Zel Etz Tamar
Zel Etz Tamar ( Hebrew צל עץ תמר, Date palm shadow ) is a popular Israeli song that has been performed in a variety of musical styles since its creation in 1945. The best known to this day is the version of Zohar Argov .
history
The lyrics to the song were written in October 1945 by Efraim Weinstein (1923-2004), who emigrated from Poland to later Israel in 1934 . He wrote the poem on a private occasion, without considering publication, under the title "In the shadow of a date palm" for his girlfriend at the time, whom he married that same year. The setting of the text was done by Weinstein's brother-in-law Chaim Kobrin (1912–1983), who worked as an internist in Tiberias and played as a violinist in coffee houses in the evening. The poem largely expresses Weltschmerz , which is expressed with the help of the violin. She is the actual protagonist of the poem, has hypnotic powers and is longingly evoked in the chorus. The original handwritten version by Weinstein and Kobrin is entitled Tango , and in the first years of its existence the song was sung as a tango .
Zel Etz Tamar first became known nationwide in Israel in 1954 when the singer Lilith Nagar recorded the song on a single by the Israeli company Makolit. In the course of the 1970s, the oriental style of music became increasingly popular, and the song melody now saw changes in rhythm and presentation . Some words in the poem have also been changed, for example Be'arpile awar (“In the mists of the past”) became Be'arpile afar (“In the mists of dust”). Sohar Argov (1955–1987) recorded the song on his third album Hayu smanim ("That Were Times") in 1981 , thus creating an expressive interpretation in the Misrachi style.
For reasons unknown, the names of the original authors have not been mentioned in various cover versions over the years . In 2014, the Israeli collecting society ACUM decided in arbitration that the copyrights to the song belong to the lyricist Weinstein and the composer Kobrin.
Web links
- Lyrics in transcription with English translation
- Notation of the original Tango version
- Recording with Lilith Nagar, as Tango Click the "Latin" button for transcription
- Recording with Sohar Argov