{"id":22209,"date":"2016-12-09T00:53:10","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T08:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=22209"},"modified":"2016-12-07T17:40:15","modified_gmt":"2016-12-08T01:40:15","slug":"feting-shemer-cohen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/12\/09\/feting-shemer-cohen\/","title":{"rendered":"F\u00eating Shemer, Cohen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mauro Perelmann is coming from Brazil to lead a Dec. 17 musical tribute to Naomi Shemer and Leonard Cohen. (photo by Natan Guterman Fotografia)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On Dec. 17, Congregation Beth Israel will host a tribute concert to Israeli singer songwriter Naomi Shemer. The brainchild of Brazilian musical director, composer and arranger Mauro Perelmann, who appeared at Or Shalom last winter, the tribute show was originally created for a performance in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Following its success there, Perelmann is bringing the show to Vancouver, featuring local singers Stephen Aberle, Debby Fenson and Wendy Rubin.<\/p>\n

The Vancouver concert \u2013 which will also include a tribute to Canadian icon Leonard Cohen, who passed away since the initial plans were made \u2013 is the result of extensive collaboration both internationally and within the Jewish community here. With the help of Perelmann\u2019s friend Yom Shamash and sponsored by Congregation Beth Israel, Limmud Vancouver and Or Shalom, the concert features Shemer\u2019s \u201cbest and most beautiful songs,\u201d said Perelmann.<\/p>\n

The archetypal Sabra, Shemer was born in 1930 at Kvutzat Kinneret, the Galilee kibbutz her parents helped found. Like other celebrated artists, she served in the Israel Defence Forces as part of the Nahal entertainment group, and went on to study at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, now the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.<\/p>\n

After studying both classical and folk guitar in his home city of Rio de Janeiro, Perelmann followed in Shemer\u2019s footsteps at the Rubin Academy. He studied there for a period of four years, 1976-1980, and it changed his life.<\/p>\n

Raised in a secular Jewish home, both he and Shamash were members of Hashomer Hatzair, the Zionist youth group. Perelmann described his time in Israel as \u201ca very touching experience, very important to my life.\u201d On returning to Rio, he said, \u201cI began to work as a musician, composer, arranger in Brazil. I returned to klezmer, to Hebrew and Israeli music. I began to work here in the Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowadays, Perelmann\u2019s work follows \u201cthree branches,\u201d he said: Jewish music; vocal music for choirs and other groups; and soundtracks for television and movies.<\/p>\n

With only two weeks between his arrival in Vancouver and the concert, Perelmann has rehearsed with the three local singers via Skype. It was the first time he had used this technology to rehearse music.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sent them the scores with the voices written down and we used the technology to shorten the distance between us. It worked well! They went to the same place, I heard them singing, gave them feedback. When I arrive in Vancouver, we\u2019ll rehearse with the whole band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perelmann speaks passionately of Shemer\u2019s compositions. He referred to her as \u201cthe voice of Israeli culture until the 1970s: the love of nature, of the people,\u201d and added, \u201cany Jew raised with music must know Naomi Shemer.\u201d He described a wide-ranging repertoire, from touching love songs like \u201cUmbrella for Two,\u201d to lyrics describing scenes of everyday Israeli life, childhood and nature. Shamash described Shemer as the representation of \u201cour idealized vision of a just, socialist and Zionist Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concert-goers can, of course, look forward to hearing Shemer\u2019s most celebrated work, \u201cYerushalayim Shel Zahav.\u201d Made famous by Shuli Natan\u2019s passionate renditions, it is a hauntingly nostalgic work, commemorating the end of the Six Day War of 1967. Combining a magical mix of open-hearted optimism and steely conviction, Shamash commented, \u201cit was a kind of national anthem,\u201d which united both a country and a generation of Jews around the world.<\/p>\n

While it is widely regarded as a second national anthem of Israel, the song is not without controversy. In response to questions about the origins of the melody in Basque folk music, Perelmann said, \u201cit happens in music; it wasn\u2019t a conscious decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Shemer is known to have raised questions from Amos Oz, and others, over the perceived politics in \u201cYerushalayim Shel Zahav.\u201d Describing the Jerusalem marketplace as \u201cempty\u201d without Jews, one might imagine that Shemer\u2019s song disregards the presence of Arab Israelis. However, as Perelmann explained, Shemer clarified, \u201cIf there are no Jews there, then it is empty to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the other Shemer songs to be featured at the Vancouver concert are \u201cAl Kol Eleh,\u201d \u201cHurshat Ha\u2019Eucalyptus\u201d (her song about the trees of Kvutzat Kinneret), \u201cLu Yehi,\u201d \u201cOrhim Lakayitz\u201d and \u201cMahar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vancouver singer Fenson treasures memories of \u201csitting around a campfire singing songs,\u201d and described a lifelong relationship with Shemer\u2019s music. \u201cI received a book of Naomi Shemer songs for my bat mitzvah,\u201d she shared. \u201cPart of learning to speak Hebrew came from reading and singing those songs. Later, I used Naomi Shemer\u2019s songs (and others) to help a friend who was also learning the language.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the Cohen component of the concert, Shamash said, \u201cThe idea to add a small tribute to Leonard Cohen came from the Canadian singers\u2026. The news of Leonard Cohen\u2019s passing hit everyone hard, especially because it came two days after Donald Trump\u2019s election. All of a sudden, the world looked darker and the need to grieve and mourn became more urgent. We all needed to see the light through the cracks of the broken world. I was asked to call Mauro to add a few Leonard Cohen\u2019s songs. He understood. Hallelujah.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Shemer and Cohen tribute at Beth Israel on Dec. 17 starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at brownpapertickets.ca<\/a> or at the door.<\/p>\n

Shula Klinger<\/strong> is an author, illustrator and journalist living in North Vancouver. Find out more at niftyscissors.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mauro Perelmann is coming from Brazil to lead a Dec. 17 musical tribute to Naomi Shemer and Leonard Cohen. (photo by Natan Guterman Fotografia) On Dec. 17, Congregation Beth Israel will host a tribute concert to Israeli singer songwriter Naomi Shemer. The brainchild of Brazilian musical director, composer and arranger Mauro Perelmann, who appeared at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[788],"tags":[4330,6585,6584],"class_list":["post-22209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-israel","tag-leonard-cohen","tag-naomi-shemer"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}