Five Things Yair Yona Loves About Israel

I first knew of Yair Yona through his passionate and intelligent reviews on hasharat.co.il. Later on I got to meet him a couple of times, as he started doing more and more things: He runs the succesful and influential Anova Music label (which has on its roster Rockfour and Eatliz, among others), he has a great blog and he just released his own first album (myspace, Anova page)!

Since I love his writing and appreciate his love and knowledge of music, Yair was one of my first obvious choices to write for this blog, and I thank him for agreeing - here's his honest and funny text:

Oh, wait...on the day I'm publishing this, Yair has a birthday...So happy birthday! This is my small lil' gift for you, may your upcoming years be as fruitful and succesful as the last ones.

1. Hummus

I used to live in London for two years, couple of years ago, and one of the only things that brought me to return to Israel, was a true Hummus paste. Not the one you buy on Tesco but the authentic, handmade Hummus. In a plate. With a boiled sliced egg and olive oil. And a hot pita bread. You’d probably say I’m exaggerating, and that Hummus is probably only symbolic, and that for sure there were other stuff that brought me back home – you’re right. And still, the reason I came back to Israel, was Hummus. You see, Hummus is not only a delicious healthy food that one plate of it can make you feel full for 40 years in the desert. Hummus is the true Israeli experience. Hummus and the army service that is. Let’s discuss this for a second. The Hebrew expression of gathering together to eat Hummus is, in free translation “sitting on Hummus”, and that’s how you call the action of meeting someone and have Hummus. The Brits, when they’re meeting their mates, they’re ‘going out for a beer’. This is where they speak about soccer, chicks, politics, soccer and chicks.

The Arabs have the Narghile, that big glass pipe-like device that holds water and tasteful tobacco. They sit for hours and talk about politics, chicks and soccer, and smoking. The Israelis, they sit on Hummus. When you want to spill your guts and talk – you’d do it over hummus. When you want to chat with friends – you sit on hummus. When you want to kill the food craves for 12 hours – you sit on hummus. When you want an irremovable stain on your pants – you sit on hummus. That’s the reason hummus was what brought me back to Israel, and that’s the reason it gets the first place.

2. The Scene (we’re talking about the actual music, not the shitty hypes surrounding it)

Every end of a year, there’s the new smartass music critic who claims that “there was nothing interesting in the Israeli scene this year”.

This is probably the silliest sentence that comes from the media, each year. All of a sudden, they all became fans of minimal techno from Finland, so the rest of the world is boring in their eyes. It's true, there that on the critical mass level (i.e. people that actually have a life, some money and doesn't live in the local trendiest club) – there was nothing interesting for them in the Israeli music scene. That's mainly because the horrible pop music controls the media, light entertainment for the masses. But for those who flip the right stones, discover that there's a kick ass alternative scene in Israel. Sometimes, I'm having business trips abroad and I ran into industry people from all over the world who are really interested in what happens in Israel and the scene there. I always bragging with the fact that there are amazing bands, telling them that "Shalosh" by the Midnight Peacocks, "Heaven Through Old Eyes" by Mad Bliss, My artists in Anova, the guys from the label Pit/Kit, Fish in the Water, Astro and Sshakey, Hiss and High Fiber etc etc etc etc etc –they all kick asses. We'll all improve, develop ourselves, and reach higher levels from one year to another. We need time, developing an authentic culture takes time, and it takes more then 60 years of existence as population. But there are amazing things coming from here. Ask Quami.

3. Jerusalem.

Take your eyebrows down.
I love this city. I find myself there maybe twice a year, but I love it. I wouldn't move to live there, but I love it. There's something in Jerusalem that always reminds me of my childhood, that wasn't in Jerusalem at all (it was mainly spent in Ramat Gan), but I have uncles in Jerusalem and my family were always fans of the local Beitar Jerusalem soccer team, and something in this combination, is tattooed in my DNA. So whenever I come to Jerusalem, I feel at home. It's also lots of fun to leave the humidity of the center and capture the chilly weather, and warm people. Oh yea, and Jerusalem has a brilliant restaurant called Chakra, that in the end of your meal, you find yourself licking the plate. And collecting crumbs from the floor.

4. Sarcasm
I'm sarcastic. What can I do. My life was always about that. So when I travel abroad, I'm amazed by the many times I'm misunderstood and my meanings are misinterpreted. I'm trying to explain that I'm being sarcastic, but I usually get a dry, British "Right…". Something in the Israeli sarcasm is used as an unseen shield from the impossible life in this crazy small country. It feels like if it wasn't for the sarcasm, people would have killed one another. The mixture of the sarcasm and the floating, relaxed, 'everything's from jah' attitude, allows one to keep him sane. If it wasn't for sarcasm and if we'd take life and reality here seriously – we would have died of ulcer in the age of 35.

