A Taste of Jewish Music from… Jaffa
Dr. Seth Ward
This is a lightly-edited version of the text of a talk I gave Feb. 22, 2021 as part of a series produced by the Colorado Hebrew Chorale. The theme of the series is to discuss Jewish music connected with various places, teach the songs, present an opportunity to sing along (including providing the musical notes and the words plus translations), and to include a recipe and a drink associated with the place. I presented another installment of the series on Feb. 8, 2022—“A Taste of Jewish Music from … Berlin” largely, but not entirely, the music f Louis Lewandowski. The original lecture was given a few days before the Jewish holiday of Purim. The Kazablan program handout and the PowerPoint that illustrated the lecture are also available, at the links given here. –SW. Feb. 10, 2022.
PowerPoint Kazablan Talk
Handout: Here
Recording of lecture: Here
Introduction
Israel’s favorite musical, Kazablan, is set in Jaffa, specifically in Ha-Shetah Ha-Gadol, which translates roughly as “the large plot,” a run-down section of old Jaffa, the ancient city at the heart of Tel Aviv. (Today, this area is the Gan Ha-Pisgah “Summit Park” historic area on the top of a hill, near St. Peter’s church, with an archaeological area, open amphitheater, and stunning view of Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean). In the film, the neighborhood is about to be bulldozed. Kazablan reflects a time when this slum was a maelstrom of different cultures, and inter-ethnic tensions were at high pitch. Ashkenazim—Jews from central and Eastern Europe—are pitched against Sephardim and Edot ha-Mizrah—Jews from the countries of the Middle East. At its heart, the musical Kazablan is both a love story and a “whodunit.” The stage musical premiered in the 1966s, with the film version released in 1973. The lively score is by Israel’s “Melody Maker,” Dov Seltzer, with unforgettable songs.
Israeli pop music generated multitudes of songs set in its many individual cities, towns, regions: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Dimona, Eilat, Kinneret (the sea of Galilee) and many others. Jaffa has a number of such songs, but every list, just about, includes some of the numbers from Kazablan. We’ll look at several of these songs this evening, and a list of some of the other songs is given at the end of this lecture.
Food and Drink
Thanks to the Colorado Hebrew Chorale for sponsoring this series—to Carol Kozak Ward the music director (and my wife), and to Leah Peer who has handled the technical aspects so marvelously. The next installment of this series is a musical trip to Argentina with Cantor Sheila Nessis, recently of Denver; the Chorale is also sponsoring Miryam Raisin’s wonderful series on Jewish composers of Tin Pan Alley and the Broadway stage, and a live stream Sing Out for Safehouse. I should also acknowledge that this program is in many ways an extension of a course I teach at the University of Wyoming, Middle East and Israel in Film.
This “L’Chaim” series has included suggestions for food and drink to accompany the musical visit. So—What to eat or drink on this journey to Jaffa? Those familiar with Kazablan know the answer, stereotyped as it might be. Actress Aliza Azikri invites us to enjoy sips of Arak; and actor Yehoram Gaon sings about opening a store selling “almonds and raisins” (although the lyrics by Amos Ettinger, as published by Dov Seltzer, suggest a somewhat less Ashkenazi-sounding “almonds and pistachios.”) Those familiar with the film might also suggest other foods mentioned in the film: Baklava, Shakshouka, and of course “Goulash.”
But film critics have a name for the melodramatic, somewhat cheesy Israeli films of this era, with their interest in Sephardic or Mizrachi characters: “Bourekas” films. The term traditionally is ascribed to Israeli filmmaker Boaz Davidson and is supposedly inspired by the label “Spaghetti Westerns.” Bourekas are a popular puff pastry staple of Sephardic Jewish cuisine. So I’ve included a simple recipe for Bourekas in the song-sheet. By the way, today I tried a variation: I used a pizza dough rather than a pastry dough—it worked out pretty well.
