Esther Ofarim

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Esther Ofarim, 1966

Esther Ofarim ( Hebrew אֶסְתֵּר עוֹפָרִים, née Esther Zaied אֶסְתֵּר זַיֵּד, divorced Esther Reichsta (d) t ; Born on June 13, 1941 in Safed , League of Nations mandate for Palestine ) is an Israeli singer and actress who comes from a Syrian-Jewish family . Ofarim is a stage name.

Ofarim first appeared as a solo artist and sang in Hebrew , English , German , French and Ladino . After her marriage to Avraham Reichsta (d) t in 1961 , she formed the vocal duo Esther & Abi Ofarim with him , which achieved international fame especially in 1968 with the hit Cinderella Rockefella . (At first they appeared under the family name of their husband.) In 1963, Esther Ofarim represented Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest and came second.

Act

In 1960 Esther Ofarim received her first film role as Signorina Hirschberg in the American film epic Exodus and was already mentioned as Esther Reichstadt in the credits , although she was officially still using her maiden name Zaied at that time. Avraham Reichstadt, her future husband, also had a role, albeit an unnamed one, in the Oscar- winning film, in which international stars such as Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint played.

In 1961, Esther and Avraham, who first met in 1959 in the Mo'adon ha-the'atron ha-ivri (Hebrew Theater Club) at the Israeli Habimah National Theater in Tel Aviv, married Avraham as a dancer and choreographer and Esther as a singer were committed. Together they formed the singing duo "ha-Ofarim" (the fawns). Many fans saw the Ofarims as "the singing duo of the 1960s".

Esther Ofarim, 1963

In 1963 Esther Ofarim took part for Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest in London and won with T'en vas pas ("Don't go away", with a German title as a melody of one night ) with only two points behind the winning title from Denmark under often as controversial circumstances ranked second. This was the real start of her singing career in Europe. Esther sang while Abi (Avraham) played guitar, accompanied Esther's bright voice vocally and also acted as the duo's producer. Also in 1963 she sang the song Come, put your arm around me by Peter Thomas and Günther Schwenn , which had previously been used in the film Die Endlose Nacht (1963), but there with another singer. In 1964 Esther Ofarim played in De Robinson Crusoë Show , with which Rudi Carrell won the Silver Rose in Montreux . A major tour of Germany led the Ofarims to 45 concerts in 32 cities in 1965. They won the French Grand Prix du Disque at the Charles Cros Academy in 1966 , and later that year they received the Edison Award (the "Oscar" of the European music industry) in Amsterdam . Esther traveled to the United States for a guest appearance on the famous television show Smothers Brothers .

Esther Ofarim, 1968

The song Morning of My Life , written by the Bee Gees , became the duo's biggest hit in Germany in 1967. In 1968 the Ofarims achieved their international breakthrough with Cinderella Rockefella . The couple received five gold records in just four years. Concerts in New York and London followed, as well as frequent television appearances in various countries. Meanwhile, the marriage of the two musicians fell into a crisis, and the separation took place immediately after the world tour in May 1969 (divorce 1970). After that, Esther Ofarim continued her singing career as a soloist. From then on Abi Ofarim worked mainly as a music producer.

Esther Ofarim made several appearances as an actress. In 1963 she played her only leading role alongside Axel von Ambesser in the German film It was a pleasure (directed by Imo Moszkowicz ). In 1969 she played a small role as singer Miriam in the three-part Herbert Reinecker television thriller 11:20 am alongside Joachim Fuchsberger and Götz George . In the same year she sang the title theme to John Huston's comedy Sinful Davey , composed by Ken Thorne .

In 1972 Esther Ofarim's solo LP First Album appeared , on which she performed songs in Hebrew, Ladino, French and German, among others, and which was a great success. Her LP Esther Ofarim be-Hekhal ha-Tarbut - Live in Tel-Aviv from 1973 became a classic in Israel ; In the recording she performs parts of the Hebrew repertoire that has since become the basis of her concerts and is still used by her today.

At the end of the 1970s, things grew quieter around them. With her partner Philipp von Sell, who is 18 years her junior, she moved to New York , where their son David von Sell, who is also a musician today, was born in 1983. In 1982 Ofarim sang songs by Eberhard Schoener on the LP Complicated Ladies with texts by Wolf Wondratschek and Ulf Miehe . In the same year the album Esther Ofarim - Hebrew Album 1982 appeared in Israel with newly recorded classics of Israeli songs; she also gave a concert at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center in New York.

Esther Ofarim had a positively discussed theater appearance in 1984 alongside Ulrich Tukur , Michael Degen and Otto Tausig in the German-language premiere of the play Ghetto by the Israeli writer Joshua Sobol in a production by Peter Zadek at the Freie Volksbühne Berlin and the Hamburger Schauspielhaus. In the following years she occasionally gave concerts in Israel, where she was celebrated like a homecomer every time, but sometimes with a critical undertone as "Esther ha-germanija" (Esther, the German), because she had left her homeland and in 1987 with her son moved back to Germany from New York. Since then she has lived in Hamburg's Grindelviertel near the university (Rotherbaum).

