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Singer Creates Israeli Version Of An Old Lebanese Song. Causes Controversy

What a great find from Jad. An Israeli singer has released a song which is a cover of Lebanon’s 70s song “Do You Love Me”. By doing so she caused a controversy in Israel. Read about the controversy here, but first check the two versions below.

The Lebanese Version: Circa 1975

..And the Israeli version: 2010

6 thoughts on “Singer Creates Israeli Version Of An Old Lebanese Song. Causes Controversy”

  1. There is a long history of Israeli music based on Jewish Arab roots. In fact, the first Israeli pop diva was the Yemenite born Shoshana Damari (here singing reprising her most famous song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWImhuIAtWk, but this may be of more interest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxdWX-fBvtM& ).

    For many years “Mizrachi” pop was mostly oriented to the descendents of these Jewish refugees from Arab lands, but has since crossed over. Most famously with Ofra Haza, who sadly died much too young. Here’s an early piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2xNTzlFSk0 and a late piece made from the Western market: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ric1sEdPIks (I still have fond memories of her Eurovision appearance in 1983 where she won 2nd place for http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25pu-EBSWO8).

    Sarit Hadad is one of several successful Israeli pop singers who have benefited from the crossover. The article doesn’t mention that she represented Israel in Eurovision 2002 with http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCc9yH3dPXM (which is hardly her best song). Go for http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1antd5qhThM to hear something more interesting.

    For my taste, her rival diva Zehava Ben has her beat. Try: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQD4V9RZ68E, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTYRVdVw3ao and more controversially http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msXQJoE9igg.

    Now make up your minds about how much of the blog piece you believe…

  2. Mustapha, thanks for the link.

    ih, Ofra Haza was Iranian and not Arab. As for the rest of your comment, thank you for supporting my point – ie., that Mizrachi music during the 1980s was much more Arab and that it crossed over in the 1990s after it changed to a more Mediterranean style.

  3. Yet another added layer to the complexity of Israeli society. I think Israeli filmmaker Etgar Keret summarized it best: “imagine a country so religious that public transportation is closed on Sabbath. Imagine a country so secular that a transvestite was the country’s selection for the Eurovision contest… Israel… it’s not a country, it’s a reality show.”

    There is much of what Lebanon is in that very description. And there is so much we, the Lebanese, have in common with our southern neighbors. If only we dare remove the blinders and silly stereotypes and inhibitions…

    Finally, as an outsider, I can see that the Mizrachim are becoming “the new face” of Israel. Maybe I’m wrong, but at least that’s one of the first things that jump out upon first encounters… I had the chance to meet Sasson Somech this past summer. Amazing Israeli scholar (Iraqi born), and perhaps an incarnation of Israel’s “growing pains”… Those of you who haven’t done so MUST read Sasson’s superb Baghdad, Yesterday. A brilliant piece of personal and cultural history of but a mere tiny segment of Israeli society. But like I said, Israel (like Lebanon) is too complex (and I dare say too sophisticated) to be described by way of neat little on-word labels.

  5. Hi Lisa. I am not a fan of second dips on comments, but since you authored the original piece I do feel the need to respond.

    First, we’re probably more in agreement than disagreement; but, I was reacting to 2 points you made:

    1. The mainstreaming of authentic Arab music is a new phenomenon exemplified by Sarit Hadad. My point was this has been done long before by equally mainstream and popular divas.

    2. The anti-Arab talkbacks are a red herring. There is trash talk on both sides (note the comments in some of the YouTube videos). As Jaron Lanier observes so well “it isn’t exactly anonymity, but transient anonymity, coupled with a lack of consequences, that brings out online idiocy.”

    Finally, I did not mean to imply that Haza was of Arab descent. Although I can understand how you inferred this, your use of it as a straw man in your response is a bit stretched.

    In any case, my primary purpose was in some cultural sharing which is really more of the point that I think we all believe is goodness.

    Enough for words, let the notes sing…

  6. Mustapha, sorry for hijacking your thread; this is my last response to ih.

    ih – I did not write that the mainstreaming of Mizrachi music was a new phenomenon; in fact, I wrote specifically that it began in the 1990s. Nor did I write that Hadad exemplified the trend. I wrote that she was bucking the trend with a song that harked back to an earlier era, when Mizrachi music was more Arab – whereas now it is more Greek/Mediterranean.

    Re. the anti-Arab talkbacks: if anti-Mizrachi / anti-Arab sentiment were a marginal phenomenon in Israeli society, then we would not have sociologists like Sami Smooha winning the 2008 Israel Prize for showing that it is in fact a very mainstream phenomenon. Nor would we have Shas rising in popularity; and nor would we have mainstream music critics like Avi Shoshan writing about it in his Ynet column.

    Of course there is a diversity of views in Israel, and of course Arab culture permeates Israeli culture. It couldn’t be otherwise, given the ethnic makeup of the population and Israel’s geographical location. But your implying that mainstream Israel feels benevolently toward Arabs – or, by extension, their culture – is demonstrably untrue.

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