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Arik Einstein was born in Tel Aviv in January 1939. He was more than our greatest singer. For many, from all corners of the country and from all walks of life, Arik Einstein was a symbol of the true Eretz Israel. Although he was only a boy of nine when the State of Israel was declared, it seems his voice and his songs have always been part of our lives. From the early days of Israel (or "Good Old Eretz Israel", as he called it), through all the wars and the joyous occasions, the ups and the downs, in good times and in bad.
With infinite creativity, he recorded songs and created wonderful albums for forty years. He never stopped being innovative and interesting. He strove to be up-to-date but was also always full of longing for the past, even as he got older. Shortly before his death at the age of 74 in November 2013, he recorded songs by Avraham Halfi for a new album. He never stopped singing. Arik Einstein was no "ordinary singer" who sang whatever was written for him. He sought out texts and wrote lyrics for dozens of songs. And when it came to composers, he discovered young talents who grew alongside him and together they created his unique style: Shmulik Kraus, Shalom Hanoch, Miki Gavrielov, Shem Tov Levy, Yon! Rechter, Yitzhak Klepter, Guy Bocati and many more. In his albums he created a reality or responded to reality from his own original viewpoint, which was always both funny and sad. Arik was warm and pleasant and most of all, full of love. Love for family, friends, places, memories, old songs and stories.
Could you imagine yourself living here without the songs of Arik Einstein?
During the 50 odd years of his career, Arik Einstein recorded some 500 songs - with the IDF Nachal Band, Batzal Yarok (Green Onion), Yarkon Bridge Trio, Hahalonot Hagvohim (The High Windows), in a variety of productions, films and plays, and no less than 40 solo albums (plus eight anthologies) in which he collaborated with the best artists. No other Israeli artist has been so prolific, so diverse and with that, so loved.
Yoav Kutner
