The Sirens’ Serenade
By: Asher Kesher.
Published in Yedioth Ahronot, 7/11/2014
Translated.
Herbrew original in here.
Caption: Dror Kessler: "To me, Sderot is Israel's Wild West"
Credit: public relations.
Published in Yedioth Ahronot, 7/11/2014
Translated.
Herbrew original in here.
Caption: Dror Kessler: "To me, Sderot is Israel's Wild West"
Credit: public relations.
The Sderot singer-songwriter Dror Kessler releases an Album named “Intifada Solitaire” comprising of tracks recorded in his home shelter during “Operation Protective Edge”. “This my retaliation for peace, my uprising against the war”, he goes to explain the motive behind releasing this defyantly minimalistic album.
Dror Kessler, the Sderot musician, has decided to channel the feelings of anxiety, the pessimism and loathing that the war raised in him during the intensive stay in the home shelter last summer towards the recording of an album. The moving album, practically bare of any production, offers us a peek into the artist’s psychic during these awful days, spanning the hours between one siren alarm and another.
“I wanted to provide the listener with the intimate experience of being confined in the shelter”, he says, “so I decide to transmit the feelings and sounds as they are, without the shrink-wrap esthetics of a production process. We mostly recorded on two tracks with simple mics, downgrading to a single mic or a mobile phone at times”.
Kessler and his partner, Sigalit Aharoni, used to go into the shelter with the guitar and start recording a song written during the last alert. “At times, we would find ourselves staying there well beyond the time required”, he smiles, “simply continuing to record, happily being cut off from the outside. Instead of listening to the ugly mayhem taking place outside, we decided to create something beautiful from the inside, something of our own. It is our version of a war picture album and we’re serving it as is, untouched, without use of photoshop, baring our simple truths”.
And from the inside of Kessler’s shelter, the truth sounds truly moving, unblemished. The new album, which is available in both digital and physical forms from Kessler’s website, contains 11 Hebrew and English tracks, in various levels of finishing quality, in a form that would probably be sending most music production professionals tearing their hair off in fear and frustration. But the poet’s intent cuts through loud and clear, unfiltered, like underground graffiti on the outside wall of a high-brow museum.
War Coming, in Arabic
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out Kessler’s political views from his album. Needless to say that the relatives of the family of Yehuda Glick would not be playing it by his hospital bedside.
“Intifada Solitaire”, for example, is a love song of a suicide bomber to lost childhood girlfriend. “Let’s Party” is, despite its promising name, one of the more somber songs in the album, in which he asks himself why is everyone are so eager to go out to war. He goes on to answer himself in the next song, “War Coming”: “‘’Cause war coming / Wash up them whites / Thread the needle right / Sew the flags white // War coming / Wash up them whites / Thread the needle right / shrouds on order tonight”.
When Kessler asked Sigalit’s father, the poet Ezea Morad from Kiryat Malakhi, to translate “War Coming” to Arabic and record it into his mobile phone, Morad conditioned it on Kessler modifying the end of the song: “I suggested he adds something to the last verse since I thought it had a sense of angst”, explains Morad, “the final words of the song were projecting defeat, like the Hamas has won, so I modified it a bit in the Arabic version”.
Does Kessler know?
“certainly, I told him”
Retaliating For Peace
As the war was winding up, Kessler has embarked on a tour across Israel, presenting the new album. True to his non-commercial Modus Operandi, Kessler popped up at central locations in mixed Arab/Jewish cities (such as Lod and Haifa) with his tape, joined tables at seemingly hostile Arab coffee shops, gauging their reaction to his song, as it was beautifully read in Arabic by Ezra Morad.
“This was actually the reason I wanted the song to be translated”, explains Kessler, “I wanted access to exactly these types of people and situations. This is my Intifada Solitaire, my retaliation for peace, my uprising against the war”.
Why?
“I felt I had to do something in response to the ambience of hate bubbling around me. Ever since the operation started, and even before, right after the three young boys were kidnapped and murdered, an atmosphere of hate and violence settled in and became very visible on my Facebook feed. I found myself hiding and unfriending on a daily basis, until eventually I decided to give it all up, get off my chair and hit the road”.
What was the reaction in Lod to your “Retaliation”?
“To be frank, it was not a pleasant experience. In the old city, anger was clearly visible in the way I was stared at. They kept reminding me of the way they were treated and the fact that while we indeed talked, people that they possibly know were being killed in Gaza at the same time”
What did they say about the song itself?
“The responses were mixed, but it did do the work of connecting us together. It was important for them to make sure I understand that its not enough for me to waltz in with an Arabic text to get their acceptance, or be registered as someone truthful or extraordinary”.
So you did not feel quite good about yourself there?
“I’m not here to fix the world. I don’t feel like it at all. I present my thoughts, my poetic expressions, as they are, thereby executing my freedom to do so”.
Sderot Studios
How is Sderot relating to your songs?
“I love this place and the people living here. There is always room here for different opinions. I live and work out of Sderot for the past few years because it is a fascinating place. The way I see it, Sderot is Israel’s Wild West. It is unchartered land. There is a great sense of acceptance here and possibility. For instance, the street I live on is very well connected even though it has a very diverse population, local and newly arrived”.
Isn’t your writing too “lefty” for them?
“Neither do I necessarily write for them nor do I take this provincial approach. I write from the place I live and not for it. It’s true that I’m part of a larger group of artists here, some of which have express their varying opinions on my output”.
You do have a protest song in the album about the media’s handling of Sderot.
“One finds such a thing hard to ignore. The song, Sderot Studios, provides a glimpse into how we feel here during times of war, on both sides on the isle. We are presented as Cannon Fodder of sorts on display using up to four TV crews, perched on main street in a 50 meter radius. Does anyone have anything interesting to say? A song to sing? A sign to put up? or are we’re all extras in this Théâtre de l'Absurde?”
And so the poet writes: “Silence! Sderot studios ON-AIR / Powder your nose, whiten your teeth, Claire / Fig leafs are in season so drop all care / Quick, get me that tripod over there / I spot a gorgeous downtrodden woman, or is it a mare?”
Dror, is there any chance that this beautiful album will ever get produced, the way it deserves to be?
“I like it this way, but if someone out there has the desire to turn it into something else I would not be the one resisting. As for me, left to my own devices, will probably leave it as it is and keep on creating new stuff”.