Ruchot Hatzafon members, left to right: Gil Melamood (bass guitar), Adam Halfi (keyboards), Ofir Baz (drums), Liraz Moalem (stage manager) and Eyal Shavit (vocals and electric guitar). <\/i>(photo by Yannay Shifron)<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cWe will dance again\u201d is the theme of this year\u2019s Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut community gathering on April 30 to celebrate Israel\u2019s 77th anniversary amid the heartache that continues since Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks. In addition to Nova Festival survivors, other special guests will be the band Ruchot Hatzafon, some of whose members still have not returned to their homes in Israel\u2019s northern region because of the continued threat from Hezbollah in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetter now, but it was very traumatic for everyone,\u201d Eyal Shavit told the Independent<\/i> about how he and his fellow musicians were doing since Oct. 7. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to put to words. We all live very close to the Lebanese border. A couple of us, Liraz [Moalem] and Gil [Melamood], live right on that border, in Kibbutz Malkiya and in Kibbutz Kfar Giladi, so they had to move to more central places in Israel and to this day they still haven\u2019t come back to their homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the rest of us, it wasn\u2019t as bad, but it still affected our lives in so many ways. Not to mention financially, as well as the mental trauma, the fear and the grief. However, we are among the luckiest ones in the grander scheme of things and we do what we have to do, both as individuals and as a people. We keep living, we keep moving forward and we keep celebrating our lives, all the while remembering [those] who are still held in Gaza by Hamas and grieving with anyone and everyone who has suffered the most terrible losses on that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shavit said he left his kibbutz, Kfar Szold, a couple of days after Oct. 7, \u201cbecause the feeling at the time was that it can happen again at any given moment by Hezbollah in Lebanon, but, within a couple of weeks, I realized that it would be safe enough to go back \u2026 so I\u2019ve stayed there since.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shavit is Ruchot Hatzafon\u2019s lead vocalist and he plays the electric guitar. (He is also, as it happens, co-author of the book Hilarious Hebrew<\/i> with Hebrew teacher Yael Breuer, which the Independent<\/i> reviewed in 2016: jewishindependent.ca\/from-nonsense-knowledge.) In Vancouver, Shavit will be joined by Melamood (bass guitar), Adam Halfi (keyboards), Ofir Baz (drums) and Sapir Breier (vocals).<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this instance, Sapir will be with us in Vancouver, as Vered [Sasportas] couldn\u2019t join us this time,\u201d said Shavit of the band\u2019s other primary vocalist.<\/p>\n
Moalem is the band\u2019s stage manager.<\/p>\n
The group has been together about six years, and Shavit explained its evolution.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt was a bit of luck really,\u201d he said about his joining. \u201cI\u2019d just returned from the UK to Israel, having lived in Brighton, England, for 13 years, where I studied music and made my living playing gigs in pubs and events.\u201d<\/p>\n Friends from high school \u2013 Melamood (who also was in a military band with Shavit during their army service) and Baz \u2013 contacted Shavit and asked him to be a part of the band, along with another high school friend, Halfi, so that they could play at an event.<\/p>\n \u201cWe then immediately got booked for a second event by Liraz Moalem, who then became our band manager,\u201d said Shavit. \u201cIt was a lot of fun and a nice opportunity. We all aspired to do this for a living.\u201d<\/p>\n A couple of years after that, he said, Sasportas, who they met through a mutual friend and colleague, became part of the group and, said Shavit, \u201cshe fit right in, as well as being a brilliant singer and performer.\u201d<\/p>\n Ruchot Hatzafon \u2013 which translates as the Northern Winds \u2013 has two types of shows.<\/p>\n \u201cOne is an energetic set of very popular songs both in Hebrew and in English that everyone likes to dance to, and the other show is a tribute to Israel\u2019s army bands, who have a huge legacy in Israeli culture and used to dominate the charts back in the \u201960s up until the mid-\u201970s,\u201d\u00a0<\/span>explained Shavit. \u201cThat show includes a bit of storytelling and mostly wonderful and famous songs by the old army bands.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Vancouver, we will play our party music set, along with some special requests, like \u2018Yerushalayim Shel Zahav\u2019 by Naomi Shemer, for example.\u201d<\/p>\n Other songs that Vancouverites will hear on April 30 include \u201cAhava Besof Ha\u2019Kayit<\/i>z\u201d (\u201cLove at the End of Summer\u201d) by Tsvika Pik; \u201cEin Makom Ache<\/i>r\u201d (\u201cNo Other Place\u201d) by Mashina; \u201cNaarin Shuva Elay<\/i>\u201d (\u201cMy Boy, Come Back to Me\u201d) by Margalit Tsan\u2019ani; \u201cNatati La Chayai<\/i>\u201d (\u201cI Gave Her My Life\u201d) by Kaveret; and some Israeli Eurovision songs.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd, in English, probably \u2018Think\u2019 by Aretha Franklin, \u2018I Will Survive\u2019 by Gloria Gaynor, \u2018Don\u2019t Stop Me Now\u2019 by Queen and more,\u201d said Shavit.<\/p>\n The band members have similar musical tastes, he said, perhaps because they all grew up on a kibbutz. \u201cWe\u2019re generally more drawn to Western-influenced rock and pop music and songs in English, rather than Mediterranean-influenced songs, which are another genre of cover bands in Israel,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cWe play only a few of those.\u201d<\/p>\n This will be Ruchot Hatzafon\u2019s first time performing outside of Israel. They\u2019ll arrive April 28 and return home on May 2, but Shavit said they\u2019re thinking about extending their stay a couple of days.<\/p>\n \u201cI can say for all of us that we feel this is an honour and a privilege to be invited to play for the Jewish communities in Vancouver \u2013 especially after what we\u2019ve all been through as a people,\u201d Shavit said. \u201cWe are thrilled to come and celebrate with everyone there.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition, we get to visit a little bit of Canada, which, personally, I\u2019ve always wanted to visit.\u201d<\/p>\n