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Yermi Kaplan: "I don't believe in protest in music. It has no effect" - voila! culture

2023-02-23T15:32:51.018Z


The trauma that shaped him, the abhorrence of reality shows, and the situation in Israel. On the occasion of the show "Yermi sings Elton John" at the Tel Aviv Hall of Culture, Yermi Kaplan came to the Culture Committee podcast to talk about everything


Yermi Kaplan on the podcast in Vala!

(Walla system!)

Not many people know, but at the age of 24 Yrami Kaplan experienced a rape attempt while living and working in the United States.

"He was a man who was my friend. He was a black guy, physically bigger than me, and we worked together in the same place. He let me live in his house because at that time I was sleeping in a van on the street. It was part of my trip to the United States. He was a great guy and one evening he He just surprised me when he tried to rape me. I scream, he beats me, and somehow I managed to escape out through the balcony in my underwear."



Did you report him to the police?



"No. I immediately called my parents, asked them to send me money, ordered a plane ticket to Israel and returned to Israel. I have been dealing with it ever since with a lot of humor. I think I am dealing with it on the flip side, I feel fine and have had no problems since then. I am not scared of any man who came to talk to me and I'm not intimidated by men from the gay community. I also don't think it changed anything in my work."



And something in you is sleep?



"Listen, it was always easy to take care of me," he says candidly to Walla's 'Culture Committee' podcast!

culture.

"From a young age. I experienced a lot of abuse when I was a teenager because I was the shortest in my class. I finished the twelfth grade with a height of 1.63 meters.

I grew hair on my chin at the age of 26. My whole life has happened to me somehow late.

Because I was the smallest, it was easy to take care of me, push me and bully me.

And maybe thanks to this I have a lot of compassion for people who are hurt.

No matter where I go, I always manage to find who is the injured and the weakest in the place."



Up here you can watch the podcast, and down here you can listen to it. It's also possible on Spotify.

Listen here to the podcast with Yrami Kaplan:

Yermi Kaplan (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Yermi Kaplan, one of Israel's biggest rock'n'roll stars, put on a show about two years ago in which he performs some of Elton John's immortal hits.

On April 20, he will come with the successful show, for the first time in his life, to the Culture Hall in Tel Aviv.

In an interview for the podcast, he talks about his love for Elton John, the fear of growing up in the profession, the reluctance of reality TV - and the growing concern about the rift in the country.



Here are the highlights of the conversation.

You can hear the whole thing above or watch it.



On the decision to make a show of Elton John's songs:



"Three years ago, I broke up with my manager at the time and was looking for another element of a show that I could create to provide a balance for my livelihood, meaning that I would not depend only on my independent work. I was offered to do songs from the Land of Israel, poems from poets, and then my partner Yael asked me, 'Have you ever had An affair with Elton John?'. I answered her, 'Of course, from the age of 10 to 20 I was very strong on Elton.' A lot of people love Elton and they've always done it secretly. I'm very excited for the show at the Culture Hall in April, I'm not even playing her voice. There will be a choir of singers and there will be surprise guests and I promise to return the money to those who came to the show and didn't enjoy it."



What did you learn about Elton that surprised you?



"Nothing surprised me. I've heard lots of stories, for example, that he shouted at Stevie Wonder playing his piano. I saw him on some talk show in the eighties, when he was a heavy cocaine addict, and the interviewer says to him, 'How come you're not into drugs like all the other rockers ?'. There were many albums of his from the seventies that he made under the influence of drugs, and the question always arises whether it is better to create without drugs or with drugs."



So is it better without drugs?



"No, I actually think it's better with people. I also did this experiment and it seems to me that there are definitely certain drugs that are produced in the ashes between reality and you and that way you can find inspiration without sinking into a discouraging routine. When you create, you are inside the creation. There is something in that."

More in Walla!

"I never dreamed of being a singer. It's the last thing I thought I'd do"

To the full article

Yermi Kaplan (Photo: Reuven Castro)

On turning 60 a year ago:



"Many people ask me how I look like this. I eat healthy, I maintain a sporty lifestyle, I like to move, move, go to the gym. But above all, the most important thing is that I do what I I really love with passion and great love. I don't give up on myself. I don't look for a way to compromise to have enough livelihood. I make sure to be true to myself and to be around people I love very much. You won't find me on stage with a person I don't get along with and don't like."



On reality shows:



"I hate reality shows. I won't go to it. It's an unhealthy format for the viewer. It's very healthy for the producers because it brings in a lot of money and brings in ratings. There are reasons why I avoid being a judge on a singing reality show. By the way, I feel that I would never pass reality show. I'd probably be kicked out on the first audition. A lot of guys go there because they think it's their last chance. Rabak, go, rub, record, release stuff,



And if it doesn't work for them?



