Natasha's Friends: Radio Blah-Blah

By: Ariel Bercovich

The texts of the now defunct Israeli rock group, The Friends of Natasha, take us on a voyage through modern day Israeli society and all its ills, on both the social and individual level. Their music conveys: postmodernism, alienation, immigration, discrimination, oppression and depression. The personal history of the group shows us clearly that one can find a way out of the morass. Yes, one can escape.

A number of considerations led me to change the theme of this article at the very last moment. The first was the latest disc of Arkady Duchin. The second: Micha Shitrit's new disc. The third was the song "I Don't Dance" (Ani Lo Roked), playing on my kitchen radio at precisely the right moment: one fairly melancholy morning. The fourth and most persuasive reason was the group itself: Hachaverim shel Natasha.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

First, a bit of background. Micha Shitrit was born in Yokneam, one of those development towns designed to absorb the large immigrant populations of the 1950's, Jews from North Africa. His family, of Moroccan origin, arrived in Israel in an exceedingly difficult economic situation, which was made worse due to his father's constant periods of unemployment. That same reality was shared by the majority of the North African immigrant families, and this ended up designating Yokneam and its sister development towns as areas where humiliation and desperation reigned supreme. Shitrit remembers how he suffered as a child,seeing his father, who had always been a most elegant and respected figure, enter furtively into their house, concealing himself so that the family would not see the filth left on him from 12 hours in the factory. And he remembers how, at 15 years of age, he was watching his own future as he watched his father. To this same Yokneam came 15 year old Arkadi Duchin, emigrating with his family from the former Soviet Union. Duchin's family underwent an absorption process even more difficult than that of Shitrit's parents, and they frequently had to ration the food so that every mouth could be filled. Duchin, famous for his shyness, recounts that he was so humilliated at not being able to express himself in Hebrew, that he decided not to speak at all! And that notwithstanding, he was drafted into the tanks' division in the Israeli Army and served in the Lebanese War. To this day he reminds us that, at the war's end, he still did not know who was the enemy or for precisely whom or what he had been fighting for.

HOW IT ALL CONTINUED

Once both of them had completed their army service, they returned to Yokneam to look for employment; though neither one yet knew the other. In a short while they became aquainted thanks to shared friends , and they swiftly began to improvise melodies together in the long and empty afternoons. Tasks were clearly defined: Micha took care of lyrics and vocals, Arkadi dealt with the music. These musical interlude afternoons lasted about a year, and they might have gone on indefinitely, but something happened. Arkadi was the first to note that Yokneam was anathema to his dreams and aspirations. With 70 shekels in his rucksack, he packed his suitcase, and took the bus in the most anxious and hope-filled journey of his life, towrads the Big City: Tel Aviv. When he got there he rented a room in an old dwelling, and searched for employment. In his free moments he ferreted about the city streets, and upon returning to his room each night he composed melodies, keeping them in store for some time in the future. Two months had barely gone by, when Arkadi opened the door and saw Micha!. He brought with him two changes of clothing and 120 shekels more. How fortunate it was for Israeli music that Micha knocked on the door that lazy Tel Aviv afternoon: together, they became one of the most creative duos in Israeli music.

Micha remembers that he begged Arkadi to play something altogether new. His initial idea was to bring the duo more up to date in terms of Israeli Rock. He didn't realize that Arkadi had a surprise in store. His voice had been transformed from a fragile thread which struggled merely to keep a tune, into a resonance that would make anybody tremble. That short period of independence and loneliness had done something to Arkadi, and Micha wasted no time in deciding that from that moment on BOTH of them would sing!. But until that voice would reach the ears of the public, the two of them still needed some sort of steady income! Micha worked as a building constructor during the day, and Arkadi washed dishes at night in a bar. How did they resolve such clashing schedules? Frequently during the day, Arkadi would drop by Micha's construction site. They would toss around a new composition, and go back to their apartment with fresh new ideas and lyrics ripe for composition. Once they had achieved some sort of minimal economic stability, they began to look for new band members. And this is also when they coined their name: Hachaverim shel Natasha, "Natasha's Friends".

 

HOW IT ALL ENDED

Hachaverim shel Natasha was the name of the band's first record, which debuted in Israeli disc shops at the close of '89. This first outing did not reap any economic benefits for them, but it did gain them artistic recognition. In 1991 we heard "Shinuim be herguelei hatzricha" ("Changes in Consumption patterns"), and in 1994 "Achlazaurim". Their fourth work, "Radio bla bla", was certainly their most important. This opus allowed them to discard their other jobs, demonstrated an elaborate level of musical sophistication, and had the greatest amount of material on it! (2 CD's). Nonetheless, all these changes began to generate tensions within the group. And that was why the fifth disc, a live concert recording, was actually a farewell, (though nobody knew it at the time), which included the band's best tunes. Following the split, both members have pursued their solo careers with a success that designates them among Israel's most successful contemporary singer-songwriters.

