Birth name Naomi Sapir Name Naomi Shemer Instruments Vocals | Role Musician | |
Born July 13, 1930 ( 1930-07-13 ) Died June 26, 2004, Tel Aviv, Israel Spouse Mordechai Horowitz (m. 1969–2004) Children Ariel Horowitz, Lali Shemer Albums Hashirim Yefim, -ASIF-, LOVERS BREAD-BEAUTIFUL SONGS OF NAOMI SHEMER Similar People Yehoram Gaon, Arik Einstein, Nathan Alterman, Ariel Horowitz, Gideon Shemer | ||
Jerusalem of gold yerushalayim shel zahav ofra haza with english lyrics
Naomi Shemer (Hebrew: נעמי שמר; July 13, 1930 – June 26, 2004) was a leading Israeli musician and songwriter, hailed as the "first lady of Israeli song and poetry." 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.
Contents
- Jerusalem of gold yerushalayim shel zahav ofra haza with english lyrics
- Early life
- Songwriting career
- Personal life
- Awards
- Works
- References
Early life
Naomi Sapir was born to Rivka Sapir and Meir Sapir 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.
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.
In 1963, she composed "Hurshat Ha'Eucalyptus" ("The Eucalyptus Grove"), a song that evokes Kvutzat Kinneret where she was born. 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."
"Yerushalayim Shel Zahav" and other songs have come over time to be associated increasingly with right-wing politics and the Israeli settlement movement.
Personal life
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.
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. In 1962, singer Paco Ibanez performed the Basque melody, "Pello Joxepe" (Joseph The Fool), in Israel, when Shemer might have heard it.
Awards
In 1983, Shemer received the Israel Prize for Hebrew song (words and melody).