"Okay, not everyone becomes singers and musicians later. It's okay. If you leave the show and don't succeed, nothing happened. Keep going. Miki Zohar's son (Eliav Zohar - N.Y.) is actually an exceptional example.

He was a musician before, he worked on it years before and came ripe and ready."



So you weren't ready to be a judge?



"I'm not a person who wants to judge someone else and tell him 'you can't', because I've been told many times in the past 'you can't You can, you won't succeed'.

It never discouraged me, by the way.

I always knew this was my mission."

Yermi Kaplan (Photo: Reuven Castro)

On the situation in Israel:



"What is happening in Israel bothers me a lot. I think that the side that is running to make changes - should just talk to the other side that is asking itself, 'What the hell is going on here?' , but democracy is the people. When Rival Levin wants to talk to the President of the Supreme Court about how he wants to introduce the Zerg to her, I think it is more correct that Rival Levin should talk to the rest of the people. Not with her. Each side only cares about introducing the other side. Right, this government was elected to rule, but such reforms are made with broad consensus."



Are you going to protest?



"I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I will go out to protest. I don't believe in the way they do it, while with the 'what' I agree with some of the things. And why are they suddenly talking about closing the corporation? Finally there is a station that is not under the ratings regime. It is important to leave This channel. I don't know where Minister Karai got this from."





"I don't believe in protest in music. It has no effect. As a person who writes his own songs, it doesn't create any inspiration for me. It creates anger, depression, nerves, but it's not something to sing about."



Shlomi Shaban's song "Awakening Exercise", for example, is a very important protest song.

don't you think



"I cherish this song very much, but in the end it's a song. You hear the song and move on."



Can music change at all?



"To the individual person. It enters the person's private ears and is inside the brain. This music can accompany him in a certain event, but to say that following music there was an actual organization or protest that was successful, absolutely not."



Is this the role of music?



"No, that's not her job."



So the role of music is only to please and excite?



"To make happy and to excite is a lot."



What about making a person think?

Looking at something from a different angle?



"It doesn't have to be a song that affects a social or political agenda. For example, I write a lot about relationships and relationships."



So you didn't like the protest performance that Shlomi Shaban did in his show?



"I didn't see it. Shlomi did something artistic that he believes in and I trust Shlomi that he does things he believes in. I don't agree with his message, absolutely not. Coffin? Ben Gabir and Netanyahu? So now the whole country is dead? Absolutely not, I I don't think so. On the contrary, I hope that Ben Gvir will be able to do a good job. I'm not here to step on his feet. I'm not wishing for his downfall. Regarding Netanyahu - this thing that continues to haunt Netanyahu after the judges of the Supreme Court gave him permission to become prime minister - what do you want? ! What are you shouting about? Leave it."



On social networks:



"All social media is bad for people. It creates a bad addiction. It's hard for me too when I hear a song of normal length, because after a minute and a half I'm surprised that it doesn't end. It created an attention disorder in me and I say, 'Well, I heard the chorus, that's enough.' I collaborate with Tiktok and all these because it's part of my profession, but I realized that it takes me all day so I passed it on to someone else to do it for me."



Doesn't that hurt your art?



"This is art today. Today music is a minute and a half."



Does it suck?



"I don't know. They also said about the distortion guitar that it would destroy the music. I am a patient person, ready to listen and see how it develops."

Yermi Kaplan (Photo: Reuven Castro)

On growing up in the profession:



"In Israel there is no respect for older artists. In recent years it has improved a little because there have been artists who committed suicide, etc. But in Israel you always wake up after a disaster. How can a huge musician like Clifter be left without anything? Wake up, it's more important than writing a political protest song. Sometimes I think about myself a decade ahead and I have no answers. It's always in the back of my head. It's not easy to generate a pension in my situation. Artists are a sector that's easy to step on. Right now I have no financial worries, but who knows what will happen in five years?"



On regrets in my career:



"I try not to dwell too much on regrets, but the only thing I regret is that I didn't do Avitar Banai's first album. We made sketches and at some point he wanted me to be the producer of half of the album, that is, the bass, drums and guitars - and Shachaj Drori He will make arrangements for string instruments. I told him that the producer should be for the whole album. And that's how we parted ways."



About a dream he would like to fulfill:



"I'm dying for Elton to come to one of my concerts where I sing one of his songs. It will close a circle for me from the age of 10."

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Source: walla

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