Naomi Schemer
Naomi Schemer , b. Sapir ( Hebrew נעמי שמר ) (* July 13, 1930 in Kvutsat Kinneret , today Israel ; † June 26, 2004 in Tel Aviv ) was a leading Israeli singer and songwriter , known as the first lady of Israeli song and poetry . Her song " Jerusalem of Gold " became Israel's secret national anthem after the 1967 Six Day War and the reunification of Jerusalem.
Life
Naomi was born in 1930 in Kvutsat Kinneret , a kibbutz that her parents Rivka and Meir Sapir co-founded near the Sea of Galilee . Your family history is the story of the Jewish pioneers. Naomi's parents planted the now huge eucalyptus trees in 1912 and survived the fighting in the War of Independence in Kibbutz Deganja: “When mom came here, so pretty and young, dad built her house on the hill for her ... half a century has passed since then, the eucalyptus grove , the bridge, the boat, are still there ... the cannons roared on the other bank. At the end of summer the calm returned ... "
Naomi went to school in Kibbutz Degania and began to play the piano at the age of six , on the instrument that her mother had received as a gift and that was available to all children in the kibbutz. She later studied music with Paul Ben-Haim , Abel Ehrlich , Ilona Vincze-Kraus and Josef Tal at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and the Tel Aviv College of Music, before returning to the kibbutz as a music and rhythm teacher. She wrote her first songs for children.
Naomi did her voluntary military service in the cultural department of the fighting pioneer youth " Nachal " founded in 1948 , a movement that was primarily involved in the establishment of kibbutzim, some of which were originally Nachal settlements . After that, Naomi married the actor Gideon Schemer and moved with him to Tel Aviv.
During the 1950s Naomi Schemer worked closely with the Nachal Troupe , which was the most famous and successful musical troupe of the Israeli Army (IRF) and the first to be established within the IDF itself. As for some famous Israeli singers and musicians, the Nachal troupe served as a springboard for Schemer's career. Quite a few of the good old Israeli hits were made there. An old film recorded how Naomi Schemer instructed and frightened the pretty Jardena Arasi , who was still completely new and inexperienced in the military at a rehearsal . Some of Naomi Schemer's songs became internationally known. The song "Hoppa hey", originally written for the central command force, won first prize at an international festival in Italy in 1960. She began to set famous poems by Israeli and other poets to music (e.g. by Rachel and Walt Whitman ). In 1963 she composed Horschat Ha'Eucalyptus ("The Eucalyptus Grove"), a song in which she sings about the eucalyptus groves of her birthplace on the Sea of Galilee. It was recently covered by the Israeli-French pop singer Ishtar .
But best known is her patriotic song Yerushalayim schel Sahav ("Jerusalem made of gold"), the title of which comes from old Jewish legends. It was heard for the first time as part of the Israeli song festival (“Festival haSemer vhaPismon”) in Jerusalem in 1967, but not as one of the songs that competed there. “Jeruschalaim schel sahaw” - along with four other songs - was written on behalf of the Jerusalem mayor, Teddy Kollek , and was intended to bridge the judges' deliberations. It was supposed to be a song about Jerusalem from the start and Naomi Schemer had a hard time with it because the festival was part of the independence celebrations. After Israel's victory in the Six Day War three weeks later, Naomi Schemer finally added another verse to this song, which celebrates the “return” to the old town with the Temple Mount and the Western Wall . Her song quickly became the secret national anthem of Israel, and Naomi Schemer became the first lady of Israeli song and poetry . It was later claimed that the melody for Yerushalayim schel sahav was not by Schemer at all, but a plagiarism of a Basque folk song. After decades of vehement resistance against this accusation, Naomi Schemer confessed to her friend Gil Aldama towards the end of her life that they had once sung a Basque folk song to her. She forgot that. But somehow the melody got stuck in her head unconsciously. She later remembered it. Critics conclude that this accusation must have preoccupied Naomi Schemer. You admit that musicians have always been influenced and inspired by other melodies.
Naomi Schemer wrote songs for a wide variety of performers who made her work known around the world, such as Schuli Natan , whose voice has been inextricably linked with the song "Yerushalayim schel Sahav" from the start. But Naomi also sang and sang along herself again and again, and was received with a lot of love by very different audiences, be they children or adults. Several times she took part in events at the Art School in Tel Aviv. For the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah , she wrote the song "Shana Towa": "Whether the year will be good, whether we forget disappointment, ultimately depends on us ..."
The "first lady of Israeli song and poetry" wrote a lot of her own lyrics and melodies, but was also able to transfer lyrics from other languages wonderfully. She translated some French chansons from her time in Paris into Hebrew , especially for the Israeli actor and singer Jossi Banai , who also began his career with the Nachal troupe. At the request of the singer Chava Alberstein , Schemer was asked to write a Hebrew text for the Beatles song " Let it be " in 1973 . That was at the time of the defeat in the Yom Kippur War and Naomi was keen to write something encouraging. She decided on the title Lu yehi ("Let it be!"). When Mordechai Horowitz , her second husband, heard this text, he found it too good for a Beatles melody and asked his wife to write her own melody. So with “Lu yehi” a completely new song was created.