Esther Ofarim, 2001

After a break of almost 15 years, Ofarim appeared again in Hamburg for the first time in 1998 in the Kammerspiele with a recital. Before that, there had been an appearance at an AIDS gala in Berlin in 1993. The following almost regular concerts in Hamburg in the Kammerspiele, from the end of 2003 in the St. Pauli Theater, are almost always sold out and receive good reviews. Since 2004 there have also been performances in Dessau ( Kurt-Weill-Fest ) and Dortmund.

Also in 2003, Esther Ofarim started her first tour in more than 20 years through several German cities. Accompanied by the Israeli pianist and composer Yoni Rechter at the piano and the violinist Michail Paweletz , she performed in Hamburg and Frankfurt with a partly new, partly well-established repertoire of Hebrew songs, Jewish folk songs, Kurt Weill and Beatles songs as well as American and Hebrew evergreens on.

In April and May 2005 she went on a small tour entitled A Journey Through Centuries and Continents, during which she appeared in Dresden in the Semperoper , in Munich in the Prinzregententheater , in Leonberg and Bochum.

In 2020 she will again give individual concert evenings in Hamburg, Dortmund and Holon / Israel.

Awards

  • 1961 Esther Ofarim won the "Israeli Song Festival".
  • In 1962, together with Abi Ofarim, she won first prize and the prize for best interpreter at the festival in Sopot (Poland) .
  • In 1964, with her Abi, she received the Silver Rose at the Golden Rose of Montreux
  • In 1966 Esther Ofarim received the Grand Prix International du Disque in Paris .

Discography (selection)

Esther Ofarim:

  • Israeli Songs (1961) - LP: Capitol (USA)
  • Esther Ofarim (1965) - LP: Philips (FRA)
  • Is it Really Me (1965) - LP: Philips
  • Esther in Kinderland (1967) - LP: Philips
  • Esther Ofarim (1969) - LP: Philips
  • First Album (1972) - LP: Hör Zu, CD 1989
  • Esther Ofarim (1972) - LP: Electrola
  • Esther Ofarim be-Hekhal ha-Tarbut - Live in Tel-Aviv (1973) - LP: Hed-Arzi
  • Complicated Ladies (1982) - LP
  • Esther (1989) - LP
  • Back on Stage (2005) - CD
  • in New York (with Bobby Scott and his Orchestra) - CD 2006 (New edition of: Is it Really Me (1965))
  • in London (produced by Bob Johnston) - CD and LP 2009 (new edition by: Esther Ofarim with an unreleased song (1972))
  • I'll See You in My Dreams (live 2009) - CD
  • Le Chant Des Chants (2011) - CD: Bear Family

Esther & Abi Ofarim:

  • Songs of the World (1964) - LP: Philips
  • New Songs of the World (1965) - LP: Philips
  • That's Our Song (1965) - LP: Philips (USA edition of: Neue Songs der Welt)
  • Melody of a Night (1965) - LP: Philips
  • The new Esther & Abi Ofarim album (1966) - LP: Philips
  • Sing! (1966) - LP: Philips (USA edition of: The new Esther & Abi Ofarim album)
  • Another dance (1966) - LP: Philips
  • 2 in 3 (1967) - LP: Philips
  • Free Just Like the Wind (1967) - LP: Philips (USA edition of: 2 in 3 with 4 unreleased tracks)
  • Up to Date (1968) - LP: Philips
  • Ofarim Concert Live 1969 (1969) - LP: Philips

Compilations (selection)

Esther & Abi Ofarim:

  • With their most beautiful songs (1965) - LP: Philips (edition for German book club)
  • New songs and songs (1966) - LP: Philips (edition for German book club)
  • New songs and songs from all over the world (1966) - LP: Philips (Edition for German Record Club)
  • Look At Me (1968) - LP: Philips (Edition for Deutscher Schallplattenclub)
  • Cinderella-rockefella (1968) - LP: Philips (F)
  • Songs of our life (1997) - DCD - Best of (36 Songs) CD: Mercury

Esther Ofarim:

  • Melody of a Night (2003) - CD: Bear Family (all big hits, pictures, biography)

Filmography

literature

  • Dieter Bartetzko : Esther Ofarim. On blue wings. The best since Joseph the dreamer told us his stories . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of June 14, 2011, page 36

Web links

Commons : Esther Ofarim  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Esther Ofarim Sinful Davey on Youtube
  2. ↑ Philipp is the son of the former WDR director Friedrich-Wilhelm von Sell .
  3. ↑ The tender voice miracle - Gätjen meets. In: Abendblatt.de. January 31, 2009, accessed June 14, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Ofarim, Esther
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zaied, Esther (maiden name); אסתר עופרים (Hebrew)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Israeli actress and singer
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Safed , League of Nations Mandate for Palestine