Chava Alberstein ( he, חוה אלברשטיין, born 8 December 1946 in Poland) is an Israeli musician,
lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment.
Royalties
A lyricist's income ...
, composer, and
musical arranger
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...
.
Biography
Born Ewa Alberstein in
Szczecin
Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...
, Poland, her name was
Hebraized to Chava when she
moved to Israel with her family in 1950.
She grew up in
Kiryat Haim
Kiryat Haim ( he, קריית חיים , ar, كريات حاييم) is a neighborhood of Haifa, Israel. It is considered part of the Krayot cluster in the northern part of metropolitan Haifa. In 2008, Kiryat Haim had a population of just un ...
.
In 1964, when she was seventeen, Alberstein was invited to appear at the Hammam Nightclub in
Jaffa
Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...
. She sang four songs, accompanied by herself on guitar and her brother Alex on the clarinet.
[Chava Alberstein bio]
The program was broadcast live on the radio. After a guest appearance on ''Moadon Hazemer'', recorded on
Kibbutz
A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...
Beit Alfa
Beit Alfa ( he, בֵּית אַלְפָא; also Beit Alpha, Bet Alpha and Bet Alfa) is a kibbutz in the Northern District of Israel, founded in 1922 by immigrants from Poland. Located at the base of the Gilboa ridge, it falls under the jurisdic ...
, she signed a recording contract with
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
.
[ Early in her career, she appeared at the Amami Cinema in ]Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
's Neve Sha'anan neighborhood. ''Haaretz
''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
'' columnist Neri Livneh described her as "a little slip of a thing in a blue youth movement shirt, her face covered by huge glasses".
Alberstein was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
in 1965 and became one of many Israeli artists to rise to stardom by entertaining the troops.
Musical career
Alberstein has released more than sixty albums. She has recorded in Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
, English, and Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
. In 1980, she began to write and compose. Most of the songs on her album ''Mehagrim'' are her own work.[ Alberstein's husband was the filmmaker ]Nadav Levitan
Nadav Levitan ( he, נדב לויתן; 21 April 1945 – 9 January 2010) was an Israeli film director, screenwriter, writer, and songwriter. He directed nine films between 1981 and 1999. His film '' Stalin's Disciples'' (in Hebrew ''Stalin ...
, who wrote the lyrics for her album ''End of the Holiday''. In 1986, Alberstein wrote music for her husband's film '' Stalin's Disciples''. Levitan died in 2010. Alberstein's songs have been included in a number of multi-artist collections, among them '' Songs of The Vilna Ghetto'' and ''The Hidden Gate – Jewish Music Around the World''.
Critical acclaim
According to Israel's second largest daily newspaper, ''Yedioth Ahronoth
''Yedioth Ahronoth'' ( he, יְדִיעוֹת אַחֲרוֹנוֹת, ; lit. ''Latest News'') is a national daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. Founded in 1939 in British Mandatory Palestine, ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' is the largest paid n ...
'', Alberstein is the most important female folk singer
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...
in Israeli history:
Political views and controversy
Alberstein is a champion of liberal causes. Throughout her career, she has been an activist for human rights and Arab-Israeli unity. In 1989, her song "Had Gadya" (an altered version of the song traditionally sung at the Passover seder
The Passover Seder (; he, סדר פסח , 'Passover order/arrangement'; yi, סדר ) is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew c ...
), in which she criticizes Israel's policy towards Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
s, was banned by Israel State Radio. The song was later used in the film '' Free Zone'' by director Amos Gitai
Amos Gitai ( he, עמוס גיתאי; born 11 October 1950) is an Israeli filmmaker, who was trained as an architect.
Gitai's work was presented in several major retrospectives in Pompidou Center in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and L ...
in Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman (born Natalie Hershlag, he, נטע-לי הרשלג, ) is an Israeli-born American actress. She has had a prolific film career since her teenage years and has starred in various blockbusters and independent films, receiving mu ...
's seven-minute crying scene.
Alberstein is also a champion of the Yiddish language, both in her recordings and in a video titled "Too Early to Be Quiet, Too Late to Sing", which showcases the works of Yiddish poets.
Awards
Alberstein has won the Kinor David
Kinor David (lit: "David's Harp") is an annual Israeli cultural award.
History
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth presented the Kinor David Award from 1964 to 1986 for outstanding achievement in entertainment, theatre, film, music, and broad ...
(''David's Harp'') Prize. In 1999, she received the Itzik Manger Prize
The Itzik Manger Prize for outstanding contributions to Yiddish literature was established in 1968, shortly before Itzik Manger's death in 1969. Manger "was and remains one of the best-known twentieth-century Yiddish poets." The Prize has been desc ...
.[ The date of the Manger Prize is given in Archive of the Mendele mailing list.] On 28 January 2011, she received the Lifetime Achievement Music Award from the Israel Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers of Musical Works, and holds honorary doctorates from Tel Aviv University and the Weizmann Institute of Science of Israel. On 13 May 2018, she was awarded an honorary doctorate in music from Brandeis University
, mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts"
, established =
, type = Private research university
, accreditation = NECHE
, president = Ronald D. Liebowitz
, pro ...
.
Quotes
* "Even though I have lived in Israel nearly my entire life, I am constantly questioning my place in the world. Maybe this searching comes from being an artist, maybe it comes from being a Jew. I'm not really sure".
Discography
References
External links
*
Chava Alberstein
at Aviv Productions
Chava Alberstein
at ''Nature et Culture'' (archived)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alberstein, Chava
1946 births
Living people
Polish emigrants to Israel
Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent
English-language singers from Israel
20th-century Israeli women singers
21st-century Israeli women singers
Yiddish-language singers
Israeli film score composers
Israeli women writers
Jewish folk singers
Label Bleu artists
Itzik Manger Prize recipients