Kiryat Shmona musician Ben Golan will perform at the Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut celebrations in Vancouver April 21. <\/i>(photo from Ben Golan)<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/i>\u201cMusic for me is a way to say: we are still here, still alive, still building a future. It gives people a place to feel, and also the strength to keep going,\u201d said Ben Golan, who will headline our local celebration of Israel\u2019s 78th Independence Day, on April 21.<\/p>\n
Golan is a musician and producer from Kiryat Shmona, a city in our community\u2019s partnership region, the Upper Galilee, in Israel. He is the founder of the initiative Patifon.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor 17 years,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019ve been producing music and running a recording studio in the city. Over time, I realized that my work isn\u2019t just about producing songs. It\u2019s about building something that can sustain a real musical community in the north, giving a stage to local creators and creating a movement that feels connected to this place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patifon<\/i>, which means record player or turntable in Hebrew, serves as a hub for local artists.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt all started simply, with jam sessions in the studio,\u201d explained Golan. \u201cPeople began coming to play, sing, meet and connect. Slowly, it grew, until the gatherings were too big for the studio to handle. There wasn\u2019t enough space, but there was a hunger for music. Then, thanks to the youth centre and the amazing Elad Kozikaro, who gave us a budget and the perfect space, we got a shelter, which, in times like these, is a valuable commodity in the north. We moved in, completely renovated it and turned it into the most beautiful music lounge; a place where you can come and feel at home, even if it\u2019s your first time there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lounge morphed into Patifon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started filming live sessions of artists and bands there, with proper sound and respect for the music,\u201d Golan said. \u201cAll the sessions were uploaded to YouTube under Patifon and, over time, it started to catch on and reach more and more people. Suddenly, what began as a small local gathering became a stage watched by people outside the north.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the audience grew and we realized this needed more breathing room, we opened a community pub. Students from Tel-Hai College volunteer there as part of a scholarship program and help keep the place alive and running.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Golan, Kiryat Shmona is not just where he was born and grew up. He calls the city and the Upper Galilee his \u201cinner language.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn this city, I learned what the rhythm of a community really is: people who know each other, who will always help you when you need something. There\u2019s a different kind of air here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a stream right by my house. It seeped into my music without me even intending it to \u2013 a mix of rough and tender, of truth and esthetics, of wanting to shout and needing a moment of quiet to breathe,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe nature here, the open space and the distance from the centre taught me how to really listen \u2013 not to the noise, but to what lies underneath it.<\/p>\n \u201cContinuing to create in the north, especially after Oct. 7, is not a romantic choice for me \u2013 it\u2019s a stance,\u201d he said. \u201cThe region went through a real upheaval: fear, evacuation, uncertainty and, also, a kind of pain that people who don\u2019t live here sometimes don\u2019t fully understand. Out of all of that, creativity becomes a tool for connection and healing.\u201d<\/p>\n Golan chose to stay in Kiryat Shmona out of a sense of mission.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe the periphery holds immense talent, real hunger and stories you can\u2019t fake \u2013 it just needs infrastructure, a home and support,\u201d he said. \u201cI want the young people and artists here to feel that they don\u2019t have to leave in order to become something. On the contrary \u2013 that this place itself can become a source of inspiration, an opportunity and a creative centre that generates culture rather than just consumes it.\u201d<\/p>\n Coming to Vancouver for Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut, Golan said he brings messages of resilience and hope \u2013 and he takes those words seriously.<\/p>\n \u201cIndependence, for me, is also the ability to choose to create despite the difficulty, to choose community, to choose light,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to bring the story of the north: people who continue to build, to organize events, to create music and to hold each other up even when reality is complicated. In my music, there is room for both joy and pain, because both are part of our lives \u2013 especially in this time.\u201d<\/p>\n On April 21, Vancouver band HaOptziot will also take the stage at the community celebrations, playing covers of various Israeli hits.<\/p>\n