5. The Sun
As much as I suffer when I'm hot, and quickly transform into a man shaped liquid, it's a hundred times better for me then the European cold with the one degree centigrade in January. It's important for photosynthesis, it's important for the soul, it forces you to stay in shape and to watch out with sweets, and above all – it makes the heart bloom. If it's possible to buy a sun and take off the heat – I'm getting two.

Five (plus) Things Adam J. Sacks Luvs about IL

I heard about Adam through a mutual friend, and he sounded like a great guy worth knowing. When he was nice enough to compliment this blog, I (characteristically) jumped on the option and asked if he'd like to write a text for this blog, and luckily he said yes! He's a grad student at Brown, and you can look him up on facebook if you'd like.

This is how he whimsically described himself: Adam is a self described "Neo-pagan, neo-tribalist of Zion"; his great-grandfather spent the thirties building up the white city in Tel Aviv, and he hopes to spend the 2010's living in one of them, while finding hopefully many more than 5 things to love about Israel.

Lets just make it clear that Adam is American and currently lives in NY (right?), so he's the only second non-Israeli to write for this blog (the other being Jewlia Eisenberg).

1. The women
With the possible exception and competition of Argentinean or Brazilian, Israeli women are almost universally acknowledged as being exceptionally attractive, if not the most attractive, worldwide (check out the first ten minutes of “Don’t Mess with the Zohan”) . Where else would Moroccan and Polish or Iraqi and Russian be a common mixture? You simply can’t characterize their beauty and they certainly are not timid about showing it off. As for their legendary feistiness, let’s just say “no pain, no gain”.




2. The museums:
Israel has more museums per capita than any other country; from the Dead Sea Scrolls to prehistoric sites of worship, from an open air art museum to an underwater dolphin reef museum, where else would you find a museum of “passenger traffic” or “clandestine immigration”? You could also visit the museum of “edible oil,” or if you feel this is all just a distraction from “the conflict”, head over to the “Museum on the Seam” that has the explicit goal of public dialog and seeks to reflect the thin line in human relationships between personal and national identity.



3. The nightlife:
I have certainly seen one or two interesting things go down in a NYC nightclub, but nothing quite like I saw in Florentine a few years back. With after parties that stretch to 4pm the next day and (allnight!) open bars, Israeli night life makes truly makes any nocturnal activity in any American city seem more than tame in comparison. Of course, being able to run to the beach and take a freshen up dive as the sun comes up can’t exactly hurt either.

4. The survivors:
Yes, the survivors and refugees that basically make up most of the population. And no I don’t just mean from that little event during WWII, and yes, I do also mean to include Arabs, Armenians, Druze and Bedouin. Any standard issue Israeli, will have survived through at least three wars, several rocket attacks, if not a major international crisis, such as the fall of Communism, the Ethiopian civil war, the Iranian Revolution, the Argentine currency crisis, etc. Whether shell shocked and traumatized, or valiant and ennobled, they will have stories to tell and the energy to keep on going.

5. The "olim":
Where else in the world do you know that people voluntarily enter a war zone, with smiles on their face and kissing the ground? From all four corners of the earth, religious and secular, the Israeli population grows almost more from “volunteers” as it does from the natural birth rate. Belief and participation in a singular national rebirth that actually in a totally unprecedented way resurrected a ancient language (try that Ireland) gives credence that people somewhere might still be able to actually believe in some kind of liberation.


6. The Christianity:
Forget those images of the black hats and the Wailing Wall, Israel is actually the most profound cradle of Christianity in the world, not surprisingly considering the religion was the project of a few bearded, sandal-wearing Jews. From where Jesus was baptized to the site of his crucifixion and burial it is all there, as well as one church that simultaneously holds services of five different Christian sects that each get their own corner (the Ethiopians get the basement though). Oh, if you want the major sites of Judaism, try Egypt, Lithuania or Iraq.

*Thank you, Adam! A brilliant, sophisticated text.
**I've got a few more texts up my sleeve, but I encourage anyone who wants to contribute to write me: grin.omri 'at' gmail.com

Guy Ben Shitrit (Eatliz, Infektsia) answers a few questions about Israel

I think one of the best feelings the Internet has provided us, is the one when you get when you manage to get in touch with one of your favorite artists. I got this feeling when I started corresponding with Guy Ben Shitrit, AKA Gabash (picture above by Vitaly Suterman from a recent Eatliz show).

