The storm of Ilan Peled's song proves: he touched a sore point this time
The new and poignant song of the revered icon dismantles the stereotypes of Tel Aviv gays, but his legitimate sting on the topic of surrogacy and the inherent danger of exploitation caused a lot of anger.
In the end, if the gay community wants to grow and develop - it must be much more open to criticism.
opinion
Ben Biron Brauda
13/09/2022
Tuesday, September 13, 2022, 02:05
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A revered figure.
Peled (Photo: Rene Thom Zoili)
"Important" Ilan Peled's new song comes at an unusual time.
The month of June and the pride celebrations are over long ago, the gay tourism has wandered off to other destinations and only the distant echo of "Hello? Where are you, are you here? Not here? Not here? Here? Here" is still stuck in our ears.
Peled, who's camp compositions - Miri Pascal on a variety of incarnations - have long since become a standard note at every gay party, and not only, released a song for the first time under his full name, without wigs, without a product to promote, without a link to any line.
Even the music itself has changed, less Ofer Nissim and more James Murphy and LCD Soundsystem (Roi Doron for the excellent production).
More than anything, "Important" is a critical, sharp, poignant text, one that tries and succeeds in marking precise targets and intercepting them.
So what made one of the most successful creators in Israel, the one who managed to bring his eccentricity to the heart of the mainstream (and there is nothing more mainstream than a campaign for a supermarket), go out one clear day against everything and who made him a success story?
The truth is, you don't even need to ask him - as we know, he doesn't do interviews anyway - but simply listen to the words of "Important", the most biting pop song released here this year and maybe in recent years.
Just before I get to the review itself, it is important to dwell again on the operation - Ilan Peled, on his characters, is one of the most accepted icons of the gay community in Israel.
He is a fairly regular guest at the huge parties of Ofer Nissim, who already twenty years ago instilled gay slang for the people living in Zion in "Ahad Ha'am 1" and even got a spot in "Aretz Fehadal" together with the band "Arba" alongside Yael Polyakov.
For a young Israeli gay, Ilan Peled is a kind of Ro Paul - a revered figure who is looked up to and quoted.
no less.
Considering his status and actions, when Ilan Peled says "I'm fed up" - it's worth listening to him.
There are songs that describe a period and there are some that describe a character, "Important" belongs to the second group.
He does not mention any person by name, but line by line he goes over characteristics that have become the center of the mainstream of the Tel Aviv gay community - and for the sake of the discussion we will start from the assumption that there is one - and breaks them into pieces.
He talks about the ridiculous contrast between 'celebrating your gayness' and turning the 'masculine' 'straight' look into a kind of standard ("What a perfect body you've developed/ and only with your straightness did you associate/ You don't eat or drink/ You tickle your shape "), stings those who care about the rights of the community and ignore other minorities ("waves a lot of flags/minorities are not important to her"), and is not even afraid to touch on politics ("votes for the slanderers/but fasts on Yom Kippur").
But more than anything else,
"You bought a perfect baby for inst/ you chose from abroad from the list/ and you paid for a bit in a crypt in a boat/ who cares about the surrogate," Peled sings in the sixth verse of the song and criticizes a topic that affects many gays with a soft belly (relax, I didn't say you have a belly). Prominent figures in the community The proud, most of them publicists on their own behalf, did not let Peled's criticism pass in silence and went out to protest, in the comfortable field of social networks of course. The negative reactions to the song ranged from proud parents who wrote, "Good, now they will tell our child that they bought them for Instagram" and those who were not ashamed And they called Peled a "homophobe who shoots inside the APC".
Lest it be understood otherwise: "You bought a perfect baby for an inst... who cares about the surrogate" - these are indeed lines that express harsh and cutting criticism.
I believe those who were affected by them, but the criticism of the surrogacy process is not new.
The discourse around the issue of the use of surrogates, about its exploitation,
It is old and legitimate and many gays choose other options (joint parenting for example) out of a desire to avoid it.
Precisely the attack on Peled by those people, proves that he managed, once again, to touch a sore spot.
Spicy post.
Ohad Hitman (Photo: Niv Aharonson)
The musician Ohad Hitman, for example, published a scathing post against Peled and the creators of the song, in which he wrote, among other things, that "As a creative artist, I am in favor of any satire and any criticism. Even if it is sharp. Yes, sharp. Not low and shallow; come down on me. Judge me. Just don't put The sensitivity of my children is at the center. I would love to hear from those who are behind this poem - what should I answer to Ava and Barry, who are 7 and a half years old, when they ask me to interpret the poets' intention for them?"
But is it necessarily against him and against them?
"Important" describes an unknown gay character, but it seems that a lot of people feel that the song is talking exactly about them.
Do all gays who go to the gym want to look like straights?
of course not;
And to the same extent, not all gays who had children through surrogacy did so without considering the surrogate mother.
And perhaps the crowding of the rows indicates that this subject nevertheless causes discomfort.
But if there is anything that the past year has taught us about the gay community in Israel, it is its difficulty in accepting any kind of criticism, whether internal or external.
Gal Hei-To, during which accusations of sexual harassment against prominent figures in the community such as Gal Ohovski, Itai Pankas Arad and Asi Ezer were raised (it is important to note that most of them did not develop into indictments and the complaints against Ohovski were even closed due to lack of guilt), proved that we still do not pay much attention to criticism, When the victim blaming came up again and again.
This behavior is typical of minority groups but it still causes mostly harm.
The gay community in Israel has made huge progress thanks to a lot of hard work and has many achievements.
If it aspires to continue growing, it must be open to internal criticism, especially when it is as accurate as the one voiced by Peled in "Important".
By the way, the elders of the tribe still remember "Where are you gays?"
of Ofer Bashan, which came out twenty years ago and tried to criticize - much less accurately - and received derisive reactions from gays and straights alike.
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To the full article
One can hope that the stormy debate surrounding Ilan Peled and "Important" will not soon be forgotten.
First, because it is an excellent song, one of the best pop songs released this year.
Second, because among all the tiresome discourse of 'Yahati, pick up!'
or other common gay slang, it's time we talk about real issues too.
Precisely the criticism that touches one of the most difficult problems of the gays in Israel, which is the excessive use of drugs, passed under the radar: "It's (G) and (K) and (MD) and," Peled lists the materials that some of his audience do at parties.
And indeed, unlike previous songs, his new song should be heard carefully and listen to the words.
It's not fun and it's not bitter but voila, it's super important.
culture
music
Israeli music
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Ilan Peled
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