Coincidently, Thursday night is Purim. Tori Avey—whose Bourekas recipe I adapted for this purpose–connects Bourekas with Purim, seemingly because according to Jewish traditional interpretations, Esther ate no meat in the palace of the King. She has an interesting point: Bourekas are quite similar to kreplach, and many have noted a practice of eating kreplach not only on Rosh Hashanah and Erev Yom Kippur, but also Purim. A mnemonic is suggested: K (Kippur) R (Rosh Hashanah) and P (Purim): “Krep.” The most-often encountered explanation for this practice is that the kreplach has the filling hidden—as Esther hid her faith and people. This is unlike the more popular Purim pastry, the Hamantash, where the filling is exposed for all to see. Famously, there are “Latke Hamantash debates” going back to an annual program at the University of Chicago decades ago. (The latke–a potato pancake–is associated with Hanukkah). Perhaps on Purim itself we should have Hamantash-Kreplach or even Hamantash-Bourekas debates!
Actually, bourekas do not play any role in this film. Films of this style that feature Ashkenazim (Jews from Eastern Europe) are sometimes called “Gefilte Fish” Films, and gefilte fish is in fact represented in one of the more memorable scenes in this film. In contrast, bourekas prepared by Betty Azulay are a recurring theme in Ha-Shoter Azulai, Ephraim Kishon’s important 1970 film, which, like Kazablan, is set in HaShetach HaGadol, as well as in Globus-Golan’s 1970 film Lupo.
A note about the drink: In Israel and the Arab world, the drink is called Arak; Raki and Ouzo are about the same. Arak is clear until mixed with water, when it turns white, and this can be seen in the film. (My personal preference though is to drink it straight).
Although the film shows people drinking Arak, and the lyrics refer to it, the English subtitles I viewed make no explicit reference to Arak.
Jaffa
Our musical visit to Jaffa has time for only a brief overview of the history of the city. Jaffa is known from Egyptian sources, from at least the 15th pre-Christian century, and Egyptian artifacts have been found there. Greek sources associate the city with Cassi-Iopea (the Iopea apparently a reference to Jaffa), whose daughter Andromeda was tied to a rock in Jaffa harbor and rescued by Perseus. Jaffa is mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible, for example in the story of Jonah,[1] and is mentioned in the New Testament, Mishna and Talmud. We know about Jaffa as a port and gateway throughout the Middle Ages and was conquered in an important battle in Napoleon’s campaign in the Middle East in 1799.
Jaffa grew in size and population in the 19th century, and about equal numbers of Muslims and Jews lived there in the early 20th century, although in the 1920s and 1930s, riots and tension caused many Jews to move to the new community of Tel Aviv.
In June 1936, The British Mandate authorities conducted what has sometimes been called “urban renewal by dynamite” to cut roads in decaying parts of Old Jaffa to improve access to areas that had become local centers of the Arab uprising—in or near the area that became HaShetach HaGadol.
In May 1937, the Alhambra Theatre was opened a few blocks away from HaShetach HaGadol on what was then known as King George V Boulevard in Jaffa; previously called Jemal Pasha Boulevard and now known as Sderot Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Boulevard). A modern cinema with a large screen (6m x 8m), it could be transformed for stage shows and had ample dressing rooms. Umm Kulthum, Leila Murad, Farid al-Atrash and many other stars of the Arabic-speaking world performed there. Reports differ, but it had 1200 to 1500 seats. This was an Arab theatre—Arab developers, architects etc. Note the picture: The Alhambra Cinema flew the Arab Flag.
In Israel’s Independence War in 1948, some 70% of the area around what is now Gan Ha-Pisgah and the Jaffa Historic Park was destroyed or reduced to rubble, and many of the Arab residents fled. This area was then called HaShetach HaGadol—the “Large Area”—and was known for gangsters, prostitutes and petty crime. It became the setting for plays and songs, including Yigal Mossinson’s drama Kazblan, written and produced in 1954, to which we will return shortly.
