Abi Ofarim

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Abi Ofarim (1968)

Abi Ofarim ( Hebrew אבי עופרים; * October 5, 1937 as Abraham Reichstadt in Safed , League of Nations mandate for Palestine ; † May 4, 2018 in Munich-Schwabing ) was an Israeli singer , guitarist , music producer , dancer and choreographer who became internationally known between 1959 and 1969 together with his then wife Esther as part of the vocal duo Esther & Abi Ofarim . He received 59 gold records over the course of his career .

Life

Abi Ofarim with Esther Ofarim and Nancy Wilson (1968)

Childhood and youth

Ofarim spent his childhood and youth under unsteady, sometimes barren conditions. His grandfather came from Austria . His father died early and he developed a close bond with his mother. Already as a teenager he pushed an artistic career: At twelve he attended a ballet school ; when he was fifteen he was on stage for the first time in Haifa . At seventeen he worked as a choreographer ; at the age of eighteen he had his own dance studio. There were also jobs as factory workers and two small film roles. He did his military service in the Israeli army as a member of a theater group in which he played the accordion , among other things , in order, according to Ofarim, to "morally support" the soldiers who were listening.

Esther & Abi Ofarim

In 1959 the singing duo Esther & Abi Ofarim was founded following their military service together. The duo's first appearance took place at the Hebrew Theater Club, the Israeli national theater. Abi Ofarim was engaged as a dancer and Esther Zaided as a singer ; the two were already a couple at the time. The duo began with folkloric titles, where they established the division of labor early on, that she took over the vocal part while he played the guitar and provided the dark background for her bright voice as the second voice. From the mid-1960s they were constantly present in the charts. The repertoire ranged from challenging hits and chansons to folk pieces and cover versions of internationally known folk songs . The duo's last concert together took place in Cologne in March 1969 . In the same year, the couple separated and in 1970 they divorced.

Solo career

In the late 1960s, Abi Ofarim was in a relationship with actress Iris Berben - a relationship that was extensively exploited by the tabloid media. After separating from Esther Ofarim, he moved to London and tried to gain a foothold in the local music business. Ofarim himself characterized the era at the beginning of the 1970s as a relatively carefree time: They would have lived from the full - as if money never ran out and love never ended. In 1972 he moved to Munich . There he continued to work as a manager, composer, producer and actor. With the musician Tom Winter he founded the short-lived duo Ofarim & Winter , which released an album of the same name, which was not very successful. All of the songs in the work were written, arranged and produced by the two musicians.

The managerial role for the Cologne rock formation Can , which Ofarim temporarily looked after, turned out to be marked by conflicts: The group terminated the contractual relationship with him due to non-performance.

Ofarim achieved a more permanent presence in the profession with the PROM label he founded. In the 1970s it produced a number of artists from the fields of Schlager, pop music and chanson - including Mike Brant , Tom Winter, Alf Berger, Andy Stark, Vivi Bach , Myriam Kent and the comedian Ingrid Steeger , who made a record in 1975 with the support of Ofarim Recorded songs from the comedy show Klimbim . Singer and songwriter Anja Hauptmann and singer Suzanne Doucet worked as producers at PROM . In addition, Ofarim promoted the career of ballet dancer and singer Margot Werner . In January 1979 Ofarim was arrested on suspicion of drug possession and tax evasion . He spent four weeks in the prison Stadelheim in custody and was later sentenced to a suspended sentence of one year.

After the end of his drug use (which he judged decidedly self-critical in retrospect) Ofarim tried on to stay in the music business. In 1982 the album Much Too Much was released. The single from it was the track Mama, Oh Mama. The B-side was the song Viva la feria - a piece that dates back to the era of the duo Esther & Abi Ofarim. In the same year a first autobiography was published, entitled The price of wild years. In the following years Ofarim increasingly limited himself to the role of producer. In 1988 he produced the maxi-single Slow (everything gets better) by the Berlin actor Rolf Zacher . In addition, he was committed to the musical career of his son Gil Ofarim . In 2009, after a break of 27 years, a new album was released entitled Too Much of Something. The album was recorded in Israel; Ofarim himself financed the production and engagement of musicians in Tel Aviv. His sons Gil and Tal were also involved in the recording. Gil, who was building his own music career at the time, contributed the title Goodbye to the album .

