Naomi Shemer

Naomi Shemer
Background information
Birth name	Naomi Sapir
Born	(1930-07-13)July 13, 1930
Origin	Kvutzat Kinneret (present-day Israel)
Died	June 26, 2004(2004-06-26) (aged 73) Tel Aviv, Israel
Genres	World
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals

Naomi Shemer (Hebrew: נעמי שמר‎‎; July 13, 1930 – June 26, 2004) was a leading^[1] Israeli musician and songwriter, hailed as the "first lady of Israeli song and poetry."^[2][3] Her song "Yerushlayim Shel Zahav" ("Jerusalem of Gold") written in 1967, became an unofficial second anthem after Israel won the Six-Day War that year and reunited Jerusalem.

Biography

Naomi Sapir was born in Kvutzat Kinneret, a kibbutz her parents had helped found, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. In the 1950s she served in the Israeli Defense Force's Nahal entertainment troupe, and studied music at the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem, and in Tel Aviv with Paul Ben-Haim, Abel Ehrlich, Ilona Vincze-Kraus and Josef Tal.

Marriage and family

She first married actor Gideon Shemer and had a daughter, Lali. They were later divorced. She later married an attorney, Mordechai Horowitz, with whom she had a son, Ariel.^[4]

The grave of Israeli songwriter Naomi Shemer on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret). Visitors leave stones in keeping with an ancient Jewish custom.

Songwriting career

Shemer did her own songwriting and composing, set famous poems to music, such as those of the Israeli poet, Rachel, and the American Walt Whitman. She also translated and adapted popular songs into Hebrew, such as the Beatles song "Let It Be" in 1973.^[5]

In 1963, she composed "Hurshat Ha'Eucalyptus" ("The Eucalyptus Grove"), a song that evokes Kvutzat Kinneret where she was born.^[6] It was covered in a recent version by Ishtar. In 1967, she wrote the patriotic song, "Yerushalayim Shel Zahav" (Jerusalem of Gold), which was sung by Shuly Nathan and became famous. She wrote it for the Israeli Music Festival. After Israel's victory in the Six-Day War that year, she added another verse celebrating the reunification of Jerusalem. The song "gained the status of an informal second national anthem."^[5]

"Yerushalayim Shel Zahav" and other songs have come over time to be associated increasingly with right-wing politics and the Israeli settlement movement.^[7][8]

Later years

Shemer continued to write her own songs. She died in 2004 of cancer, aged 73. Shortly before her death, she wrote to a friend, saying she had used a Basque folk melody as the basis for her 1967 "anthem," "Jerusalem of Gold". She had always denied it before. The friend and her family decided to publish the account.^[9]

In 1962, singer Paco Ibanez performed the Basque melody, "Pello Joxepe" (Joseph The Fool), in Israel, when Shemer might have heard it.^[9]

Awards

In 1983, Shemer received the Israel Prize for Hebrew song (words and melody).^[10]

Works

• All My Songs (Almost), 1967, published by Yedioth Ahronoth

• The Second Book, copyright 1975, published by Lulav

• Number Three (Sefer Gimel), copyright 1982, published by Lulav

• Book Four (Sefer Arbah), copyright 1995, published by Shva Publishers

See also

• Ada Aharoni
• Karen Alkalay-Gut
• Raquel Chalfi
• Hava Pinchas-Cohen
• Janice Rebibo
• Yona Wallach
• Zelda (poet)
• List of Israel Prize recipients

References

External links

• Obituary for Naomi Shemer, Jewish Federations
• Tikkun Toronto