COME AND HEAR: NATASHA AND HER SONGS

So that's the brief history of Hachaverim shel Natasha. And now I would like to aquaint you with their music. After "Ani lo roked" changed my mood for the better a few mornings ago, it left me with a bitter-sweet sensation. On one hand the concrete proof that a good song can indeed effect change, though that change need not be soul-reaching. On the other hand, my frustration because the extent of that change and my accompanying happiness would be understood by very few people.And that is why I decided to jettison all my plans at the last moment, and dedicate this article to those who would like to get to know this band, to explain some of the group's songs. I need not add that, if I had my way, I would include in this article "Natasha's" entire output. But since that might get a tad complicated, I have resolved to focus on three songs that are representative of their discography. Each one deals with a different theme, and each one affords us a glimpse into some aspect of life in Israel.

MELANCHOLY-MELANCHOLIC

Music: Micha Shitrit Lyrics: Arkadi Duchin Melancholy on the roof I dance in front of a wild half-moon My face or dryness betting on something To jump off, or hang on Thoughts fall from the trees And whirl about in the autumn Soft women on rusty beds They open up now And you half-close your eyes Hoping that he will fall Dogs will clamp their teeth down Deep down in his skin, his flesh, his bones. Monotonous on the roof Antenas watch a crazy moon Jumping off would be boring The face won't make contact I have no desire to remain here in autumn Then you half-close your eyes Hoping that he will fall The dogs will bite you as well In your skin, in your flesh, in your blood, your bones. The Yarkon flows and empties into the sea The whores as well.

The Chaverim shel Natasha are living in the big city, and begin to take note of their environment.Tel Aviv, at the dawn of the 90's, was flowing with color, hysteria, consumerism and art. These were the years of an economic, cultural and technological revolution. Postmodernism began to develop thanks to the cultural-economic-tecnological impact of the USA . All the world's capitals were suddenly inundated with McDonald's, 21 inch screen televisions, and MTV. Aids and Internet are on the way. The countdown towards the new millenium get under way, and with it a surge of spirituality, prophecies, and Apocalypses. This is the urban reality which inspires Shitrit's "Melancholy". The song describes a limit-situation: a sensitive individual who, in a burst of insanity or supreme rationalism, plays with the idea of suicide. But the song includes all the topics of post-modern culture. The main theme is the apocalyptic sensation which permits one to wager the life, for a sizeable sum or for nothing. Life is so devoid of meaning, that the mere toss of a coin determines whether one should continue to live or not . Then we have the craziness of consumer culture and the mass media, which with its antenas and cables do not allow the subject to view the moon, and all the TV audience who barely blink as they wait for him to topple from the roof to the ground. Then, one minute before he jumps, this desperate being screams at us from the rooftop: Watch out! I am the same as you, and what happens to me will happen to you also. The same dogs that feast on my cadaver will feast on yours. All of this occurs in an apathetic world which just keeps spinning, and the Yarkon River with its prostitutess that goes on flowing. Today, nearly a decade later, the song is frighteningly relevant.

"ANI LO ROKED KSHE ATZUV LI" – "WHEN I'M DEPRESSED, I DON'T DANCE"

Music: Micha Shitrit Lyrics: Arkadi Duchin Move over! It's happening to me, I want to dance, but I can't move! Is it just feeling down ? No, really down!, 40 megahertz. I feel it in my stomach and that's fine! And the sound volume? Brilliant! My ears are practically flying! I can hear it till the end of the street. I don't dance when I'm depressed. I don't dance when I'm depressed. In the groove? Excellent. I thought that they were black-skinned fellows Black is good, no? Yes, yes, yes . I'm suffering... Because of the DJ? No, from the Meditterranean Blues. I don't dance when I'm depressed. I don't dance when I'm depressed. I'm his friend, I know him My name is Lupi Lupi Lupi Lu I take care of him, and he's a bit wierd, I'm telling you so that you know ... Taking care of a guy with an undershirt and a beard, two days old GAT can we do... Let him not collapse on top of me, or on top of himself Let it never end!!!