Menachem Golan’s first film Eldorado (1963)–like Kazablan, based on a very successful play by Yig’al Mossinson–was set in the underworld of HaShetach HaGadol. It starred Gila Almagor, Haim Topol, Yossi Yadin, and Shaike Ophir and earned Golan the prestigious Kinor David “David’s Harp” award. So was Shlomo Suriano’s Nini (also 1963), which featured Arik Einstein in a love story of a well-to-do fellow from Tel Aviv and an impoverished Christian Arab woman. Nini was Einstein’s first film–earlier than Ephraim Kishon’s Sallah Shabbati–and was not very successful and is largely forgotten today. In 1963, the story-line of Arab-Jewish love was problematic; the film encountered problems getting approvals and funding, and with audience acceptance; this theme features far more often today than it was in 1963. 1963 was also the year Giora Gudik took over the Alhambra Theatre.
As noted, Kishon’s 1970 film Ha-Shoter Azulay “Officer Azulay” (starring Shaike Ofir) is set in HaShetach HaGadol (and some of the filming was done on-site). Around this time as well, plans were put in place to transform the neighborhood into the historic park, open-air theatre and open space that it is today.
Yig’al Mossinson’s Play
The Israeli author Yigal Mossinson (1917-1994) wrote plays, novels and short stories, and is perhaps most famous for a series of children’s series Hasamba; at least one of the Hasamba stories is set in HaShetach HaGadol as were several of his plays and stories. Mossinson was in the Palmach (the elite corps of what became the Israel Defence Forces) and was imprisoned by the British in Latrun during the Independence War. He lived in various Kibbutzim until the 1950s.
His play, Kazablan, was mounted by the Cameri theatre in 1954 and starred Yossi Yadin (the brother of Yigael Yadin, the military hero and archaeologist) in the title role. As noted, the Mossinson play is explicitly set in HaShetach HaGadol—the action takes place in the courtyard of the building in which Kazablan, Feldman, and several other characters live. The play is quite specific in its references to Israel’s War of Independence, for example mentioning Isdud (now the city of Ashdod), Falluja (the “Falluja Pocket” northeast of Gaza and near contemporary Kiryat Gat, an area in which the Egyptian Army was encircled in the Independence War), and other areas of fighting in 1947-49. The play also sets off the kibbutz versus the city: The Feldman family (immigrants from Eastern Europe) had been on a kibbutz but moved to Jaffa, where Feldman is a “petty peddler” – bringing cheap tinned goods to the neighborhood, and the characters discuss moving to a kibbutz.
The framework story is a “whodunit:” at the beginning of the play, we learn that someone has been knifed, eventually we learn the victim is Abrasha—Avraham Feldman, the brother of Rachel, who survives the attempted murder. We learn that Rachel claims to be going to night school as an excuse to see Josh, a building inspector, and that Josh, Abrasha and Kazablan were together in the army. Kazablan is the only suspect in the knifing; his army buddies suspect him, and since there was no harm done they are happy to accept him as he is and hope he will join them on a kibbutz. Kazablan delivers a speech about stereotyping Moroccans, but never denies the charge. In the end a series of revelations show that it was impossible for Kazablan to have committed the crime, another character in the play is revealed to have been responsible, and the Ashkenazi characters realize they had wrongly stereotyped Kazablan—as did the audiences. There is a hint of romantic interest between Rachel and Kazablan, at least on Kazablan’s part, but it is appears impossible and is largely dismissed. The play won the Kinor David prize.
