6 decades of hymns and lyrics: When the late Yoram Taharlev was hosted by an archive of artists

One of the most important poets and songwriters in the history of the country who passed away, told in the past which of his songs became a huge hit in Turkey and what he felt when he first heard a performance of "Ammunition Hill"

In collaboration with Mifal Hapayis

03/02/2021

Wednesday, 03 February 2021, 09:27

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Over six decades of creation.

Taharlev (Photo: Screenshot, Lottery)

The songwriter and poet Yoram Taharlev passed away at the age of 84. About a year ago he managed to be a guest in the new chapter of the Artists 'Archive, Mifal Hapayis' special initiative to document Israeli artists, and said: "I wrote the song 'The Green Mountain' Today. But the first time I looked at this picture, I saw that there were no trees on the green mountain at all. It put me in the market. The mountain really turns green at the end. "

Taharlev, who worked for over six decades, was one of the most beloved and esteemed poets and songwriters in the history of the country. He told the archives of artists about his beginnings: "Both my parents were pioneers who immigrated from Lithuania and knew Israel. My father worked as a baker, and at night he wrote songs and plays and performed them on the kibbutz. As long as he lived, I did not write a single chorus myself, because not sure he would like it. He had an opposition to the style and level at which they would write here, because he came from a different culture. '".

When Taharlev did start writing, he quickly progressed: "I started publishing poetry in various newspapers and one day I suddenly saw that they composed notes to my songs, and turned them into music. I realized that this is also possible and then I started writing hymns as well. "Because there are different rules, like house order and repetitive chorus. For me, I always liked songs and always checked the lyrics first. I wanted to check if the big hits are idiots or not, how much humor there is in the song or if it excites me."

"I have never seen myself as a person who understands music," he continued. "This is really not my field and I have often had encounters with composers because of it. In the end I realized that writers and composers each need their freedom and then meet at the end at some point, and that's how I worked. I am a lone wolf, working alone most of the time. There are those who first write the last line of the song, the point and then go up, but I write from top to bottom, because writing in my eyes is a revelation. I do not have a work plan for writing a song. Sometimes there is a melody I already get, so it directs me to a certain mood "But overall I'm flowing."

Taharlev's songs were very successful in the country, but it turns out not only: "I started writing songs of a folk character, because it felt like a mission to me. I wanted people not to feel that someone wrote the song. Sure it does not have a writer. It has become a huge hit in Turkey as well. It was used for a Coca-Cola commercial and then it accompanied the Turkish delegation to the Olympics. The 70 ".

Taharlev also explained the seam where he tries to move: "The book 'The First Kiss' I wrote was very revealing. Originally it was not written to be turned into songs, but today in music the Israeli artists are much bolder. Things are said in the book that I would not say in the song, Because it's more intimate, something that a person takes and reads with himself. If you have revealed in the book your problems in the field of sex for example, it will not directly reach everyone, unlike the song. There is for example the song 'You are my country' "Blessed is he. I meant it to be an erotic song."

For many years Taharlev wrote for the military bands, where some of his best-selling songs were published: "One day they approached me and said they had a plan ready for the next show and only needed a song for the paratroopers. . I did not have the courage to write in the song 'We' or 'I', because I was not there, but I told myself that I could bring the stories of these soldiers in the first person. When I heard the performance of 'Ammunition Hill', it was the first time a song I wrote made me shiver. In modesty, in my opinion, it is Israel's most powerful war song. "

"In another case, I got a tune and had to find words for it as quickly as possible, because there was a pressure of time. The first part of the tune was short and I only needed one word. I thought about 'why?', But I told myself a lot of songs start with 'why?' ' And when they end, you ask, 'Why did they write them at all?'. And then I got the idea from the Bible, Noah. So in the short lines I wrote 'comfortable' and in the long ones I entered names of animals. that's how it is. Usually the writing is structured, but sometimes the music, the content or even the performance of the song throws you in a direction you did not expect. "In

conclusion, he said:" Writing songs is a difficult struggle. After every song I wrote, I said 'That's, enough'. A thousand times a day. But I kept going. Now I have retired, and the songs are making their way alone. Each song is a short work, but they add up to a living enterprise. "

The Lottery Council for Culture and the Arts and Yoav Kutner initiated the "Creative Documentation in Israeli Music" archive.

"This is an exciting and important project, born out of a vision and concern for the preservation of cultural assets," said Dolin Melnik, head of the Lottery Council for Culture and the Arts at the Lottery

.

Yoav Kutner, "Mr. Israeli Music", embarked on a documentary journey of composers, singers, writers, composers, musicians and "cultural heroes" and the archive provides a glimpse into the journey of those artists.

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