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Avitar Banai celebrates 50: the artists who love him jumped to wish him a happy birthday and choose a favorite song | Israel today

2023-02-08T07:08:36.992Z


They heard the first sounds of the first and iconic album, and realized that there was something extraordinary here • They were present at the small and intimate performances that slowly grew • They knew first loves and heartbreaks to the sounds of the powerful ballads, were influenced by his work, and some of them also got to perform with him


No one really saw it coming.

Anyone who didn't wade in the bohemia of Tel Aviv in '95, didn't socialize with musicians or hang out in fringe theater circles, couldn't have anticipated the storm that the new sensation would create for Beit Banai, in the days when "everyone was a builder" was still considered a witty joke.

In those years it was Orna who would represent the new generation of the family.

Comedian by grace Shabina and the piece that will reveal her brother have very little in common, except for the attributed family name.

The days are the end of 1997. Israel, recovering from the events of the Arad Festival disaster and Rabin's murder, two national traumas that occurred within a period of less than four months of each other, is already beginning (at least on the radio) to convert the mowing rock that has dominated the decade so far, into other music.

More thoughtful and vulnerable.

Celebrating 50. Avitar Banai,

 A new generation of artists who in the press and in the field liked to define the ball of sad singers (Ivri Lider was also discovered at the same time) breaks through in what seems like an instant and changes the face of the game in Israeli music.

Most prominent of all is Avitar Banai, until then simply "Avitar" from brother Meir's debut album.

Yes, he is hurting, looking for a grip and hurt as a 22-year-old creator, the age he was when he recorded the album, can be.

But he also craved life and was wounded again.

"Nothing is Sad", a hitherto impossible combination of childish pleasantness and a gloomy description of the mood on the Israeli street, shocked and fascinated the radio.

"I put powder on me" blurred the boundaries of gender (which will continue to blur from then until these days of gender fluidity).

In "Beg me" he asks his beloved who went away something unusual, almost forbidden, for the Israeli singer.

"Russian Theater" is a terrible and spectacular celebration of anger, insult and regret.

An entire generation since then cannot hear the sentence "I have pressure in my ears" without completing the line "and blue ribbons in my head".

Even in a wave of new creators, Avitar Banai was an anomaly.

guide.

Avitar Banai, photo: Moshe Shay

He will go and continue to search and explore, abandon the path that brought him fame and find redemption in religion.

From there it will be another avatar.

Still sore, pensive and a bit melancholic, but calmer, more sober.

The place of the inner cry will be taken by completeness.

He has been in the field for 25 years, although sometimes, for a generation that is not yet the face that the 90s were 30 years ago, it feels as if he was discovered not long ago.

Many musicians in this project define him as a spiritual and artistic guide.

They talk about him in compass terms, they write in praise of his honesty.

The flattering and yes, moving things written here paint a beautiful and accurate picture of his place in Israeli culture.

An artist among artists, a man whose truth in his work is indisputable.

Consensus instead of creating such. 

Shlomi Shaban - "I'm glad you came", from "Abitar Banai" (1997) - a new chapter in Israeli music

Shlomi Shaban,

I could choose almost any song by Avitar, from the debut album to the last one.

There is not a song of his that is not endowed with the supreme beauty of a gifted songwriter and researcher.

I will choose the first song of his that I heard, "It's good that you came".

I remember going to see a theater performance and suddenly the sounds of the song erupted.

This was before the release of the first album.

Somewhere in the impossible harmonic transition between the first verse and the chorus, I realized that a new chapter in Israeli music had begun.

Since then we have been through a lot together.

As he says in the song - "how everything goes in circles, surprises me every time".

Congratulations, Avitar, and thank you for everything.

Ninet - "Girl Woman", from "Life Begins to Play" (2021) - a traveling melody

Ninet, photo: Shay Franco

I don't think there is anyone in the country who would not agree with the fact that Avitar Banai is one of the most important creators in our history.

And how lucky it is.

It is difficult to choose one song that is a masterpiece from all the masterpieces that are his creations, yet, I chose the song "Woman Girl" from his latest album.

I remember I was driving in a taxi and suddenly this song started playing on the radio.

My eyes filled with tears.

The charm of it is that apparently it is not a sad song in its essence, the melody travels like the melody, the text hovers above them and sometimes dives to take a breath.

And there, precisely there, this inward movement begins, in the dissonance between the feeling that emerges from the song and the character of the song itself.

And that's exactly what happens when life starts playing.

Avitar, Mazel Tov may always accompany you.

Aviv Gefen - "Until Tomorrow", from "Night as a Day" (2009) Entrance to the pain laboratory


Aviv Gefen, photo: Gabriel Baharilya

For me, Avitar is a late falling in love with a twin soul.

