Panim- Faces of Art and Culture in Israel- September-October 1998

Israel Season Heats Up

They hail from every corner of the cultural world. This fall, the largest group of Israeli artists to perform abroad - nearly 600 in all - will appear in the halls and galleries of Paris, and they will not stop there. The veritable convoy of dancers, writers, dramatists, painters and sculptors will scatter throughout France for a three-month extravaganza larger than any Israeli cultural event abroad to date. Poised to begn in mid-September, "the Israel Season in France" now has an official name: "Israël au Miroir des Artistes" ("Israel Through the Mirror of its Artists").

Premieres and established performances alike will abound in this massive effort to expose contemporary Israeli culture to France. Modern dancers Liat Dror and Nir Ben Gal present their brand-new work while Inbal Pinto performs "Duet" and "Wrapped." Barak Marshall brings his newest dance, entitled "Shoshanna's Balcony," and the Bat Sheva Dance Company will offer a medley of Ohad Naharin's classics.

From the literary world Israel sends Meir Shalev, Orly Castel-Bloom, Yoram Kaniuk, Ronit Matalon and Sami Michael, complete with a tribute to the late Emile Habibi, and a conference on medieval Jewish poetry of Provence. Film buffs can sample a retrospective of the movies of Amos Gitai; Yigal Tumarkin and David Tartakover are two of the many participating visual artists.

"The principle was to encourage cooperation of the greatest depth between the cultural communities and their institutions," said the French coordinator Xavier North, emphasizing the possibilities for future joint cultural endeavors. North paired up schools, institutions and cities, and commissioned them to create co-productions. These will include performances by the Junior Ballet Conservatory of Paris with Ensemble Bat Sheva (Bat Sheva's training group); meetings between poet Israel Pincas and editor Claude Rouquet, between the Ecoles des Beaux-Arts of Lyons and of Valence, the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and the Ein Harod Museum.

A steering committee headed by North and Lia Van Leer in Israel, and facilitated by Israel's cultural attache in Paris, Shifra Shalit-Intrator, spent three years planning the festival. They outlined four goals:
1. Path-marking, or defining the pioneering elements of modern Israeli culture;
2. Experimentation, a main artistic element sought by the French impresarios who selected each Israeli performance;
3. Joint ventures, between the training institutions and between young artists; and
4. Cultural reflection, such as forums, symposia and colloquia on Israeli and French culture.

"Our goal is for France's cultural world to adopt this season and get to know Israel," explained North. But France is not only interested in Israel: the French Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Culture have previously invited countries including Tunisia, Egypt, Ireland and Japan for "Seasons." The next festival will be dedicated to Morocco.

Long-established cultural figures, as well as relatively new names. Ahinoam Nini and Hava Alberstein will be there, for example, alongside the recently popular Esta fusion jazz band, and Ilana Eliya's two-year old ensemble Jibilio. Gesher Theater and David Tartakover are world-renowned participants, but audiences can also hear the youth chamber-music players of both countries give a concert at the prestigious Louvre Auditorium. Special activities include "Zik," who will perform "Enerzik" in Bordeaux, and discussions such as "Dialogues about History and the Present," given by Robert Hilbert, Emile Kolodny, Michel Abitbol and Veronique Mimoun.

Two international television stations will broadcast the events throughout Europe, ensuring that the quest for broad European exposure will be fulfilled. As for the high hopes for cooperative endeavors in the future, Shalit-Intrator has the last word: "This is the only possible starting point for cultural exchange."

SPOTLIGHT

The counter-tenor voice has often been compared to angels, holiness and purification. David De'or seems to have been born for the role. Just as his voice yields a glassy smoothness of ultra-high ranges, his personality exudes humility and profound sensitivity towards others. "The audience must feel my music, it is important that they connect with me in this way." In any of his three other vocal ranges, some distance remains between himself and the audience. But climbing to bell-like high notes, De'or says that he feels his soul is bared.

Listeners evidently agree. His audiences include both adoring enthusiasts, and stupefied first-timers, identifiable by their gaping expressions. But many are already aware of his unique contribution to Israeli music. De'or's first original solo album was released five years ago to high acclaim. "I was terrified," he recalls. "Israelis don't know much about counter-tenors, and I was afraid they would make fun of me for sounding like a woman in a machoistic society." The 32-year old father of a two-year-old girl suddenly looks down, smiles, and says softly "I'm not someone who takes criticism as a healthy challenge - I fall apart."

