The Israeli music industry marked a year of wartime art at the 68th annual ACUM Awards ceremony held Sunday evening.
The awards recognized established musicians as well as young talents.
This year, the pogrom of October 7, the soldiers at the front and the hostages still captive in Gaza were mentioned by a number of laureates and speakers.
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“Until the 101 kidnapped people return and all the soldiers return home, there will be no joy or celebration,” said master of ceremonies Zvika Hadar. “Bringing the hostages home…is part of our DNA and our desire as a nation.”
Yair Klinger performs and accepts an award at the 69th ACUM music awards on November 24, 2024 (Credit: Shlomi Pinto/ACUM)
Hadar noted that some musicians, like Idan Amedi and Raviv Kaner, had been unable to create music because their service in the reserves had left them no time for creativity, while other artists had performed several times for IDF units during the long months of the war.
Rap duo Ness Ve Stilla (Nessya Levi and Dor Soroker) were named Discovery of the Year for their war song Harbu Darbu (War and Pain). The title, inspired by a Syrian war cry passed into Hebrew slang, reached number one on Israeli streaming platforms.
Levi said a year ago she was a waitress at the Jaffa flea market, saving up for recording sessions, before her life changed dramatically thanks to the success of their song. The lyrics support the war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and call for the death of its leaders after the October 7 attack.
Another prize went to Get Out of Depression, performed by Yagel Oshri. This song, written by Oshri and Ofir Cohen, with arrangements by Cohen and Shimon Yihye, won Song of the Year. Oshri and Cohen performed it during the ceremony.
Ziv and Gali Berman, taken hostage at Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, worked for the music production company Sincopa, located in Kfar Aza. Several members of their family attended the ceremony.
Five Sincopa employees were murdered on October 7, and the Berman brothers remain in captivity in Gaza.
Yardena Arazi performed Home by Yair Klinger when he received the Naomi Shemer Lifetime Achievement Award. She talked about the Berman twins, now 27, hired at the age of 18 by Sincopa during one of the singer’s shows.
“As soon as the war broke out, I received a photo of them, so young, smiling and carrying boxes backstage at one of my concerts,” she said. “This image has been with me for over a year. And every time I sing your melody, Yair, on the song Home, I see them in front of me and every word of the song resonates with their absence. You must go home now. At home. “.
Composer Klinger received a lifetime achievement award, which spans 60 years, and for composing some of Israel’s best-loved songs.
Mizrahi songwriter Yossi Gispan was also recognized for his body of work, with some 1,100 songs to his credit.
Singer-songwriter Dani Litani, now 81, has been praised for his contribution to Israeli music by the ACUM board of directors. He received a standing ovation from the audience.
Hanan Ben Ari, honored for his song There’s More Here Than That, explained that his work was born from a need for purification, more than from a creative impulse.
“In this year, it is curious to receive an award that does not reward battle, survival and heroism,” Ben Ari said.
“This year, I was able to see how music helped soldiers enter battles from which they might not return. I saw how music helped them heal when they left the combat zone and when they got married on military bases. I saw what music brings to the heroic survivors of the Nova [festival] and, sadly, how comforting it can be at funerals and memorials. The music is always there, it envelops us, and transmits its message without judgment. »