His brilliant ability to translate his conflict with himself into notes and words leaves me along with everyone in awe and grateful that Avitar lets us into his pain lab.

"There is a gap in the fence, between the vines and among the grapes of the vineyard, foxes howl and disappear."

What a perfect way to write about an anxiety attack.

We won you as a writer, I won you as a friend.

Mazel Tov.

Narcissus - "Father", from "Lila Yogem Yair" (2009)

- Duet of the Ten Days of Repentance

Narcissus, photo: Efrat Eshel

Years ago I worked in a huge bookstore, and there was one shelf near the cash register with some CDs.

One of the albums was by Avitar Banai, a new album that I did not know.

The thing is, I had no way of listening to the album before I bought it, so I just guessed by the cover that it was going to be special and bought it.

On my first shift break I ran to my car to listen to the album, and the first song that played from it was "Dad".

I found myself crying in the parking lot there in my car.

I felt that I heard the most spiritual song possible.

"Dad, I want to stand in front of you and believe that you are a good father. Dad, I need to know that you love me, that's just how a good father is."

These are words that only Avitar could write.

At one of the events of the Ten Days of Repentance, I put my father on stage and sang this song with him.

Years later, when I returned to my music and released an album myself, I heard Avitar say on the radio that he and his wife cried from excitement when they heard my song, "Fields".

For me, this is the closing of a circle and it further strengthened the connection I have with Avitar.

He is a musical teacher and rabbi.

He was my soundtrack at so many points in my life, I love him with all my heart and wish him a long and good life.

Thank you for the music and your honesty, for being huge and so humble.

Thank you, Avitar, for being in the world.

Nega Erez - "Shen Lidi", from "Abitar Banai" (1997) - a lullaby of longing at night

Nega Erez, photo: Dodi Hasson

It's hard to choose just one favorite song by Avitar.

In our house, as in many other houses, the glorious last name is omitted, he is spoken of as a friend.

After all, he had always been there - in high school, in the army, on all the trips.

Through the heartbreaks, the moments of happiness and the everyday.

The song "Shen Lidi" shakes the musician in me and embraces the girl, the daughter I am to my parents.

It is a lullaby of longing at night, and a morning that brings with it comfort.

Dodo Tesa - "Thief", from "Beautiful as a White" (2013) - close compass

Dodo Tesa, photo: Dodi Hasson

I don't think there is another artist that I had such a hard time choosing one song of his that I really like.

For me, Avitar is a compass.

He is the closest, most exciting, most accurate artist working here.

In the end I chose the song "Thief" from his fifth album.

When I heard it for the first time, I felt like I was going to be caught red-handed in no time.

Thank you, Avitar, for who you are.

Alon Adar - "Precious Melody", from "Abitar Banai" (1997) - between tenderness and power

Alon Adar, photo: Orit Panini

I was 15 years old when Avitar Banai's debut album was released, and it felt new and refreshing.

Like someone who tells the truth in a different and open way, with a talent and quality not seen before in Israel.

And he was also a great singer.

From the very first moment the entire democratic open school in Jaffa adored him.

We felt like someone was telling all our feelings out.

The way this album was made is also inspiring.

Musical director Haim Shemesh led, and Assaf Amdorski, a contemporary of Avitar, came to produce and play.

Korin Alel, a member of the generation above Avitar, also participated in the arrangement, playing and singing. 

I liked listening to the album in sequence, they used to do that.

But among all the songs on the album, there were some that I played non-stop: "Fathers and Sons", "I have a chance" and "Ghera Melody".

The latter was produced by Amdorski, Tzach Drori did a string arrangement in the special way he knows and Korin Alel sang vocals.

I love the dynamic that exists in the song between tenderness and power, its text and the fact that Amdorski plays all the instruments in it and gave it its sound.

Avitar's writing, and its development in recent years, gave me the courage to write close and bare and try to convey my feelings to the song as they are.

Jimbo J - "Don't See Me" from "Life Begins to Play" (2021) - Between Father and God

Jimbo J, photo: Jordan Bader

"Don't see me", as I carefully understand it, is a touching glimpse into the relationship between a father and his rebellious son, and between the father and God.

The stanzas of the poem are mostly written from the point of view of the child who is angry that he is not seen, and in the chorus the father asks that the break be reconciled.

One of the great charms of Avitar Banai is the ability to open a window to his soul, and on the other hand to keep some secret and mystery that leaves me as a listener the space to make the song my own.

The song captured me personally through its written words.

The sentence "Ta (you) don't see me" is written in the boy's street language, i.e. with a spelling error.