In this entry the friends of Natasha allow themselves the luxury of acclaimed artists. For the first time there are no economic worries, which allows them to deal with more important problems, as well as less urgent ones . One of these issues is the delicate realtionship between art and the commercial infrastructure which upholds it. In this sense, it is a protest song: protest against the machinery of publicity which inevitably ends up enslaving the artists and performers. The first part of the song synthesizes this idea through the delicious phrase "I won't dance when I'm depressed", that is to say: "I cannot compose songs on commission", or "Although they shower me with money, and buy me whiskey, although they take me to all the parties, though everything is fine, so to speak, I compose music when I feel the need to do so, not when my discography needs it. The second part of the song gives us the viewpoint of the producer Lupi Lu (a fictitious name, of course), who has discovered a talent and cultivates it,in the hope that this talent can continue churning out songs every so often. The producer, who views the artist as a musical hits machine , is willing to do all that is necessary so that the hits "will never end". (The fellow with undershirt, beard, and only two days old could easily be Shitrit, or Duchin since both of them at that time wore beards and vests). Of course the song makes references to matters that transcend the purely biographical, touching upon the delicate relationship between the world of mass media and culture itself. But enough has already been written about that.

"KOK BATZOHORAIM" – "COKE IN THE AFTERNOON"

Music: Micha Shitrit Lyrics: Arkadi Dujin The second of October nineteen ninety-something Happy Vaxman presents, the station's name is Radio Bla Bla Stupidity spewed out in simple Hebrew until the afternoon Anyone who sends a postcard will win a motorbike and a woolen cap. Coke in the afternoon, what a lousy habit But it's the only way to loosen your tongue. Fascists!, zig zag, skinheads, leather with spikes. Political lunatics behind the steering wheel, and sadomasochists None of them could detain this broadcast revolution Radio Bla Bla is on the air, and I'm the secret hero Coke in the afternoon, what a lousy habit But it's the only way to loosen your tongue. I am Happy Vaxman, Mama, are you listening?! I did it !, The whole city knows me... I robbed the right to speak and now I am a pirate A powerful amplifier, microphone, objective and detailed coverage. Coke in the afternoon, what a lousy habit But it's the only way to loosen your tongue.

One of the anthropological models common to most known civilizations throughout history is the relationship between the center and the periphery. With the first urban centres established, and the resulting necessity of nourishing the sedentary inhabitants, a division formed quite naturally between areas with a high population density and areas that were markedly underpopulated. This division brought with it political, economic and cultural consequences.. Hence, the cultural dialogue between the center and the periphery is a direct consequence of the political and economic relationship which binds them..

In some of the fine arts the artist and his creation are one (dance, music, theatre etc.). In these cases, when the artist who lives in the periphery desires to gain access to the public of the more heavily populated urban centers , his only option is to catch a bus and bring both himself/herself and his/her art to the desired place. This journey, from one's birthplace to the "big city" constitutes an integral element of the artistic tradition.

In the song "Kok batzohiraim" Shitrit and Duchin recount their personal history. Their journey to Tel Aviv, the hard work, and finally, success. But the song is more than mere autobiography, since it describes a process which every person and every artist undergoes upon moving from the periphery-be it cultural, economic, or social, to the center. And although the song describes a tale with a happy end, Shitrit is careful to not laud success as an end in and of itself, focusing instead on the search for it. Beyond that, success is not measured in material benefits, but rather by the joy of proving that it is in fact possible: "I am Happy Vaxman, Mama, do you hear?!". And another thing: Happy Vaxman lands in the big city without renouncing his own identity, even when the identity includes weaknesses ("Coke in the afternoon, what a lousy habit, but that's the way to loosen your tongue."). He passes through a world of punks, politicians and masochists, and does not allow himself to be seduced by any of them.

Happy Vaxman, the "Chaverim shel Natasha", and a few other artists managed to swim against the cultural tide which emantaed from the center to the periphery. They in fact brought the periphery with them, depositing it in the heart of the urban center . It is no easy task to define just which of these axes is more conducive to the development of art . It is obvious that the more densely populated urban centres generate a more intense artistic activity, and they demonstrate a greater readiness to accept new ideas. But this same dynamism may degenerate at times into an amorphous mass, and it is just at these junctures in which the periphery provides the country with a firmer cultural base (this being what some label as the "folk tradition"). One thing in particular is not open to doubt, and that is that the artist who explores the byways and paths between the periphery and the center, will sooner or later discover that Israeli culture is not exclusively the property of any one location. It is in fact concealed within that same voyage of discovery.

This article belongs to the following subjects:

• Artistic Expressions » Music