I could not find a recording of the full play on the Internet, but there is a clip of Yossi Yadin reenacting one of the key speeches of the play in a “This is Your Life” show on Israeli TV, and discussing its significance.[2]
Kazablan was made into a Black and White film in Greece entitled Sintrimmiá Tis Zóis ΣΥΝΤΡΙΜΜΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΖΩΗΣ “Fragments of Life” (although according to Google Translate, should be means “Wrinkle of Life”), released in 1964. Apparently, it was not possible at the time to get a film made in Israel that treated the Ashkenazi-Sephardi divide in a painful, serious drama. The drama had a release in the US and is currently listed in Turner Classic Movies.[3] Based on what descriptions I have been able to see, the film made some changes in the basic plot—for example, the romantic tension is played up, and Kazablan has an alibi from a prostitute. I’ve been able to view the film in Greek online, but cannot find subtitles. Presumably the New York release had subtitles of course–but I cannot find it online or in DVD or VHS! Most reviewers imply that the film is justly forgotten today.
How the Musical Kazablan Came to Be
(Part I)
The impresario Giora Godik took over the Alhambra Cinema in 1963 and mounted Broadway musicals, in Hebrew, with Broadway style staging. The productions were My Fair Lady, The King and I, and Fiddler on the Roof. In 1966, he decided to investigate the possibility of an all-Israeli musical; he decided on a recasting of Mossinson’s Kazablan, and assembled a staff to work on the project. The team included lyricists Dan Almagor, Haim Hefer and Amos Ettinger; the original author Yigal Mossinson, and Yoram Kaniuck, Yoel Silberg, and many others—and the composer Dov (Dubi) Seltzer.
Dubi Seltzer
Seltzer worked with Dan Almagor to create the initial songs for this project. Seltzer was already an accomplished composer of popular songs. Born “Bernard” or “Benno” Seltzer in Iasi, Romania in 1932, he was already composing for HaShomer HaTzair youth group and summer camp productions at an early age. He came to Palestine at age 15 clutching his bar-mitzvah age brother with one hand, and his accordion with the other. He wound up in a Nachal troupe—where he met Geulah Gil, Nechama Hendel, Haim Topol, and many others who would shape the musical and performance scene of the young state. Seltzer had spent time in New York: he studied at Mannes College of Music, and earned BSc in Music from SUNY. Among his teachers were Mordechai Seter and Robert Starer. He had written songs for his then-wife Geula Gil and performed them all over the world.
Seltzer’s credits are far too many to list this evening: Songs for an Israeli musical about Shalom Aleikhem’s character Tevye the Dairyman (the Tevye of Fiddler on the Roof), settings of poems by Itzig Manger, Avraham Shlonski, Natan Alterman; two songs for Cast a Giant Shadow. He has over 40 film music credits in his career, as well as serious works such as an opera based on Sholem Aleichem’s Stempenyu, settings of Biblical texts, and Lament for Yitzhak written after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. His songs were published widely. Already in 1970, a collection of 44 songs appeared Daber Elai be-Shirim “Speak to me in Songs” (Subar, 1970) (the title is based on one of his popular melodies), and Oseh HaManginot “The Melody Maker” (2010) with an extensive narrative by Seltzer as well as songs from every period of his career.
Seltzer writes that he composed three songs for the backers of Kazablan: Kol HaKavod (literally “All Honor”; Lyrics: Dan Almagor), Sela Andromeda “Andromeda’s Rock” and Yesh sham etz “There’s a tree” – the latter two were since recast Ani kol kakh pohedet “I am so fearful” (lyrics by Haim Hefer)[4] and Yesh Makom “There’s a place” (lyrics by Amos Ettinger). The literal translation of Kol HaKavod is appropriate in that the song talks about honor and respect for Kazablan—although the title is more idiomatically translated “Bravo.” There was a session for backers at which the musical numbers were performed by the stars of The King and I, Godick’s then-current production, to rousing enthusiasm—and the project got the go-ahead.
There are various versions of the account of the audition for the leading role. Apparently Aris San and Arik Einstein were considered for the role. As luck would have it one of those who tried out for the part was a veteran of the Nachal, Shelishiat Gesher HaYarkon (“Yarkon Bridge Trio”) and “The Roosters” (HaTarnegolim) who had been in New York, studying acting at the Herbert Bergdof Studio and RCA Institute for TV production. The story goes that he was upset that he was merely auditioning, but his tryout was a sensation. Yehoram Gaon earned his breakout role, and a lifelong collaboration with Seltzer, who write songs for Gaon’s solo concerts, for Ani Yerushalmi “I am a Jerusalemite” and much more.