Luckily, he admits, he has never really suffered negative criticism. De'or has sung regularly as a soloist with the Ra'anana Symphonette, performed under Zubin Mehta with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and has recorded an album with HaBreira HaTivit as well as another solo album. He will star in an original new Israeli opera this year. De'or also sings medieval music and jazz, and acts in occasional musical theater roles.

De'or describes his childhood in musical terms: he was born with the "gifts" of musical ability and a remarkable voice. "I always knew about these many vocal ranges I had in me, and how much I loved singing." He smiles. "But I didn't sing in public! I was so shy; I only sang in the occasional school play." Yet, he knew that he would be a musician. Two younger siblings followed suit (his brother is also a counter-tenor).

Three years in the IDF orchestra and classical training at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem cured his stage fright - he now loves performing - but the emotional intensity of his art remains. He does not speak of listening, but of experiencing music; and he is mesmerized most of all by the human voice. "I try to bring people close to me through my own voice - I use what is familiar to an audience to introduce them to new elements." Does it work? Performing at the Vatican in 1995, for example, "There was a complete emotional connection with that audience, a feeling of wonder and brotherhood despite our religious and cultural gap."

Italy has become a regular venue, thanks to Nurit Tinari, Israel's cultural attache in Rome. De'or has also sung with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as principle tenor in "Carmina Burana;" at the Israeli Embassy in Washington with the help of Rachel Marani, Washington's attache, and in festivals and concerts in Albania and Japan. Most recently, through Zali De Toledo, Israel's cultural attache in Istanbul, he performed several concerts in Turkey.

De'or feels like a messenger not just of music, but of Israel. He seems to gravitate toward peace-related events, such as the "Peace Festival" in Veroli, a World Peace Conference in Rome, and the opening of the Givatayim Theater. They express his nature, he says. With deadpan candor, he explains, "I hate war. I hate violence and I hate force. Not to be simplistic - everything is so complicated - but I think we can choose to do good things in life instead of evil things, in Israel and everywhere. Since there are no right answers anywhere, I just try to do good."

He is personally pained by violence. "I'm not very healthy about this," he laments. "I feel so much pain of others that it hurts all the time." This can range from the pain of people he doesn't know, to that of animals suffering ("I'm crazy about animals," he says superfluously, while four squirming dogs frolic in his wide, warmly colored living room).

The song "Guy's Mother" reflects this inner trauma. Like a heavenly being, the narrator looks down on a mother in eternal mourning: "When only one of your sons returned/ You raised the other in your memory/ the time that passed over your wounds/ suppressed inside you his image, and your sobs." The words trail off into a dirge of sonorous notes conveying inconsolable anguish. Luckily, music for De'or is therapeutic, staving off depression from internalized sorrow.

Looking like a pop star in a tight striped T-shirt and black satin trousers, he declines to be classified. His black eyes dance as he defends all kinds of music: "Trying to decide which kind of music I like best is like a asking a mother which child she loves the most." He revels in the Beatles, the Bee Gees and Sting; as well as Handel, Leonard Bernstein and modern Israeli singers Zehava Ben and Eti Ankri (with whom he plans to record an album). He believes that he and his contemporaries are using such varied influences to define a new genre of "Israeli" music.

It is his emotional being and his love for diverse musical influences that he tries to convey in his work. Fighting stereotypes, politicization and negative attitudes regarding Israel is an underlying challenge as he becomes increasingly prominent abroad. As a messenger of Israel, music and its unifying powers, the world is his stage.

- Dahlia Scheindlin

Artistic Peace Haven: New Theater in Givatayim

The brand-new theater of Givatayim, just outside Tel Aviv, has an ambitious and unusual mission. Not only will it create a forum for encouraging all fields of the arts: music, theater, dance, visual arts, and youth projects, but an ideology promoting peace will inform the theater's general activities. Combining an international outlook for performances and an architectural tour-de-force of a building, the Givatayim Theater stands to transform this suburban community, and with it, the concept of art for peace.

"We believe that our address is not coincidental," says the theater's director Yossi Alfi, referring to the boulevard "Peace Way" where it is located. More seriously, he explains the concept of the theater: "Theater is a ground for conflict. It should be in touch with our consciences, like the chorus of a Greek drama. We hope that this ground will become a place of dialogue, and the conflicts we face will remain only in the theater. The theater can also help create relationships, good relationships."

How does one build a peace theater? One way is to hold an opening packed with lavish cultural events dedicated to peace in the halls, amphitheaters and galleries of the space. In late July, the theater did just this: a one-evening festival concentrated a multitude of peace-related cultural events, with each field of the arts represented.

