Korin Alel in a video message/PR
In the rather predictable world of Israeli music, you rarely see horses that speak Hebrew or small countries with mustaches.
Therefore, Korin Alel is the ultimate surprise.
Throughout a five-decade career, she brought into the heart of the Hebrew mainstream a fringe rock, unique, with a low and cracked voice that always has a mixture of humor and melancholy hidden in it.
Along the way she went through so many ideas and styles.
Post-punk, chansons with oriental touches, electronic music, national anthems and lullabies, and even the composition of every kohlet scroll.
She produced some of the iconic albums of the nineties, creating pan-Israeli classics for her and others.
The thread that ties all of these together is an eternal curiosity, and a true and persistent humanism.
What must be said: she is truly a rare breed.
In light of this glorious legacy, there is no shortage of reasons to stage a tribute show to one of Israel's most influential female musicians.
However, the show "Friends Singing Korin" - held as part of the annual "Winter Sounds" festival with which the Culture Hall in Tel Aviv celebrated its 66th birthday - does not take place in a vacuum.
First of all, it is a repetition of a 25-year-old tribute evening of the same name, which has its own status.
Second, even if the work on it began a long time ago, it is taking place in the shadow of two traumas: a collective one, which does not need to be overstated, as a result of which every cultural show constantly reminds that the Israel that was is no more;
And a personal second: this year, the 69-year-old Alel faced, according to the various publications, a rather alarming health situation, which gives the recognition evening, certainly on the part of the spectators, a general feeling of alarm: these achievements should be celebrated now, and God forbid not when it is too late.
The original show of "Friends Singing Korin" was released in 1998 and was also recorded.
Many people remember him today mainly because of one of the performances: the renewed duet for the song "When it's deep" - when the young Avitar Banai, who had just taken part in the production of his debut album, stepped into the shoes of Inbal Perlmutter, who was killed in a car accident not long before.
There were others there: Assaf Amdorsky and Eran Tzur, who are also participating this time (Tzur also produces the evening, which is artistically managed by Haim Shemesh), and others who did not join the current production: Yehudit Ravitz, Dodi Levy, Orna Banai in one of the few musical recordings in her career, Orli Perl who after "Afula Express" but before "it's all the magic", and also the alternative rock man Eli Sorani.
I heard him a lot.
To some extent, it marked the end of an era in Alel's career, which after 20 years at the forefront of Israeli rock has vacated the stage for a younger generation, while continuing to record great, intimate and original albums.
In the years since the landscape has changed from one end to the other, artists have come and gone, but the beauty of the songs has not faded.
Korin Alel, the show "Friends singing Korin"/Dror Sithakhal, Cultural Center Tel Aviv
Avitar Banai, Assaf Amdorsky, the show "Friends Singing Korin"/Dror Sitahkal, Cultural Center Tel Aviv
The challenge of producing a meaningful evening of tribute includes within it significant dilemmas: what is included and what is given up, where is not allowed to be touched and where must be renewed?
"Friends singing Corinne 2" went for sure, for better or for worse.
Almost no definite classics from Alel's repertoire were given up here, so the audience could surely leave satisfied, but they did leave out more forgotten gems.
"Forbidden Fruits", for example, will not be featured in even one song, and likewise the multitude of albums that Alel has released in the current millennium - including hits such as "Ma Farah" or "End of April".
It's unfortunate because these are really wonderful albums, and it's a shame to end the story when the latest songs in the set are from 1997.
The same is somewhat true for the guest list: huge names took to the stage one after the other as well as some relatively young stars, but everything was finally designed within fairly predictable boundaries with fairly immediate suspects.
When it comes to a symbol of this magnitude, it was possible and desirable to surprise and go more outside the lines.
But these doubts can also be put aside: in the end, each of the guests managed to exhaust their numbers well, and the celebration was complete.
The evening had a central band: Eran Tzur on bass, Ram Orion and Liam Tzur on guitars, Ido Zelznik on keyboards and Keren Teperberg on drums.
By their side the whole time, the bride of joy Alel, with a smile that did not fade for a moment during the entire performance.
She didn't talk much about the songs, and didn't address the audience.
On the evening that actually also marked her birthday, she was very excited, and did not stop thanking everyone who came up to congratulate her.
First came Alma Gov, the wonder princess of Israeli indie, for a beautiful performance accompanied by a string band (Chill Phil) of "Picture in Blue", before continuing to dance the hippie "Days of Flower and Love", so far removed from the present day.
Then Arik Sinai also joined her for a few words in the chorus, and immediately continued to the hit "Derech HaKurkar" - also a composition by Alel - and to "Shir Bakif", also like a customer from a completely different era.
After "The Ring Fell", and Tzur's punkish and requested tribute to "Motek" (he also did it on the original album), came one of the truly surprising moments of the evening.
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Berry Sakharoff, who produced Elel, Carmela Gross Wagner's debut album, is himself an Israeli icon.
Accordingly, he received one of the most complicated tasks of the evening: to perform "I have no other country", with all the baggage he carries with him today.
He did it like no one has ever done: in a fast Turkish arrangement, and managed to reinvent this song, even after countless versions.
A strong yellow light rested on him throughout the entire performance, in what was probably the only topical statement on stage throughout the evening.
Sakharof also got his hands on "Lahyat", another highlight of the evening.
Beri Sakharof, the show "Friends singing Korin"/Dror Sithakhal, Cultural Center Tel Aviv
The show "Friends singing Korin"/Dror Sithakhal, Culture Hall Tel Aviv
And from here continued an excellent sequence of songs, with an aura of spirit that amazed in two fine vocal performances ("Animal in a Box", of course, and "Pyramids");
Carolina, one of the interesting castings of the evening ("Tell Me" from "A Beautiful Tropical Land", and the magical "Moon Connection");
And Assaf Amdorski and Avitar Banai, as usual, were amazing in their parts.
The first enjoyed every second with the eighties rock of "Give me a bit of you" and was sensitive with "Shir to Shira", and the second who joined him covered "Maayan", which seemed to be born for a performer like him, and better told the tragedy of "the chivalrous industry".
For dessert came Nega Erez, who played with "A small country with a mustache" and lifted the audience with "Rare breed".
She did it excellently and I have no complaints, but I admit that I was once again tense in front of these songs: yes, it is a celebration, but doesn't the present time justify a slightly more painful arrangement of such songs, which contain such deep frustration?
Be that as it may, now the bride of joy herself took center stage, and made a school for everyone before her.
Elal mesmerized the audience with "When it's deep", as she guides those present in a moment of transcendence and collective love, and of course: tore up the stage with "Antarctica", still one of the greatest rock hits written here.
In the encore, after a beautiful performance of "Le Dejeuner Du Matin" in French and Hebrew alongside Tzur, Alel closed the evening with "Somewhere in the Heart", at the end of which almost all the participants of the evening will come up to celebrate with her.
And in fact, to them she sings, to them and to the audience, the grateful words: "His friends water him, like a spring on a day of mourning, that's why he's in love."
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