Later life and death

In 2010 Ofarim published another autobiographical book with the title Light & Shadow. In media reports - including a portrait of the artist in 2010 in the Süddeutsche Zeitung - he expressed himself in a more relaxed manner about his temporary artistic success. On the subject of religion , he expressed in 2014 against the Jewish General , that he is a true believer consider - but not in the dogmatic, orthodox sense. In April 2014, he and his partner Kirsten Schmidt opened a social meeting place for senior citizens. The former Lord Mayor of Munich Christian Ude took over the patronage for the project, which is designed as a “youth center for seniors” . Abi Ofarim died in 2018 after a long and serious illness at the age of 80 in his apartment in Munich-Schwabing. He was buried in the New Israelite Cemetery in Munich-Freimann.

Awards

Discography

Esther & Abi Ofarim

  • Fiobles & Fables (1962; Israphon)
  • Songs of the World (1963; Philips)
  • New Songs of the World (1965; Philips, Stern Musik)
  • Melody of a Night (1965; Philips)
  • The new Esther & Abi Ofarim album (1966; Philips, Stern Musik)
  • Sing! (1966; Philips)
  • Songs From Israel (1966; Philips)
  • Shalom Israeli Songs By Esther & Abi Ofarim (1966; Philips)
  • Another Dance (1966; Philips)
  • Sing hallelujah! (1966; Litratone)
  • 2 in 3 (1967; Philips)
  • Cinderella Rockefella (1967; Philips)
  • Up To Date (1968; Philips)
  • Look At Me (1968; Philips)
  • Ofarim Concert - Live 1969 (1969; Philips)

Abi Ofarim

  • Much Too Much (1982; RCA)
  • Mama, Oh Mama / Viva la feria (2007; White Records, single)
  • Too Much Of Something (2009; Sony)

literature

  • Abi Ofarim and Eberhard Fuchs: The price of the wild years . Moewig, Rastatt 1982, ISBN 978-3-8118-6623-2
  • Abi Ofarim: Light & Shadow . Autobiography; recorded by Shirley Seul. Langen Müller, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-7844-3218-2 .
  • Affair / Ofarim: Own ears . In: Der Spiegel . No. 12 , 1968, p. 196 ( online ).

Web links

Commons : Abi Ofarim  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.knerger.de/html/ofarimabmusiker_102.html accessed on April 1, 2019
  2. ↑ https://www.bunte.de/stars/star-news/trauerfaelle/abi-ofarim-80-nach-schwerer-krankheit-der-musiker-ist-tot.html accessed on April 1, 2019
  3. ↑ http://www.esther-ofarim.de/deutsch.htm accessed on April 1, 2019
  4. ↑ a b c Katrin Diehl: Schwabing: Morning of my Life . Jewish General, April 29, 2014
  5. ↑ a b c d Esther and Abi Ofarim - biography in German . esther-ofarim.de, accessed on May 14, 2018
  6. ↑ a b c Stephan Handel: Abi Ofarim: "You have to be down to get some momentum" . Süddeutsche Zeitung, May 17, 2010
  7. ↑ a b c d Abi Ofarim is dead . Spiegel Online , May 4, 2018
  8. ↑ Abi Ofarim (80 †) lost the fight - his Kirsten had to let go of him on Friday morning . tz Munich, May 4, 2018
  9. ↑ Ofarim & Winter. Retrieved June 16, 2020 .
  10. ↑ PROM . Label profile and releases at discogs.com, accessed May 14, 2018
  11. ↑ 66. Culture table with Ruth Eder: The guest is the musician Abi Ofarim . Münchner Wochenanzeiger, June 20, 2016
  12. ↑ Anja Reichelt: Abi Ofarim († 80): Mourning for the musician: His sons were with him until the end . Colorful, May 4, 2018
  13. ^ Philipp Crone: Funeral service: companions and friends say goodbye to Abi Ofarim . Süddeutsche Zeitung, May 8, 2018
  14. ↑ grave of Abi Ofarim. knerger.de
personal data
SURNAME Ofarim, Abi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Reichstadt, Abraham (birth name); אבי עופרים (Hebrew)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Israeli musician
DATE OF BIRTH October 5, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Safed
DATE OF DEATH 4th May 2018
Place of death Munich , Germany