"When the Yom Kippur War broke out, Yona [actress Yona Elian] and I were a young couple, but we are already known both because of my past in the Nahal troupe and because of the movie we played in together, 'Nurit,' which was released in the summer of 1972 and became a huge hit," Shashi Keshet recalls.
"Artists at War" with Shashi Keshet // Interviewer: David Peretz // Cinematography and Editing: Daniel Shefa // Narration: Assaf Kasher
"That Yom Kippur we were fasting together and were at home, when suddenly we started hearing a commotion from outside. Before long, the phone rang, and Yona was recruited before me to form a cast to perform for soldiers. A short time later I was drafted too, and together with Yehuda Barkan and Aryeh Moscone, a pianist and driver, we began to walk around bases and outposts and perform for the soldiers with songs and skits. At first we were in the Golan Heights and then we went down to Sinai, and I will never forget that while driving south I looked back and saw just the whole plateau burning. Everything was fire.
"One of my strongest memories from the beginning of the war is from a performance we gave to those who remained of the 188th Armored Brigade, which fought bravely in the Golan Heights and many of its fighters were killed. After the performance, a military doctor named Menachem Mellink came up to me, handed me a piece of paper and said: 'I wrote a song, I'd be happy if you would make sure it was composed and performed.'
"The song was called 'The Storm from Golan' and indeed after the war Kobi Oshrat composed it and I sang and it became one of the anthems of the war. The lyrics of the song describe the days of that war very well."
In a fascinating conversation on the "Artists at War" podcast, Shashi Keshet recalls the days of the Yom Kippur War and the painful and moving performances in front of the fighters, and tells how the war changed him as an artist – and all of us.
Storm Golan
(Lyrics: Menachem Mellink, music: Kobi Oshrat)
"Sub sub and the wind goes,
on the open Golan stage.
And blowing the fire like a bellows,
the Spirit of God upon us has succeeded.
To where the wind will go,
there Ben Barak will walk in his car.
From the four winds she will swim,
a new spirit with you in his midst.
The storm from Golan, the storm from Golan, will advance and the wind blows, the storm from Golan,
the storm from Golan,
the steel chariots it envelops.
With the passing steel chariot,bend
the stems of the bushes.
And when the storm subsides,
then I will weave a bouquet of flowers.
In memory of my brothers who did not rise
in the War of the High Holy Days.
The flowers in the bouquet will not bleed,
they will spark for the days to come."
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