KAZABLAN Part II
Godik brought in a top notch staff. Many changes were made to Mossinson’s original play. A musical needs some sort of romantic story, so the romantic interaction between Rachel and Kazablan became central. The role of Moshiko was substantially enlarged. Abrasha was cut. Perhaps most important, the crime Kazablan was accused of was theft, not murder. The motif of the Kibbutz or indeed of any alternative to the neighborhood was gone—rather than building up the land at a kibbutz, they decide to stay and resist attempts to destroy their neighborhood. (Perhaps this was a nod to the plans to level the neighborhood that were already underway). The grand finale is not a wedding but a brit milah—circumcision—a clear suggestion that the way to lessen ethnic tensions was—in one of the Kazablan songs said—to recognize “kulanu yehudim”—“We’re all Jews.” The point: the shared identity of all Jews transcends individual practices and ethnic distinctions, and ideally the next generation would have some of the best qualities from many different communities. Godik made changes as the play was in production, demanding, for example, that Hefer write new lyrics for some of the songs.
Kazablan ran for 606 performances at the Alhambra, and has been mounted in school and camp productions frequently, with major professional Israeli revivals as well. The film project incorporated most but not all of the songs from the stage musical. Among the additions to the score was “Rosa Rosa,” a piece Seltzer wrote for Yehoram Gaon’s first solo concert.
For the 1973 film, unlike some of the earlier films, it was no longer possible to film in HaShetach HaGadol, which had already been transformed to a beautiful park. Kazablan was filmed in the Manshiya neighborhood instead, along the Mediterranean north of downtown Jaffa. In the film, the neighborhood avoided the bulldozers. In reality, like HaShetach HaGadol and for that matter the neighborhood on the West Side of Manhattan that provided the setting for West Side Story, to which Kazablan is so often compared, Manshiya was leveled shortly after filming. Only three buildings remain: Hassan Bek Mosque, the base of the building now housing the Etzel Museum, and a small private home. The story goes that rather than clear away all the debris, the decision was made to cover it, creating the Charles Clore Park of today—near the Dolphinarium and the Dan Intercontinental of today, and the 2019 Eurovision Village. I wonder how many people visiting that part of Tel Aviv realize they are walking over the ruins of Manshiya—and of the set for Kazablan.
Globus and Golan filmed Kazablan in Hebrew and English: the actors filmed every scene twice, once in each language.
Choice of songs—Singalong.
I chose three songs for tonight’s lecture. If time allows, we will sing Kol HaKavod as well. All of them have lively, easy-to-learn, repeating motifs.
Yafo “Jaffa”: Of course, given the idea of a musical visit to Jaffa, this one is obvious. This song was part of the Alhambra production. In the film, it was performed by Aliza Azikri (Born in Morocco in 1941 as Lucy Malul; died in Israel in 2009), although she had many other hits, she is probably most famous for her role in Kazablan, and for her collaboration with Aris San, championing Greek style music and producing an album called Na’ara Mamash Otzar early in her career.
In the film, she also sang part of the song Rosa Rosa.
The song focuses on Yafo as a place of nightclubs, stage shows, good food and drink.
Rosa Rosa: This was not part of the original stage musical. Seltzer writes that he composed it for Yehoram Gaon’s first solo performance. The words are by Haim Hefer. Seltzer notes that Israel Broadcasting (Kol Yisrael) “didn’t get the joke” but the public loved it and demanded Gaon sing it in his concerts. Hefer wrote a third verse that was not included in the film. Interestingly, Yehoram Gaon sings about opening a store to sell “almonds and raisins” in the film, and not the pistachios of the published lyrics.
