skins".
Aviv Gefen (archive), photo: Coco
"There are many things to take from the Americans, and civil war is not one of them," Geffen says when asked about his place on the political and social map these days.
"I do everything to bring connection and talk, I know it is considered almost extreme today."
I would like to ask you about your opinion regarding the legal reform. Not many artists express themselves on the subject.
"The legal reform is no less dangerous for the right than for the left. There is a dangerous trend here that has never been here before. What is the point of being a landlord when no one wants to rent the apartment? The tyranny of the majority can turn on anyone easily. I hope that logic will prevail."
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us
