An evening full of love.
Josie Katz (Photo: Rafi Delvia)
Everyone who put a girl to sleep with a "golden doll" and everyone who started a new chapter in life with "Everything is fine with me", every couple who entered a whirlwind with "What about me" and came out of it with "Shoub (you suddenly came back)", everyone who dreamed of America with "Save Have a small dream" and everyone who missed with "Sad singer (hear my voice)" - or in other words, almost every Israeli who has lived here in the last 50 years or more, did it with the voice of Josie Katz in the background.
And how coincidental and almost improbable it is: Katz came to Israel for a short period of time, fell in love and stayed - and became, despite and perhaps also a little due to the accent that immediately betrays that she was not born here, one of the voices most identified with the Israeli rock revolution of the 60s and 70s.
In fact: to one of the voices most identified with Israelis (for example in her wonderful opening to "Ballad for leaving a kibbutz").
She is also one of the few women who can be called real rock or pop stars in the Israel of the time,
She didn't record much, and almost always as part of a band or in some kind of collaboration - the high windows, the good bad and the girl, as a duo with Shmulik Kraus or in the fun of the best hope - but almost everything she recorded entered the bloodstream of Israeli music.
Even though many years have passed since she was at the center of the action, the status of her songs has not weakened in the slightest, as has their beauty.
The new tall windows.
Amdorsky, Kraus and Shevan (Photo: Rafi Deloya)
In other words, there are no shortage of excellent reasons to pay her a special tribute, and here last night one such took place as part of the Winter Festival of the Culture Hall in Tel Aviv, a joint production of the hall and Moun Volium.
At the evening, whose artistic management was entrusted to Eti Ante Segev and musical producer Nadav Hollander - a musician who himself flirted with the music of the 70s in his work - a rather impressive attempt was made to include a very wide selection of her songs, and almost every important one of them was there, if not all of them.
In shows of this type, the story goes through the list of participants, which is especially interesting this time.
It includes, among others, Eli Magen, a friend of Katz's for the fun of the good hope and also for a short period of time in the high windows, and unfortunately one of the last musicians from that environment left alive;
Shlomi Shaban, Yael Kraus and Asaf Amdursky, who in recent years have performed with a tribute show to the high windows, and are also here on a family basis: they also represent here Shmulik Kraus, Yael's uncle who is connected at almost every step in Katz's work and life, and Benny Amdursky, father of Assaf, who sang with Katz in the band "The Bad and the Bad and the Girl" and produced the album of the high windows;
And a few more contemporary artists, at least some of whom make music with the taste of the past: Keren Ann, Geva Alon, Alon Adar, Mika Karni, Karni Postel, Efrat Gush and Barry Sakharof.
This is a handsome list, respectable, exciting even, also quite expected.
I would be happy, in my imagination that he has no limitations of schedules and money, if a few more names were included in it: Rona Keinan for example, if we are already in family circles, to perform "The First Love" written by her father Amos Keinan;
Natan Salor and Gilad Segev, both of whom have performed and created together with Katz since returning to Israel;
Or former partners of her time such as Natan Cohen, Shalom Hanoch and Hanan Yuval.
But beyond these whims, and it should be said: the list of performers is a bit too boutique.
Katz is an icon of Israeli music, there is no reason why she should not be celebrated by artists of all genres and periods, and not just a limited group from a rather specific wing of Israeli rock.
Not only for reasons of representation, but mainly for reasons of respect - Katz's influence extends over much more.
More in Walla!
Closing a circle: Josie Katz among the winners of the Eric Einstein Award for veteran artists
To the full article
First creepy moment of the evening.
Keren Ann (Photo: Rafi Deloya)
Either way, it was an exciting evening, if only thanks to Katz who sat in the audience and was repeatedly seen on camera.
In Israel it is customary to honor artists when they die in the best case, and never in the worst case, but this time Katz received lots of love from the stage and the audience, and the nobility enchanted the entire evening.