A poetry event hosted by Gila Almagor opened the evening: Jewish and Arab poets, including Ronny Somek, Asher Reich, Nida Khoury and Taha Muhammed Ali, read works related to peace. The opening concert was given by the Ra'anana Symphonette, with soloist David De'or. The Symphonette performed "Children of God," a composition by Joseph Bardanashvili based on texts that are holy to the three great religious traditions of the West. "Sudden Evening" brought the film director Michal Bat-Adam together with Arab-Israeli singer Amal Murkus for musical and narrative renditions of Israeli and Arab poetry. Films presented were "Abraham's Journey" and "The Border Line" series. Six artistic displays on the subject of peace were mounted simultaneously, including "Artists: Messengers of Peace," "My Habitat" and "On Peace Way."

The event was opened by the Mayor of Givatayim, Efi Stantzler, and Nobel Prize winner, former Prime Minister Shimon Peres (Peres' own Center for Peace stands close by on the same road).

Alfi has high hopes for the products that will come out of this post-modern building, which won first prize for Israeli architecture in 1997. It will be the site of meetings between artists on projects related to peace; joint products will be the result of such meetings. He envisions art classes for mixed (Jewish-Arab) groups of children and youth. It will also be a venue for peace performances: Alfi hopes to invite the Ramallah Theater, or perhaps do a theater exchange with them. In short, he says, "we will bring events, festivals and artistic celebrations for every part of the population."

In the play "Rhinoscerizing," by Yaldei Hashalom ("Peace Children") there is a chilling moment when the audience learns that the upright citizens of Tel Aviv - sports instructors, journalists, teenagers - are turning into rhinoceroses. All solid ground suddenly seems to crumble into absurdity and the characters run amok, while desperately clinging to any shred of order, control and familiarity.

A more positive transformation took place with "Peace Children." What started as a tiny, independent peace initiative suddenly blossomed, metamorphosizing into a multi-city, multi-aged project with hundreds of Arab and Israeli children learning acting basics all around the country, and a smaller group of young adults learning not-so-basic techniques. The project was started by former Habimah actress Yael Druyanov, when she became frustrated at the lack of contact between Arab and Jewish youth in Israel. The little community acting workshop that she established, beginning with only six Jewish and Arab kids, just grew and grew.

"Rhinoscerizing" is one of the group's most popular and successful projects. Based on an Ionescu play called "Rhinoceros," it tells a story of social trends and social movements, peer pressure and individual values. "Peace Child" gave it an Israeli rewrite, by setting it in a health club, with individual characters ranging from a newly religious man, an urban professional woman, and several soapbox social critics. One by one, they watch as each turns toward the rampant rhino movement. The characters must then decide either to conform, or to hold their own.

The play is a unique project for the workshop, intended as a full-length production on a professional level of acting. Given the challenging subject matter, and the intensive work involved in staging a play, both actors and audiences will learn the meaning of true cooperation.

FILM

Hanoch Rosen has a natural talent for children's entertainment. Best known as a mime artist, Rosen has now transferred his skills to the screen, in his new film "Super Boy."

A rare Israeli family film, "Super Boy" is about Tom, a sweet, dreamy schoolboy who doesn't take the stresses of grade-school life well. Girls confound him, classmates nickname him "astronaut," and exams give him a tummy ache. His only friend is Professor Gantz, a wizened, wacky scientist who delights in giving Tom water placebo-medicine after a typically traumatic day at school.

Inevitably, Gantz accidentally gives him an overdose of his latest secret power-potion. Tom becomes a hyperactive genius, supernaturally strong and swift. His love of chocolate takes on gluttonous proportions. His confidence spirals, but he begins to forget who he really is. After a run with a bad crowd, the concerns of the bumbling Gantz and Abigail, Tom's long-haired sweetheart, shock him back into reality and teach an important lesson: Lasting strength and success come from within. Dudu Topaz and the young pop stars High Five act in the film, and the endearing Tom Avni plays Tom. Producers: Udi Izak, Hanoch Rosen.

Jerusalem Film Festival

Among hundreds of films screened at the 15th Jerusalem International Film Festival were nearly 20 new Israeli feature, student and documentary films. The coveted Wolgin Award for Israeli feature films went to director Amos Gitai for his drama "Day After Day." A star cast lends intensity to this work: Moshe Ivgi plays a malcontent who is devoted to his mother, frustrated with his marriage and profoundly self-centered. The son of an Arab father and a Jewish mother, he understandably has trouble discerning his identity. Theater and film actor Juliano Mor (who really does have an Arab father and a Jewish mother) plays a crude, womanizing used-appliance dealer who seems to live only for the moment, and in eternal frustration. Keren Mor (no relation) has a voyeuristic, surreal role as a traffic supervisor who watches the action that the audience sees, on large traffic surveillance screens in her office. The film is an in-depth view of relationships, identity and family bonds, and offers a gritty perspective on love in its many forms. Producers: Eyal Shiray, Michael Tapuach, Laurent Truchot, David Mandil.