Democratia “Democracy”: I chose this song because it is the one my students most reference; perhaps it is because the repeating section is a single word, and one that they recognize, or, as happened recently in my class, to clarify the satiric take on the state of democracy for those living in slums. However, I have also used Democratia and Kulanu Yehudim “we are all Jews” to illustrate the tensions between two competing notions about the Israeli State that go back at least to its Declaration of Independence in 1948. The Declaration announces Israel as “A Jewish State” but also promises it to be a Democratic State with equality for all its inhabitants. This tension is clearly visible in the musical; it seems to me that both Democracy and Kulanu Yehudim “We are all Jews” are large ensemble numbers—and that “We are All Jews” is set in a vibrant market place where people are buying, selling, and arguing even to the point of getting into shouting matches. Decades later, in 1992, an Israeli Basic Law gave constitutional status to both these ideas—“We’re all Jews” and “Democracy”—as what is often called Medina Yehudit Medina Democratit. “A Jewish and Democratic State.” Already by that time, though, debate about this issue had changed, and certainly it encompasses different terms today—different conceptualizations of what is at stake for the terms “Jewish” and “Democratic,” and how these concepts can point in different directions. Perhaps as a result of lessening Ashkenazi-Sephardi tensions, part of the debate of a “Jewish vs. Democratic State” has to do with the role of traditional Judaism in the Jewish population; increasingly salient though is discussing whether the State of Israel is the “State of all its inhabitants”—Arabs as well as Jews—and increasing democratic representation and agency for all social classes as well. Balancing these two issues remains a continuing motif in Israeli politics, literature and social realities.
Two brief additional comments gleaned from Seltzer’s discussion of the musical: Chava Alberstein’s haunting voice-over of Ani kol kakh pochedet, sung over images of the Rachel character walking on the beach, created a very different impression than in the stage musical, when it was sung by the character herself. Seltzer viewed the song Tered mimeni Kazablan “get off me Kazablan” as the turning point in the story, when Kazablan shakes off some of the negativity of his life; all this song is clearly an interior thought, it is sung by Gaon in the film, and the opening notes of the overture refer to this piece as well.
Kazablan’s enduring success reflects the classic story, with ethnic strife, a gangster type winning acceptance, and the tensions between new immigrants of different ethnicities, and between them and middle-class veterans. The issues of overcoming ethnic tensions and coming together for the sake of a neighborhood in the face of urban renewal probably resonate with audiences far more than the kibbutz / city dichotomy of the original play. The images of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are also part of its magic. Probably most important though, its success is based on exemplary production values, stunning music and riveting performances.
Other Songs of Yafo
In preparation for this talk, I reviewed a number of lists of “Songs of Jaffa.” Although Kol HaKavod makes no explicit reference to Jaffa, it is included just about every list I saw.
For reference, here are a few other songs:
1. Ein kmo Yafo baLeilot (Haim Hefer / Hatarnegolim “The Roosters”)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoRsR0eQI2o
2. Zo hi Yafo (Y. Gamzu, M. Willenski/ Avi Toledano).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJRa33bUbDM , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTK2tmqsaao
3. Yafo Ir Ad. (Moshe Kotler, Sando Pardo-Barzilai / Yisrael Yitzhaki).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j4Xtlrhvzg
4. Halon le-Yam Tikhon (Yaakov Gil’ad Yehuda Polikar / Yehuda Polikar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHjsbA8Jv6A
5. Namah Yafo (Yaakov Sharet, Yoni Rechter / Gidi Gov)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRBQA4_vsy0
6. Yafo – Ani Halachti li-Yrushalayim (Herzl Kabilio lyrics and music) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9YU-1bfkKk
7. I recently found a recording of “Andromeda’s Rock, the original song for Kazablan, sung by Adi Etzion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TTW1el0Fio
Thank you for your attention. Thanks for singing with me over ZOOM. Please note upcoming events of the Colorado Hebrew Chorale: Miryam Raizen, and Sing Out for SafeHouse.
Coffeecups 