Ivri Lider. Credit: Ronen Ackerman
Ivri Lider, one of Israel's biggest rock stars, has just released his first single in the United States. It's called Jesse - clip below.
As you've no doubt guessed after viewing the clip, Ivri Lider is gay. He came out of the closet several years after he became famous, in a groundbreaking interview with Gal Uchovsky that was published in Maariv newspaper about five years ago. Somehow, the women of Israel managed to swallow their shock and disappointment and continue to love Ivri for his music, whilst maintaining a detached admiration for his biceps and sweet smile.
Interestingly, declaring that he was gay did not have any negative effect on Lider's career at all. In fact, he just became more popular. This is one of the weird anomalies about Israeli society, which proudly sneers at American style political correctness (often confused with, uh, basic civility). On the one hand it's still common to hear the word "homo" used as an insult (okay, not so much in Tel Aviv), but on the other hand the army drafts openly gay soldiers into uber-macho combat units, and Tel Aviv is often included on lists of the most gay friendly cities in the world.
Ivri Lider has composed and sung soundtrack songs for all of the Gal Uchovsky-Eytan Fox Films:
Yossi and Jaeger, about a love affair between two soldiers stationed in southern Lebanon
Walk on Water, about a Mossad agent who is assigned to track down and kill a Nazi war criminal by becoming friendly with his gay grandson
The Bubble, about a Romeo and Juliet-type love affair that develops between an Israeli guy and a Palestinian guy after the two meet at a checkpoint in the West Bank.
Seven years ago, I traveled around India listening to Lider's hit debut album on a loop. It's called Melatef uMeshaker (Caress and Lie)and the clip for the title song is below. Hebrew lyrics here; my rough translation is beneath the clip.
Caress
and
lie
And
sometimes when I smile
I see
his face in my mind
And I
convince myself in my heart
That I
don’t resemble him, I’m someone
else
Because
in a few months
I’m
changing my life to a new and improved version
And
instead of people I’ll have tools
That
will do what I tell them and not what others tell them to
do
Because I also
love
I caress and I
lie
When they talk about it a
lot
I go quiet and
withdraw
And you’ve known my other
face for years
They look similar, but
not exactly the same
Like everyone
else
From
another performance
The
people that were here and depart
Leave
me alone in my room, a kiss and we
part
They
only leave a kiss and unresolved issues
remain
And at
the most beautiful moments darkness is my
friend
They
drink and they play their instruments and they love one
another
Because
that’s the way people are when it’s time to
go
I run
out of words
And
sometimes when I smile
I see
his face in my mind
And I
convince myself in my heart
That I
don’t resemble him, I’m someone
else
Because
in a few months
I’m
changing my life to a new and improved version
And
instead of people I’ll have tools
That
will do what I tell them and not what others tell them to
do
Because I also
love
I caress and I
lie
When they talk about it a
lot
I go quiet and
withdraw
And you’ve known my other
face for years
They look similar, but
not exactly the same
Like everyone
else
I'm someone else
Ivri Lider's website
Ivri Lider on Myspace
Article on Ivri Lider that was published in Haaretz.