The Hebrew that is broken here takes the form of the misunderstanding between father and son, between generations, and reminds us of the gaps that a language can create between us even when it is the same language.

More than anything, Avitar's ability to continue telling his story throughout many years of his career in a positive way is a lesson in the maturation of an artist and in maintaining artistic integrity."

Yasmin Moalem - "Fathers and Sons" from "Abitar Banai" (1997), and "Borker Stars", from "Lila Kozum Yair" (2009) - to explore every note

Yasmin Moalem, photo: Dafi HaGai

Avitar Banai accompanied me in countless moments in life, with his ability to touch the deepest.

The first time it happened, I really didn't expect it.

A friend named Rumi Shafer told me about him at the age of 13 or so, around the time of Memorial Day.

I thought she was going to play me some Memorial Day classic, and I was ready to roll my eyes and tell her to relieve me of this burden.

I remember we walked on the sea and she told me "Trust me, sit down".

She gave me headphones and played "Fathers and Sons" for me.

It was the first time I heard a song by Avitar Banai.

I cried about the entire length and was left stunned.

I think I was silent the whole way back home.

From that moment began a journey to explore and hear every note and every word in each of his albums, a journey that continues to this day.

Thank you.

My second significant moment with Avitar's music was a little less casual, but it included no less tears.

It happened when my partner and I chose "Kochavi Boker" to be the song with which we entered the canopy at our wedding.

Beyond the amazing melody and the combination of the voices of Avitar and his late father singing together, the words that open the song - "Pay attention to the soul" are about all a person needs to remember. Pay attention to the soul. Avitar, Mazel Tov! May you continue to be like a compass to every artist who strives To pay attention to his true melody. Don't stop changing and developing, we develop together with you. Lots of love and thanks for raising me as a person and as a musician.

Shai Tzbari - "Beg me" from "Abitar Banai" (1997) - Sasha Argov and Meir Banai

Shai Zabri, photography: Zohar Ron

There are songs that when you hear them, you know you are witnessing a defining moment in culture.

You know something can't stay the same after that moment, you're glad you heard it and now it will go and resonate with you and many others.

will affect and change their perspective on their work, if they are musicians, or on their listening if they are regular listeners.

It sounds pompous, but for me it was what "beg me" was.

About a year before Avitar Banai's first album came out, his record company released this song as an introductory single.

I suspect they did it because they couldn't help themselves.

As they wanted to say: "Listen, we have the most amazing thing on the market right now, it's with us and you have to listen to it too."

I remember the first moments of listening to this single, which came to me in a strange way.

It was a basic recording, just piano and vocals, but my mind was blown by the power of discovery.

I remember this meandering tune, which has Sasha Argov and Meir Banai and Israeli rock and some sort of Mizrachi-like curl (maybe it's just in my head?) the direct, painful, kicking words.

A record of honesty and intimacy.

This voice, screaming, burning, which has so much new and old and power and tenderness and wholeness and brokenness.

Then came the music video directed by one of the greatest music photographers who were here, Ronen Lelana.

A clip that was filmed in what looks like a branch of "Zer Belei Hayim" and revealed the face of this young man from the Banai family.

How much thanks I owe to Avitar and this song, which was my prayer in those distant years.

When I was a lonely and sad young man, dreaming of finding his love and taking his first steps in the world and in music.

A few months ago I had the privilege of being a guest at his concert and singing with him "Begging me".

He played the keyboards, and in his generosity let me sing the whole thing, from beginning to end.

I didn't have to learn the words or the tune.

I sang and for a moment I was that young man.

My heart was filled with joy and my eyes with tears.

Akiva - "Father of the Most Merciful", from "Night as a Day of Yair" (2009) - Madd Avitar

Akiva, photo: Shay Franco

The desire to be precise in words when writing about Avitar Banai poses a very serious challenge.

At the age of 18, while still a young Yeshiva student with big dreams, I joined a writing and composition workshop in Tel Aviv, under his guidance.

He called this workshop "the inner music", and it was not for nothing that he chose this name.

In my eyes, this is Avitar's story: an inner work that stems from the deepest parts of the soul, and is written with inspiring sincerity and honesty.

All the participants came to the workshop with great anticipation of meeting the maestro, but instead of playing a game of teacher and students, Avitar brought himself to the meeting as a friend among friends.

He consolidated us into a close-knit group, whose members are still in close contact to this day.

These were meetings that had to last no more than two hours, and in practice we would sit together each time until the wee hours of the night.

This workshop was for me a very significant milestone in my personal creative journey and the confidence it gave me as a creator to believe that I have something to give to the world.

In my mind there is something called "Medd Avitar Banai".

In front of him I ask how brave, true and heartfelt my work is.

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Source: israelhayom

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