In memory of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin , who was murdered in 1995 , Naomi Schemer translated the poem "Oh Captain, my captain" by Walt Whitman into Hebrew, which he had written exactly 130 years ago after the assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln . She dedicated the song Ho Rav Chovel ("Oh Captain, my Captain") to him, although she did not share his political views. The Israeli singer Meital Trabelski gave the song its very dramatic expression.
Naomi Schemer saw herself as a songwriter for everyone. She remained a leading Israeli singer and songwriter throughout her life . Her political songs (especially Yeruzhalayim schel Sahav ) were increasingly an expression of Israel's political right and Israeli settlement policy . As the daughter of Jewish settlers who had come to the British mandate of Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel , she was a Zionist and loved the country. That is why she was against any territorial levy and the evacuation of the Israeli settlements on the Sinai Peninsula . Her song Al kol ele , which she wrote after the death of her brother-in-law and in which she asks for God's protection, became a protest song against the evacuation of Sinai, especially because of a statement in the second stanza: “Please do not uproot what has been planted! Don't forget hope! Bring us back and we will return to the good land ... "
In 1987 her life's work was recognized with the Israel Prize . Then it became known that Naomi Schemer had cancer. That is why friends and colleagues organized a farewell concert in 1991. Schemer's melancholy song was performed there: "It is sad to die in Tamus ... when the peaches ripen ..." (Tamus is a summer month in the Hebrew calendar). Naomi said afterwards that her friends hadn't been able to see her off. Not only that she is still alive, but that she will live for many years to come. Despite her illness, she actually lived another 13 years and then died in the month of Tamus, on June 26, 2004. She was buried in her home town, in the Kibbutz Kinneret.
honors and awards
- 1987: Israel Prize
- 1993: Honorary doctorate from Ben Gurion University in the Negev ( Be'er Scheva / Israel)
- 1994: Honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- 2001: Honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University
Works
1967: All my songs (Almost), published by Yedioth Ahronoth
| "Tomorrow" | "On The Jordan" | "The White Town" |
| "A Chariot of Fire" | "Lights Out" | "Black Coffee" |
| "My Soldier is Back" | "Fields at Sunset" | "Green Meadows" |
| "Four Brothers" | "Soldiers En Route" | "A Song For Gideon" |
| "The Long Hike" | "The Builders' Love" | "Yesternight" |
| "Look For Me" | "Men At Work!" | "The Two of Us" |
| "We Are Starving!" | "In Such a Night" | "A Lament" |
| "An Umbrella For Two" | "The Clown" | "Just For You" |
| "My Dream House" | "Ophelia" | "Night on the Shore" |
| "Anniversary Song" | "The Spy Girl" | "Answers" |
| "My Flute" | "A Serenade" | "A City in Gray" |
| "Twelve Months" | "Flowers, Herbs, Etc." | " Jerusalem of Gold " |
| "A Short Walk" | "The Market Song" | "On Silver Wings" |
| "My Fathers Song" | "Night on the Park" | "Lullaby for Colors" |
1975: The Second Book (Sefer Scheni) published by Lulav
| Land of Lahadam | Funny faces | For children |
|---|---|---|
| "Land of Lahadam" | "Beautiful People" | "Rosh Hashana" |
| "Nachal in Sinai" | "Sixteen" | "Shlomit" |
| "Maoz Tsur" | "Mr. Narcissus" | "Aleph-Beit" |
| "The Sacrifice of Isaac" | "The Witches" | "When Adar Comes" |
| "Giora" | "A Special Lullaby" | "Let's say" |
| "All We Pray For" | "Shem, Cham, & Yefet" | "I Have a Friend" |
| "A Song is Born" | "The Shark" | "On the Move" |
| "Things we have" | "Paranoid" | "Summer Holiday" |
| "Bethlehem" | "Two Street Photographers" | "Tall Stories" |
| "Why Did Michal Laugh" | "How to Break a Chamsin" | |
| "Ruchama" | ||
| "Yesh Li Chag" | ||
| "It's Late" | ||
| "Shalom Kitah Aleph" | ||
| "To Sing Like a Jordan" |
1982: Number Three (Sefer Gimel), published by Lulav
| Songs | Poems | Imported wines | Children everywhere | Columns from Davar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Al Kol Eleh" | "Omrim Yeshna Eretz" | "Oifen Veg Stait a Bhoim" | "Children Everywhere" | "Shalom, Ida Noodle" |
| "Good People" | "Hoi Artzi Moladti" | "Si Tous les Oiseaux" | "Grapefruit" | "Pardes-Hanna" |