As with any tribute show, there is an axis between the admiration for the original and the desire to innovate and refresh, and this evening was closer to the faithful side of the scale.
It opened, and to a certain extent was based, on the renewed composition of the windows - Shaban, Kraus and Amdorski.
It's a tribute composition that also imitates the original style of singing and position, with old-time Rish and when Krauss also imitates Katz's unique vocal style - so it's at the same time a tribute full of appreciation and admiration with a little parody spice on top. It's charming in itself, but when you get a little out of the stantz it's even More - and so it was in the duet "Natfiisa" by Shaban and Krauss, when Amdorski goes for a guitar solo. A little later, one of the chilling moments of the show also came, in a slow and dramatic performance by Keren Ann and Shaban of "Zemar Noga". This is still, even more than 50 years away , one of the greatest Israeli songs ever, and when they sing in the evening a salute to a veteran singer "the day of farewell tears is near", these words take on a touching meaning.
Ann was followed by Mika Carney, who, in a moment that was exciting in itself, returned to her iconic rendition of "Everything's fine with me".
Later Geva Alon joined her, who received two relatively forgotten songs in relation to the canons of the rest of the repertoire - "Farfra" with Zvika Pick, "So what" by the windows - but made lemonade out of them.
Then Efrat Gush took the reins, who was almost the only one in the evening to illustrate Katz's theatrical dimension, and performed several songs of the good, the bad, and the girl (with Eder Vamdorski, alternately), and the classic "Donna Dona", the first song that Katz recorded in Hebrew.
The highlight of the show.
Eli Magen (Photo: Rafi Delvia)
The highlight of the evening came with the ascension of Eli Magen, himself a living legend.
To the sounds of Katz's recording, he made "Ballad for Leaving a Kibbutz", the closest we will ever get to the original;
"Elisheva what is nice" which is among the wonderful children's songs in Hebrew;
And also the creepy "chocolate soldier".
Berry Sakharoff, the man who always does everything well, did not disappoint, with "Little Girl" (with Karne Postel), "The First Days of Summer", and "What About Me" (with Keren Ann), which recreated the jam spirit of the original, When the celebration at the end of the song, which was also joined by Geva Alon, Alon Ader and Yael Kraus.
Towards the end of the evening, Krauss, Amdorsky and Shevan returned to close the ends of the repertoire, ending with "Shov" in a magical duet of the first two.
There were many good performances throughout the evening, but the harp sounds of "Shub" emphasized how the real stars of the evening are not necessarily the singers, but the musicians.
The enjoyment of those present on the stage, which was felt at every moment throughout the evening, was amplified several times when the ensemble returned to such iconic moments in the soundtrack of all of us.
The drums of "Ezekiel" or the guitar of "The Early Days of Summer", for example.
Good night.
The evening's participants return to the "Golden Doll" (Photo: Rafi Deloya)
Katz went on stage and thanked everyone when she was very excited, and also thanked Shmulik Kraus and Eric Einstein who are no longer alive.
The honor of these two rests in its place, but the evening of the tribute to Katz was also an opportunity to tell the story of the beginnings of local rock and pop through a different narrative, in which she is the protagonist.
And it's just a magical story.
If there was a moment I would take away from the evening, it would not be one of the beautiful innovations, but the sight of Katz being proud and happy, and receiving the respect she deserves.
Then began a video segment of Katz singing "Golden Doll", another one of the greatest songs created here, to which the performers of the evening joined and wished the audience "Good night".
Outside, the shadows had already come, and the darkness took over everything, but those who listened carefully could hear in the distance the soft laughter of a doll and a teddy bear, sounds that have always been a part of us, and always will be.
culture
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Josie Katz
Assaf Amdorski
Efrat Gush
Shlomi Shaban
Alon Adar
Ann Foundation
Berry Sacharof
I protect
Mika Carney