|
|
April 5, 2013
Galron joins the party
Locals, Israelis perform on Yom Ha’atzmaut.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
The community is in for a rousing Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration this year, when Israeli songstress Nurit Galron takes to the Centre in Vancouver for the Performing Arts stage on April 15.
“For years, Israelis have been asking that we bring Nurit Galron to Vancouver for Yom Ha’atzmaut and many have told me that she’s their favorite Israeli singer,” Stephen Gaerber, co-chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s Yom Ha’atzmaut committee, told the Independent. “I had the opportunity to see her in concert in Israel and was struck both by her energy and stage presence and the wide age range of the audience. Young and old were dancing and singing along to every song. We’ve tried to bring her to Vancouver before, but it never seemed to work out. This year, everything came together and we’re very excited that she will be celebrating Israel’s 65th in Vancouver.”
Galron’s career began in the late 1970s. Initially focusing on jazz, she has since created a broad repertoire, from classical to rock to children’s songs. She has released 18 records and has collaborated with many top Israeli musicians throughout the years. By way of example, she gave “Yoni Rechter, Shalom Chanoch, Sasha Argov, Moshe Vilenski, Ilan Virtsberg, and others.” The live recording of her 2010 tour with pianist and composer Gil Shohat, Classic and Classics, was a bestseller.
With respect to other collaborations, Galron said, “Lyrics are a very important part of my songs, and I am honored to work with Nathan Zach, Israel Prize laureate for Hebrew poetry, one of the most important poets in Israel. I feel blessed to be the voice of Zach.” The two first worked together on Galron’s second album, in 1981, and collaborated again on the 2010 CD Ve’az Ba Lanu (Then It Came), for which all of the lyrics were written by Zach.
“I am second-generation Israeli, from Holocaust survivors on my father’s side. My mother made aliyah from Poland before the outbreak of WW2,” Galron told the Independent about her childhood in Herzliya, where she grew up “in a mixed religious and secular area.”
“The atmosphere at home was very musical,” she said. “My mother was a great singer – she was a singer in the Jewish Brigade entertainment troupe. My father’s father was the chazzan of their village.
“Musically, as a child, I started with the accordion, then the guitar, but singing was and still is my home field. In the army, I was in the Golani entertainment group and, since then, I have been a singer.”
In addition to producing award-winning albums and touring, Galron is involved in theatre and film – including a leading role in the Israeli television series Reviat Ran (The Ran Quartet). She also is involved in several social action initiatives to help communities in need; in particular, she works with women’s groups to assist women in distress. Of her 2008 trip to the Central African Republic as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, Galron said, “For me, it was an eye-opening experience. The sad conclusion is, as one of Nathan Zach’s lines expresses in one of my songs: ‘We all want to give, but very few know how.’”
When in Vancouver, Galron’s set will include “Sim Shalom.” She explained, “Three years ago, I accompanied my daughter’s school to Poland on a roots journey. In the synagogue in Krakow, they asked me to sing; this was after an extremely moving and emotional day of visiting the camps. On the spur of the moment, I sang ‘Sim Shalom,’ a prayer for peace. For me, it was an unforgettable moment. Every time I sing this song, I am transported back to that moment.
“Other songs I intend to sing are ‘Yesh Li Simpatya,’ ‘Ani Eshtage’a,’ ‘Yaldut Nishkachat.’”
Galron comes to Vancouver with pianist, arranger and composer Guy Vaingarten, who also owns his own recording studio in Tel Aviv; Israeli-born, Brooklyn-based drummer Shlomi Lavie, founder of Dolchnakov Brigade and a member of Marcy Playground; award-winning guitarist and composer Nadav Lev, who has performed throughout the United States, Israel and Europe, in styles from classical to rock to improv; and Israeli-born double-bass and bass-guitar player Gil Goldin, whose engagements include playing principle bass in the New Amsterdam Symphony and New York Repertory Orchestra, as well as touring with his band Emanuel and the Fear.
Joining Galron and her band for the community’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration will be, among others, 60 young local dancers and performers. The festivities start at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, April 15. Tickets ($19.65) are available from ticketpeak.com/jfgv.
^TOP
|
|