Gabash entered my life in 1999 when I started listening to his band Infectzia (myspace, fan site in Hebrew), and especially after I started going to their amazing live shows (a must see clip from youtube). Each of the band members in Infectzia was incredibly talented on his own right, and Gabash's artistic vision somehow managed to unite them together - he wrote most of the songs (lyrics and music) and also did the great cover of their second album.

Gabash started doing other projects too, while in Infectzia, and perhaps nowadays he's best known for being the mastermind of the great Eatliz (myspace, website) - much like Infectzia, Eatliz started as a cult band, and after many line-up changes they managed to gain a wide recognition, international airplay and generally ensure a bright future for themselves. Along the way, Gabash did an amazing animated video for one of my favorite Eatliz tracks, Hey (youtube, vimeo with better quality), further proving his stature not only as a great musician with a unique vision, but as an accomplished all-around artist, set on turning all of his creative ideas into reality. Here's a caption from the video itself:



Somehow, Gabash managed to find time to reform his old band, Matbuha, for a one-off (?) show. And, anyway, I can go on and on about how cool and important Gabash is, but I'd rather you read his remarkably insightful answers to some questions I asked him about Israel.

Which album/musician/song/all of the above has the most profound essence of Israel/Israeliness?

Ehud Banai with his debut album "Ehud Banai and the refugees", and especially the song "Shelter town" (Ir Miklat). The mixture of genres between western rock and Middle Eastern solos conceals the ingathering of the exiles and defines Banai's generation and the generation that came after him. As far for the text, the pair of words "Shelter town" in our Israeli reality, where struggle for survival and war are present year after year, is still authentic even after more than twenty years since this song was published…it would remain so until this reality will change, if at all.

What do you love the most about life in Israel and when did you understand that you love it (and how)?

I love the weather, which is mostly tropical and warm. I also love the feeling of belonging; I fell very out of home and foreign out of Israel, it's some general mental feeling like I'm stepping on the wrong ground. I have passed all the pipe lines which every Israeli from my generation has passed: from childhood to maturity - pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, elementary school, high school, military service, local jobs I found, employment office...I feel like I know the system and the country inside out, and as far as I'm concerned it's a comprehensive acquaintance. As a result, I have a substantial connection when I hear the word "Israel" or "Israeli" to where I live. In my perception, all of the above is the opposite of alienation – It's the way you feel you know every corner at your house.

How did the Israeli music scene, industry and audience change in the last few years and why?

When my first band "Infectzia" started to perform around 1997 at the "Logus" club in Tel Aviv, we didn't have this abundance of indie bands, as you can see and hear these days. Today we have a critical mass of artists that create, and not for the sake of getting air play in "Galgalatz", Israel's biggest mainstream radio station. Maybe most of them are creating because they are getting expression and listening on the internet. Today you can cast your bread upon the waters out of Israel pretty easily. So, I can summarize the change in most of the cultural outline in the entire world in one word - the Internet. The same answer is valid for the change in the industry and the audience - the Internet. In addition the PC revolution and the fact that anybody can set up home-made (acceptable up to professional) studio and get very good outcomes. In the recent years you can see growth in the live performances clubs available for artists making music. All in all, this is a natural evolution following the increase of musicians and the media that gives exposure to culture. Today you have at least 4 rock clubs only in Beer Sheva, in addition to the "Beer Sheva music scene" discussions.

What would you define as an Israeli element in your art?

The Israelis are Diasporas and ingathering of the exiles. As much as this melting pot goes on and mixed together with all the dispersion - accordingly we lose focus. We don't have any area code. Israeli is something that's made up from so many cultures, we are hybrids. In order to re create something unified, you have to lose your existing identity and to find who you really are. Accordingly also with my music which is a bit out of focus. As much as I try to run away from types of music that already exists, I necessarily progress to my center and focus. I haven't reached my focus yet, but as long as I'm concept free I'm on my way to my center. This can be seen in the music I create - the mixture of styles and genres, east and west, and in the way that I'm not choosing and expressing just one viewpoint regarding my music, or Eatliz's music.

To what extent do you think your own "Israeliness" is influenced by Judaism, Jewishness?

It depends how you define Judaism or Jewishness. Personally I define Judaism from the place where it makes me curious and the skills and answers it gives to each and every person in its wise and witty way, giving direction and strong base to people to live their life right. Judaism is such a great and enormous thing, built from so many details, niches and approaches, and so when I look at it from my personal angle, Israeliness and Jewishness are two parts, living side by side, but somehow combining to form the same one piece.