DANCE

Three Festivals, Many New Works

This year's Israel Festival yielded no less than eight new works in a show entitled, "Don't Worry, It'll be All Right!"

After winning international acclaim for "Emma Goldman's Wedding," Barak Marshall performed his latest premiere, "Shoshanna's Balcony." The dance is based on a New Testament story, and a painting by David Sharir, and Marshall has set it in the Tel Aviv market in the 1950s. Marshall's work will be performed in France during the Israel festivities this fall (see p. 1).

Ido Tadmor also unveiled a new work, delving into socio-political issues. "Stepping on Eggs," conveys the struggle over artistic freedom - via the tale of the ugly duckling - and in costumes of Jewish prayer shawls. "Vertigo" performed its new Hamsin combining traditional jazz dance movement with modern form.

Mehol-Lohit ("Dance Hits")

This two-year old festival at the Suzanne Dellal Center is a variegated, month-long event - involving festive, free outdoor events in addition. Bat Sheva combined the best of its previous shows with its own brand of humor for a new performance that gives a taste of everything; Shakatak (Sheket-Tak) moves and taps with rhythms coordinated to perfection. Two flamenco groups appeared: Compass Michal Natan Flamenco Company, and Sylvia Doran, and the festival even displayed original belly dancing by Elina Pechersky.

With characteristic exhilaration, the international folk dance community whizzed through Yemenite steps, Venezuelan ballet, and South African rhythm dances in full color at Karmiel. In honor of the originals-only festival, the Karmon Dance Company presented its brand-new work "Midnight Prayer," which was performed in August at the Expo Fair in Lisbon. The Kibbutz Dance Company mounted "Two Plus One," actually a medley of two productions by the Company's choreographer Rami Be'er, and one by Daniel Azerlo. The Inbal Dance Company (working with choreographer Kei Takei) and the Bat Dor Dance Company both presented new material, for an explosion of movement creativity in traditional dance.

THEATER

Yonatan Cherchey recently performed his one-man play "Mr. V." for a special audience: the Institute for Strategic Studies in Cairo held a meeting of Egyptian writers and lecturers, and invited a small delegation of Israelis. The monologue play dramatizes the plight of Mordechai Vanunu, sentenced to life in prison on charges of treason. Vanunu's story both before and after the sentencing are acted out in a deep, personal psychological exploration that includes the social and political context. Following the performance, Cherchey held a discussion with the Egyptian participants, which the Fringe Theater said provided a "rare cultural meeting that stimulated interest among both the Israeli and Egyptian participants."

"Difficult People" is a play romantically set "somewhere in Britain" and is - true to its name - the story of relationships between four earnest but complicated individuals who seek, simply, happiness. A Jewish brother and sister poignantly work to help ease each other's loneliness: the brother tries to marry off his sister to an overeager Israeli divorcee. The sister's landlord is secretly in love with her; but she herself is unaware and lonely.

In the 25 years since it was written, the play has won acclaim throughout Europe, especially in Poland and Russia (where it has run regularly since 1992 and has won theater awards); but ironically has never been performed in the land where it is set. This fall, the Scottish Theatre Flux brings a new translation of the play as well as its author to the UK for a tour of premier performances. Bar Yosef will hold discussions following the emotionally charged play. "I am very emotional about the first production of the play in the UK," said Bar Yosef. "It is a play about Jewish - Israeli relationships, but I believe that it has universal implications; many of the audiences have no connection to Israel or Judaism. I would love it if the play could be shown in many countries, including in the Anglo-Saxon, and the Arab world."

Yosef bar Yosef has seen 11 of his works produced in Israel. This spring, his first play in ten years opened at Beit Lessin. No less a play about thorny personalities, "Cooper" examines problematic family relations among parents and children, and husbands and wives.

"Difficult People" will perform in three venues over three months: Glasgow from October 6-9; London, November 3-8; and Edinburgh from December 9-13.

NEW PRODUCTIONS

Israeli musicians seem predisposed to progressive and alternative music. Avant-garde, world-music and fusion jazz are commonly found in musical halls and clubs alike. There is a rapidly growing interest in non-classical variations on classical music. Many of these influences can even be seen in Israeli popular music.

