Chava Alberstein ( , born 8 December 1946 in Poland) is an Israeli musician,

lyricist A lyricist is a writer 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 derives ...

, 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 orchestratio ...

. She moved to Israel in 1950 and started her music career in 1964. Alberstein has released over sixty albums in Hebrew, English, and Yiddish. She is known for her liberal activism and advocacy for human rights and Arab-Israeli unity, which has sometimes stirred controversy, such as the ban of her song "Had Gadya" by Israel State Radio in 1989. Alberstein has received numerous accolades, including the Kinor David Prize, 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 bee ...

, and honorary doctorates from several universities.

Biography

Born Ewa Alberstein in

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

, 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 ( ) is a neighborhood of Haifa. It is considered part of the Krayot cluster in the northern part of metropolitan Haifa. In 2008, Kiryat Haim had a population of just under 27,000. Kiryat Haim is within the municipal borders of ...

. In 1964, when she was seventeen, Alberstein was invited to appear at the Hammam Nightclub in

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

. 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 ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Beit Alfa Beit Alfa (; also Beit Alpha, Bet Alpha and Bet Alfa) is a kibbutz in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel, founded in 1922 by immigrants from Poland. Located at the base of the Gilboa (ridge), Gilboa ridge, it falls under ...

, she signed a recording contract with

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. Early in her career, she appeared at the Amami Cinema in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, 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 metropolitan area i ...

's Neve Sha'anan neighborhood. ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'' 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; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

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 (; ''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 ...

, English, and

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

. 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 (; 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's Children'', ילדי � ...

, who wrote the lyrics for her album ''End of the Holiday''. In 1986, Alberstein wrote music for her husband's film ''

Stalin's Disciples ''Stalin's Disciples'' (, in Hebrew Stalin's Children) is a 1986 Israeli film directed by Nadav Levitan that satirizes the utopian ideology of the Israeli kibbutz. The death of Joseph Stalin in the 1950s leads to an ideological crisis on a kibb ...

''. Levitan died in 2010. Alberstein's songs have been included in a number of multi-artist collections, among them ''

Songs of The Vilna Ghetto ''Songs of the Vilna Ghetto'' is a compilation LP record featuring twelve Yiddish songs from World War II era. The songs were composed by the inmates of the Vilna Ghetto during the Holocaust and are sung by Nechama Hendel, Chava Alberstein, and ...

'' and ''The Hidden Gate – Jewish Music Around the World''.

Critical acclaim

According to Israel's second largest daily newspaper, ''

Yedioth Ahronoth (, ; lit. "Latest News") is an Israeli daily mass market newspaper published in Tel Aviv. Founded in 1939, is Israel's largest paid newspaper by sales and circulation and has been described as "undoubtedly the country's number-one paper."

'', Alberstein is the most important female

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

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" (a version of the song traditionally sung at the

Passover seder The Passover Seder is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar (i.e., at the start of the 15th; a Hebrew d ...

with an additional verse in which she implicitly criticizes Israel's policy towards

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

s) was banned by Israel State Radio. The song was later used in the film '' Free Zone'' by director

Amos Gitai Amos Gitai () is an artist and an Israelis, Israeli filmmaker, born 11 October 1950 in Haifa, Israel. Gitai's work was presented in several major retrospectives in Pompidou Center in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Lincoln Center for ...

Natalie Portman Natalie Hershlag{{efn, Some Hebrew sources claim that her birth name was "Neta-Lee Hershleg" ({{langx, he, נטע-לי הרשלג) and later, her first name was Americanized to "Natalie". {{Cite news , last=Shamir , first=Oron , date=August ...

's seven-minute crying scene. Alberstein is also a proponent 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 broa ...

(''David's Harp'') Prize. In 1999, she received the

. 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 Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

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 ''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 of Israel Israeli film score composers Israeli women writers Jewish folk singers Label Bleu artists Itzik Manger Prize recipients