How influential is the occupation on the daily life in Israel?

I can only testify for myself. I don't deal with the occupation on a daily basis, because if I would, I will stir deeply in it up to the point where it would paralyze me and interfere with my personal life and my creation. Once in a while I take my head out to see if anything changed, but when I see it's the same, I know it's beyond me and I won't be able to make a difference in such a long term struggle, so I give up.

Thank you, really, Guy!

Five things Rona Geffen luvs about Israel

(note: something's f'ed up with the blogspot editor and it just wont allow the text to be aligned the way it's suppose to be. I'm trying to fix this, but I think it's readable for the time being)

Rona Geffen (myspace) is an Israeli musician who recently released a fantastic album called Bilono (you can listen to it on the said myspace). She's a unique vocalist, blessed with a great voice and a creative mind allowing her to use it in wonderful ways.

I first heard about her when my friend Buzi played a song of her's on his radio show. Then I heard her on the great album "Luna Park Train" (review I wrote about in Hebrew, a radio show on 106FMJ) on which she contributes her compositional and vocal skills. The Muzik school people who did the Luna Park album also played a great live set in the radio studio, and a track Rona sings on was featured in the compilation album of the 106FMJ radio (Download link, more details).

So, I was pretty psyched to hear her new album, and it does live up to the expectations. Rona was kind enough to agree to write for my blog, and here's her wonderful text:

The Food - Mmm yummy! The food in Israel is the best! We have it all – lots of fresh fruit & vegetables and almost any kind of cuisine or “local kitchen”. Since most Israelis are Jews that came from all over the world, we can have Jahnun, Humus, Kuskus, Waldorf Salad, Burekas, Tchulnt, or Krepalach and the list goes on & on. Junk food also comes in a wide range of tastes and textures, and the best part is that it’s pretty cheap. It doesn’t take much in order to find really great meals here. Though we’re not very strong with beers, the local star - “Goldstar” for you, is a great summer beer.

This leads us to the next positive thing about Israel:

The Weather - Here comes the sun and it's here to stay!!! We enjoy 3-4 months of easy winter and the rest of the year is just different types of summer. From breezy, light blue sky to hard core sweating at 3.00 am, the summer here is long & fun. Everybody goes to the beach (Mediterranean, except people from Jerusalem who go to the Dead Sea. But they’re from Jerusalem), eat Avatiah (Watermelon) & stay up clubbing all night. I l-o-v-e the summer, I'll take sweating my ears off rather than freeze at 15 degrees any day.

The People - Well, Israelis can be (& usually are) loud, pushy, rude, assholes, self centered, arrogant and so on. But they can also be the warmest people you’ll ever meet; You can find friends within minutes wherever you go, and they will turn up to be great people, time after time. What can I say…some of the best people I know are Israelis, you won’t find people like them anywhere else.

Yom-Kippur - Imagine a day with no airplanes, no cars & no TV… Imagine sitting in the heart of the city and hearing just birds. At least half of the Israelis fast on Yom Kippur, and the rest get the best - it’s the day of bikes, skates, rollers & of course legs. Absolutely no cars, So you have gatherings of friends & family, people walking on the main roads, bicycling on highways, dogs running free, and kids scurrying everywhere. I also admire the respect people have for each other – not playing loud music or walking outside with their water bottles showing. The day ends with the Tekiah (blast) of the Shofar (horn) to set us a clean slate for the new year.

Sinai - One of the best things in Israel is not within its borders but close enough to make it an advantage of Israel. Going to Sinai is like taking your soul to the cleaners. With the beautiful red sea coral, simple & basic food, sun, freedom & peace - Sinai is heaven on earth.

It’s a huge shame that Isarelis are “forbidden” to visit Sinai for a few years now, but if we start talking about that we’re gonna have to talk about all the bad things in Israel (like the ongoing war, corrupt politics, dreadful football etc.), so let’s not.

Cheers!

Thank you, Rona! I'm happy to have such a string of great texts - Nimrod last week, and now Rona. I have two great texts for the next two weeks, so remember to check back in. please feel free to send me your own texts/photos/whatever that somehow deal with Israel!

Five things Nimrod (tapasntapas.com) loves about Israel

And so, after way too much time, I managed to gather three fascinating "columns" (for a lack of better word, it's better than "posts" or "texts" me thinks) for this limping blog. I wont tell you who the next two "columnists" are, but I assure you that they are more than worth coming back for!