| "Shirat Ha'Asavim" | "Come & Sing" | "Le Testament" | "Autumn" | "It's Raining" |
| "Cheveley Mashiach" | "Kinneret" | "La Non-Demande en Mariage" | "Our Benjamin" | "Yehuda" |
| "Tapuach Bi'Dvash" | "Begani" | "Il n'y a pas d'Amour Heureux" | "The Piano" | "Vintage Days" |
| "New Babylon" | "Zemer" | "Un Amour de Vingt Ans" | ||
| "Yif'at" | "Metai" | "Les Souliers" | ||
| "Tammuz" | "Rachel" | "O Imitoos" | ||
| "Spring Parade" | "Ki Sa'art Alai" | "Sur le Chemin du Retour" | ||
| "The Eighth Day" | "The Third Mother" | "Barbara" | ||
| "Summer" | "Your Lily-White Feet" | "Dedication" | ||
| "Noa" | "A Lament" | |||
| "Zamar Noded" | "My Sudden Death" | |||
| "Landmarks" | "Let's go to the field" | |||
| "My Town in the Snow" | ||||
| "Lots of Love"
- Ain Mashehu cmo zeh |
||||
| "The Party is Over" | ||||
| "A Davar" | ||||
| "El Borot Ha'Mayim" |
1995: Book Four (Sefer Arbah) published by Shva Publishers
| Uncategorized | Six songs for Yehoram Gaon | 11 Personal references to Moshe Beker | Five songs for Rivka Michaeli | Hebrew versions | Six children's songs | Lyrics for Mattai Caspi's Music |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Light" | "Kemo Katsav" | "Personal Belongings" | "Street Musicians" | "Musica" | "Chanuka" | "Shulamit" |
| "The Guest" | "You Can't Beat Me" | "Swan Girl" | "Global Patrol" | "Willow Songs" | "Tu Bishvat" | "Simchati" |
| "We Aren't There Yet" | "You're the Best" | "Old Flame" | "Not Bialik" | "Ne Me Quince Pas" | "Pesach" | "Farewll" |
| "Ir Va'Em" | "Good Morning" | "Flower" | "Never a Dull Moment" | "One Little Kid" | ||
| "My Mother's Portrait" | "Libavtini" | "Prelude" | "Upside Down" | |||
| "Noga" | "Black Princess" | "Sister" | ||||
| "The Bread of Love" | "Roof" | |||||
| "After the Harvest" | "Gai" | |||||
| "Summer White" | "Strawberry" | |||||
| "The Flour Jar" | "Time" | |||||
| "Pardes-Chana II" | "September First" | |||||
| "I'm a Guitar" | ||||||
| "To Light a Candle" | ||||||
| "Your Sons From Afar" | ||||||
| "Hal'ah" | ||||||
| "Safed" | ||||||
| "On the Boardwalk" | ||||||
| "Shana Tova" | ||||||
| "It's All Open" | ||||||
| "Cafe Tifferet" | ||||||
| "My Young Disaster" | ||||||
| "Dancing" |
Web links
- Literature by and about Naomi Schemer in the catalog of the German National Library
- Naomi Shemer in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Sagui Ben-Nun, Gidi Avivi: Naomi Shemer: First lady of Israeli song , In: Haaretz from June 27, 2004 (English)
- Wolfgang Saxon: Naomi Shemer, 74, Poet and Composer, Dies . In: The New York Times of June 29, 2004 (English)
- Miriam Colton: A Nation Mourns Naomi Shemer, Iconic Songstress . In: The Jewish Daily Forward of July 2, 2004 (English)
- Linda Gradstein: Questions Over Israel's 'Second Anthem' . In: National Public Radio of May 22, 2005 (English)
- Christa Gerloff: Naomi Schemer on israelnetz.com from May 31, 2013 (German)
- Jeffrey K. Salkin: Sing us the songs of Zion . In: Jewish Telegraphic Agency of December 2, 2013 (English)
- Naomi Schemer: Yerushalayim schel Sahav ("Jerusalem of Gold") ; TV appearance on YouTube
- Naomi Schemer: Horschat Ha'Eucalyptus ("The Eucalyptus Grove") ; TV recording from November 28, 1967 on YouTube
- Naomi Schemer: Lu Yehi ("May it be") ; TV recording on YouTube
- Meital Trabelsi interprets Naomi Schemer: Ho Rav Chovel ("O Captain") ; TV recording on YouTube
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ben-Nun, Sagui; Avivi, Gidi (June 27, 2004). "Naomi Shemer: First lady of Israeli song" , Haaretz
- ^ Colton, Miriam (July 2, 2004). "A Nation Mourns Naomi Shemer, Iconic Songstress". Forward
- ↑ Jerusalem of Gold, "Israel Festival Song, Strikes Gold . " Billboard. October 21, 1967
- ↑ Saxon, Wolfgang. "Naomi Shemer, 74, Poet and Composer, Dies," New York Times obituary, June 29, 2004
- ^ Gradstein, Linda (May 22, 2005). "Questions Over Israel's 'Second Anthem'" , National Public Radio
- ↑ Salkin, Jeffrey K. (December 2, 2013). "Sing us the songs of Zion" . Jewish Telegraphic Agency
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schemer, Naomi |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Shemer, Naomi |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Israeli singer and songwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 13, 1930 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kvutsat Kinneret , Palestine |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 26, 2004 |
| Place of death | Tel Aviv |