37: "Mixtape" Part II – Iron and Gold
Israel Story
Israel Story
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 1 June 2018
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Our musical journey through the intricacies of Israeli society continues. And this time we explore a song that, ever since the dramatic month that forever changed Israeli history, has become the country's soundtrack: "Jerusalem of Gold."
In 1968, an up-and-coming left-wing politician by the name of Uri Avnery brazenly suggested replacing Israel’s national anthem, HaTikvah. His proposal was surprising, given the fact that the would-be replacement was the unequivocal anthem of the Six Day War, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav.
While Avnery’s motion never made it to the Knesset floor, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav has indeed become an anthem of sorts. It is probably the most recognizable and beloved Israeli tune ever, and is repeatedly voted the most important song in the country’s history.
The original music, including the cover versions of Yerushalayim Shel Zahav and Yerushalayim Shel Barzel, was composed, arranged and performed live by the Mixtape Band, led by Ari Wenig and Dotan Moshanov, together with Ruth Danon , Eden Djamchid and Ronnie Wagner-Schmidt. The final song is a recording of Shuly Natan’s original rendition of the song, at Festival Ha’Zemer Ve’Ha’Pizmon in Jerusalem in May 1967. The episode was recorded by Adrian Lau at the Off Record Studios in New York, and mixed by Sela Waisblum. It is based on Israel Story’s latest live show tour, “Mixtape.”
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | May I have your attention please you can now book your train tickets on Uber and get |
| 0:08.0 | 10% back in credits to spend on your next Uber ride so you don't have to walk home in the rain again. |
| 0:16.5 | Trains now on Uber. Tees and sees apply. Check the Uber app. |
| 0:28.0 | So you might remember that our last episode, Part 1 of our mixtape mini-series, ended with quite the cliffhanger. |
| 0:31.0 | We were in 1968 and U of Nere, the young and provocative left-wing politician, suggested replacing |
| 0:38.9 | a Tikva, the national anthem. |
| 0:42.0 | What led you to suggest changing the Israeli anthem? |
| 0:47.0 | Well, I detest the Israeli anthem because the anthem has nothing to do with Israel. |
| 0:53.0 | It was composed by an unimportant poet |
| 0:58.0 | and it is about Jews somewhere abroad |
| 1:02.0 | who are longing for the land of Israel. |
| 1:06.0 | It has nothing to do with people in the land of Israel. |
| 1:09.0 | I don't turn to the east because I live in the middle. |
| 1:13.2 | In the east I'm looking at Jordan or India or China. |
| 1:18.6 | It is a completely irrelevant song, irrelevant to a state in which we have two different |
| 1:25.8 | populations the Jewish and the Arab and I was I'm for many many years I'm thinking about the need to get rid of this anthem and have a real Israeli |
| 1:38.4 | anthem. |
| 1:39.6 | And his proposed new anthem was pretty surprising, coming from a lefty like himself. |
| 1:47.2 | It was the unequivocal anthem of the Six Day War, Yru Shalaim Shilzahav. Here's our mixtape band's rendition of it. I feel a grim, |
| 2:13.2 | tell you'll call a yin, |
| 2:15.8 | ver ach on a ny, |
| 2:19.8 | nis a beq, a bah, |
... |
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