David Ma'aravi (1896 - May 23, 1945), an early

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i sculptor, painter and composer. A fundamental figure in the development of

Israeli music The music of Israel is a combination of Jewish and non-Jewish music traditions that have come together over the course of a century to create a distinctive musical culture. For almost 150 years, musicians have sought original stylistic elements ...

and

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

Biography

David Ma'aravi was born in 1896 in

Ekaterinoslav Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

, Russia. He learned

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

history from his father, a Hebrew teacher. In 1911, at the age of 15, he immigrated to the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...

on his own. In Israel, he studied sculpture and painting at the

Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design () is a public college of design and art located in Jerusalem. Established in 1906 by Jewish painter and sculptor Boris Schatz, Bezalel is Israel's oldest institution of higher education and is considered the ...

, where he studied with Abel Pann.{{Cite news, url=https://www.haaretz.co.il/literature/study/.premium-1.2298599, title=פנקסי הרישומים של האמן הנעלם דוד מערבי (the sketchbooks of the lost artist David Ma'aravi), last=Meidad, first=Eliyahu, date=2014-04-18, work=הארץ, access-date=2019-01-29, language=he When the residents of

Tel-Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

were expelled from their home in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he became a guard, and later a farmer. Later he studied composition for several years with Yoel Engel and taught music and painting for 25 years in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

and Tel-Aviv. He composed more than 80 children songs, some of which have become unofficial national folk songs. In addition, he compiled music reading booklets for the elementary school that were very popular at the tim

He died on May 23 in Tel Aviv from a heart disease at the age of 49.

Notes

External links

Songs by David Ma'aravi
- at Shironet. 1896 births 1945 deaths Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire Immigrants of the Second Aliyah