Taste Of Israe

Israeli singer-actress Zamira headlines
annual Balfour Concert.

Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News

z

Also taking the

stage is Golem,

a rock 'n' roll band

emphasizing a mix

of klezmer, gypsy

ballads and

Ukrainian folk

songs.

amira, the entertainer
headlining the Balfour 72
Concert, will bring the
same message to her Southfield
audience that she brought to the
Clinton White House: "Give
Peace a Dance."
The message, captured in the
title of one of her many albums,
brought about her Washington
invitation and was left with the
former president as an imprint
on a T-shirt she gave him. The
sentiment characterizes the
upbeat nature she likes to convey
— calling attention to peace
through joy rather than protest.
"The phrase comes from 'Give
peace a chance:" says Zamira, an
international performer who is
based half the year in Israel and
half in the United States.
"President Clinton was very much
working on peace at that time"
The singer-composer-actress
will be appearing before mem-
bers and guests of the Michigan
Region of the Zionist
Organization of AmeriCa. The
event begins 7 p.m. Sunday,
Nov. 6, at the

Millennium Theatre in
Southfield, where the stage will
be shared by Golem, a rock 'n
roll band emphasizing a mix of
klezmer, gypsy ballads and
Ukrainian folk songs.
The evening also will pay trib-
ute to Harold and Barbara
Beznos. They will receive the
Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award
for service to Israel and the
Jewish community.
"I call my show Israel Through
Songs, and I plan to bring a taste
of Israel and the warmth and
beauty of Israeli folklore," says
Zamira, whose stage name omits
her surname, Chenn. "I translate
some of the Hebrew songs to
English. I also perform Yiddish
songs, Ladino songs and
Yemenite songs."
Zamira's Michigan engage-
ment comes the day after she
appears in a Long Island tribute
to the late Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin. The production,
presented 10 years after his
assassination, was planned to
include film footage as well as
live entertainment.

Following Her Dream

Zamira, the daughter of a cantor,
knew from childhood that she
wanted to be an entertainer but
understood that her Orthodox
family might not approve. While
serving in the Israeli army,
she became part of an enter-
tainment troop traveling to
the soldiers.
After the military, Zamira
started writing songs that
became popular and found
work in the theater. She had
roles in How to Succeed in
Business Without Really
Trying, Shakespeare's Richard
III and Noel Coward's Hay
Fever.
As she gained attention
through her songs — also

nit

October 20 2005

sung by other performers — she
became best known for "Kahol
Velaven" ("Blue and White").
"That song was written by a
Russian Jew, and it was translat-
ed by me into English:' she
explains. "In the 1970s, there
was a big migration of Jews from
the Soviet Union into Israel, and
I met many of them. They sang
some underground songs, and I
made a whole album of these
songs. `Blue and White' became a
big success in Israel and all over
the world."
With the public approval, she
also found family approval.
"It was hard in the beginning
for my father to accept my work,
but my mother was more flexi-
ble," the entertainer says. "Little
by little, my father understood
and came to see me on stage.
Years later, before he died, I
recorded Tonati Tamati' (`My
Pure and Innocent Dove'), an
album of Shabbat and festival
songs known by Libyan Jews."
Zamira learned of the Libyan
Jewish culture from her parents,
who met and married in Libya.
With her mother originally from
Italy and her father originally
from Spain, she enriches her
concerts by talking about this
cultural background, soon to be
the subject of a book that will
provide authentic recipes and
describe customs.

"Cooking is a special love for
me; and I learned about it in my
mother's kitchen:' says Zamira,
who contributed a recipe to Joan
Nathan's Jewish Cooking in
America. "We don't have a
Jewish community in Libya any-
more, so if we don't pass these
things along from generation to
generation, they will disappear!'
Zamira, who is divorced and
feels very close to her nieces and
nephews, had two of her songs
performed on Israel's version of
American Idol. Last spring, she
took her message of understand-
ing and peace to India, where
she entertained the Dalai Lama
by singing her song "Shalom."
"It conveys that we really want
peace to happen:' says Zamira,
working on two new albums,
Yiddish and Ladino, to make the
Israeli culture available to more
people. "I want people to under-
stand that we want peace not
only between Israel and Arab
countries but among all the
countries of the world!' El

The Balfour 72 Concert
begins 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6,
at the Millennium Theatre in
Southfield. $50. (248) 282-
0088.

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