The first columnist of this new-trio is Nimrod - a fellow music, food and cat enthusiast, Nimrod and I share several mutual musical fascinations. Nimrod's blog has more than just a brilliant name (tapasntapas): It is written with a lot of humor (in Hebrew, mind you), offers both a unique look at known and beloved musicians and a passion for discovering new and intriguing ones. I am not just sucking up to him cause he actually wrote for my website - if I didn't really love his blog and his writings, I wouldn't even ask him to write. He was kind enough to agree to this ungrateful task and provided us with a wonderful, wity, full of love and criticism (my favorite combination) text.

1. Food – Some people here already mentioned the great Israeli street food (actually, everyone but one - editors note). Well, the street food is indeed superb (I myself am addicted to Burekas and anything that involves Tahini), but the culinary scene of Tel Aviv has many other attractions for the food enthusiasts. Although you have to know your way to find the truly great restaurants, it is very easy to find a good, reasonably priced and non-pretentious meal in Tel Aviv. And equally as important –the worthless tourist trap restaurants that are almost impossible to avoid in the main cities of Europe hardly exist in the city. Also crucial for a java head like me – a good cup of Italian class coffee is never far away in Israel. A good cup of coffee is one of the things I miss most when I travel outside the country.

2. Street Cats – The warm climate combined with general disrespect for public health has made the streets of Israel a haven for street cats of all breeds and sizes, some of the most beautiful located under my building. Nothing warms the heart of a cat lover as the sight of cats basking in the Saturday morning sun. True, for the good of both human and feline their number should be reduced, but out of all the health nuisances of Israel, this is probably my favorite.

3. Share taxis - Roaming through the roads in Israel, share ("service") taxis are minivans that drive passenger for a normal bus fair. Simple math will show that the average share taxi driver will have to work 41 hours a day to make a living – which makes this one of many popular Israeli occupations that defies any economical logic. The driving technique of share taxi drivers is a unique (and dangerous) Israeli art form. If allowed to do transatlantic flights, a share taxi driver could probably fly Tel Aviv to New York in 7 hours with 15 stops, with total disregard of designated flight routes or official runway locations. The interaction between the passengers, which are required to use their cooperation, negotiation and "arguation" skills while passing money back and forth and driving tips around the taxi, soon creates a mini Israel in the interior of the usually tiny vehicle. The entire country can probably be recreated from a single Share taxi, the same way the Jurassic park dinosaurs were recreated from a single drop of blood.



4. The Duck – Comic books were never a popular art form in Israel. The void left by the lack of mainstream comics has allowed Dudu Geva, with his quirky, often genius work, to rise to his unofficial status of Israel's national comic artist. When Geva passed away, his lovers and fans followed his plan for "duckization of Tel Aviv" and on April 2008 a huge inflatable duck was erected on the top of Tel Aviv's city hall. The greatest cities of the world are represented by great monuments, built to last for centuries. The Duck, however, has already burst twice in his six months of life, making it a great symbol for the constant temporariness of the state of Israel.*


5. Talkbacks – Since three Jews have four opinions on a single subject, it is not surprising to find that many web posts and news articles in Israel have more comments (known in Israel as "Talkbacks") than readers. While his counterpart in other countries choose his words and addressees carefully, the Israeli talkbacker may address anyone: The writers, other readers, other talkbackers, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, a dead child, the grandfather who killed her, a South American novelist who never read a word in Hebrew but is suspected to be anti-Semitic, and often an amorphous "someone" that should do "something" about the "situation". Talkbacks are usually written in an off hand, thoughtless and aggressive fashion that is many times the only Israeli form of expression. The fact that I often find myself eagerly reading this "Web pollution", as many people refer to it, proves once more that I truly am an Israeli.

* During the making of this post the duck was taken off the Tel Aviv city hall for the winter, and should return next summer. He also received a status of honorary citizen of Tel Aviv.

Thank you, Nimrod! I hope the next text will be up in a week (bli neder) - stay tuned!

Coming soon!

Yep, it's been way too many months since anything happened here, BUT: I'm working on a bundle of interesting texts that will hopefully be up here soon (like, middle of January at the latest, no guarantees though). I am quite sure they'll be worth the wait.

Call for your writings

Well, as you might see, this blog hasn't been updated in a long time. This isn't (just) because I've been mighty busy with what you might call "real life", but also because I haven't been getting any texts.

I approached quite a few people, so I hope this might change, but I would be happy to receive texts by anyone dropping by who feels he/she could say a few interesting things about Israel.

Please e-mail any columns to grin.omri 'at' gmail.com! I'd be grateful.

Enough begging for now.