Yemei Habentayim ("Between Times") has managed to blend the music of Ireland, Persia, Moldova and more, in what is becoming known as "world music." Celtic harp (played by Iris Eyal) meets a Santoor player (Menashe Sasson), while the versatile Guy Kark plays guitar and oud, adding vocals for a distinct, international sound.

The Tel Aviv Collegium is a year-old vocal ensemble under the direction of Avner Itai, head of choral activity at the Rubin Academy of Music, and the founder of the "Musica Sacra" festival in Nazareth. With twelve singers, the ensemble's repetoire includes Rossini, Brahms, Schumann, Debussy and Faure, and Jewish composers Salomone Rossi, Braun and Seter. Performing primarily at the Municipality's cultural center (Mercaz Enav), the new group is planning a trip to Germany in the next season, and to the US in July 1999.

EVENTS

In its third solid year, the New Israeli Opera is no longer new - but the coming season's offerings are. This fall, the Opera presents Israel's first-ever International Festival of Vocal and Operatic concerts. "Viva La Voce!" is held with the Israel Symphony Orchestra of Rishon Letzion, and the NIO's own soloists and chorus will be joined by international soloists such as Ruth Maria-Nicolai, Donald Lichter, and Charlotte Helkent. The series begins on October 14th, with a concert entitled, "Sacred and the Profane Verdi." Next will be "20th Century Vienna," followed by a performance entitled "The Swingle Singers Sing Opera." Each title in the series contains two concerts, from October through March.

The regular season also offers a rich array of Classical, Romantic, and 20th century operas. Falstaff and Madame Butterfly are on the agenda, "The Rake's Progress," by Igor Stravinsky, and Lucia de Lammermoor (Donizetti) follow. Topped off with Mozart's Cos Fan Tutti and The Little Magic Flute, the season sings straight through from October through next July.

Israeli Art at São Paulo Biennale

Now in its 24 year, the São Paulo Biennale is one of the two most important international art exhibition forums. Its counterpart in Venice was held last year. This October, the São Paulo Biennale opens at the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion, replete with dozens of participating countries and a guiding concept of "density, with its compact and complex character in the articulation of objects and ideas" as the artistic theme.

Each country is allowed one artistic representative, and Israel's choice is Zvi Goldstein. Goldstein is an artist of Rumanian origin, a Bezalel graduate who has won many Israeli art prizes, and has an international career that includes exhibits in Istanbul, Venice and Paris. He was chosen by curator Sergio Edelstein, who was selected by the Plastic Arts Committee of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Goldstein presents a work that is part of his series called Hamsin, or "Hot Wind." Each work represents a different stage of this wind, which originates in North Africa. "Scirocco - Day 4" is the title of the installment to be shown at São Paulo, and it represents the fourth day of the wind which lasts for one week.

CULTURE BRIEFS

Communication Breakthroughs

Israeli Films Catalogued on Internet

The Waldor Memorial Library in New Jersey has catalogued an exhaustive list of Israeli films, and posted the information on the World Wide Web. The site holds films made as early as 1911, including roughly 750 titles, and access to information via the directors, actors, composers, producers, etc. Not only feature films, but documentaries, student films and festival films are available, updated through 1998. The site can be found at: http://us.imdb.com/Sections/Countries/Israel. Surfing Sameach!

Hebrew Poetry Site

"Shireshet" ("Poetry-Net") is the name of a new website designed by Helicon and Snunit companies, that provides a Hebrew poetry clearinghouse to the world. The first of its kind, the goal of the new site is to widen the community of poetry-lovers, provide an aid to schools teaching poetry, and to encourage new poets to develop their craft. It will publish both well-known and new poets, articles and news in the field; information such as biographies and pictures of poets, and the ubiquitous "chat-room" where workshops about writing will be held alongside discussions about poetry. Poetry fans worldwide are invited to this new exposure of Israeli literature (in Hebrew), at: http://www.snunit.k12.il/shireshet

"Shalom Channel" in Europe

French television managers and Israeli investors have opened a new cable TV station known as European Jewish Television, officially named the "Shalom Channel." With European Jewry as its target audience, the station broadcasts news related to Israeli, Jewish and European issues; it presents news in both French and in Hebrew, and holds weekly broadcasts directly from Jerusalem. In addition to an array of programming related to Jewish culture, including Yiddish theater broadcasts, the station will import choice Israeli television programs such as Hartzufim, a favorite political satire with puppet characters. Although the broadcast is late at night - between 10 p.m. and midnight - the station is hoping that positive responses will warrant expansion to include British broadcasting by next year, in English and French.