User:Odelyakalderon/Yair Klinger

Yair Klinger

Yair Klinger (born July 13, 1944) is an artist and composer of many Israeli songs. Among his well-known songs are "Adama" (Ofra Haza), "Dreams" (Ruchma Raz), "Drishat Shalom" (Yardena Arazi), "I'm Making Melodies" (Sexta), "Yours as always" (Silvan & yair), " "Kol Nidre" (Haim Moshe), "Home" (Yardena Arazi), "I swear" (Haim Moshe), "Ofra", "Avshalom" (Moti Fleischer), "En davar" (Tal Sondak) who was chosen to represent Israel in Eurovision 2001, "Kum VeHit'halech Ba'Arets" means "Get up and pace the country" (North Command Band) and "Damar Earrings" written in honor of the singer Shoshana Damari on the occasion of her winning the Israel Prize for a Hebrew singer in 1988.

Childhood
Klinger was born in Tel Aviv, Israel as the oldest son of Polish immigrants who arrived in 1933 to Israel. As a child, he attended the state-religious "Bilo" elementary school, which was close to his home.

Klinger was first introduced to music during the 1950s when he visited the Ginti Yam cafe with his sister. There, a small orchestra played Israeli songs, with Yehoshua Shetil as the singer-drummer, who became Klinger's childhood idol.

At the age of nine, Klinger began taking regular piano lessons and by the time he was eleven, he had started composing music inspired by classical records purchased by his older brother.

In 1956, Klinger joined the Scouts and spent his teenage years there, shaping his personality and views. In 1958, he decided to move towards secularism and enrolled in "Ironi A" High School in Tel Aviv.

Maturity
While in high school, Klinger participated in drama classes and made his theater debut as Alik in the play "He Walked in the Fields". His classmate, Avi Oz, who later became a theater professor, also appeared in the play.

During this time, Klinger's brother, who was an art teacher, encouraged him to write songs. Some of the tunes he composed at this time were for the play "The Nightingale of the King of China".

In addition to his involvement in theater, Klinger remained active in the Scouts and played basketball for the "Elitzur Tel Aviv" team and later for "Maccabi Tel Aviv". In the summer of 1961, he was selected to be part of the Israel Scouts delegation that traveled to the United States for summer camp.

Military service period
In 1962, Klinger enlisted in the Israeli army. During this time, he wrote performances and presented them to his fellow soldiers in the Kineret Kibutz for entertainment. After completing advanced training, Klinger was sent to the "Sherut Le'alim" (non-paid service). During his military service, he served as the head of the "Kehila" scouts in Tel Aviv, where he met his future wife, Dorit Polak.

Theatre & Music
In 1964, Klinger began studying theater and philosophy at Tel Aviv University.

During this time, Klinger had the opportunity to perform in the plays "Anne Frank", "The Lesson" by Eugène Ionesco, and "The Neighbors" by James Saunders. In addition to his studies at the university, he also attended Nola Chelton's acting workshop for young actors and studied at the Chamber Theater's acting studio under the direction of Ephraim Stan.

In 1966, Klinger's song "Come on Girl" was accepted into the "Israeli song festival" and he had the opportunity to perform it alongside Edna Goren and Gashar Hirakon. This was the first song of his to be broadcast on the radio.

After more than 3 years in the 'Cameri' Theater, Klinger played various roles in other theaters, such as the "Tent" Theater and the "Khan"Theater in Jerusalem. In 1968, he composed and sang the song "Send the List" (lyrics by Dan Almagor) for the show "My Jerusalem". During this time, he also composed "Ofra" (lyrics by Uri Assaf) and "Avshalom" (lyrics by Ruth Hashman) for Motty Flisher, "I'm Aiming at You" (lyrics by Hashman) for the Southern Command Band, and "To Love Life" (lyrics by Yovav Katz) for Dani Granot. These songs were successful and greatly boosted Klinger's musical career.

In 1970, Klinger, along with Zila Dagan and Dani Masseng, formed the band "Third Hybrid". Their standout song was "Ballad for the Calendar", which Klinger composed to lyrics by Efraim Rimmon.

1971-1982 - Paris
In the summer of 1971, after the breakup of the brand "Third Hybrid", Klinger traveled to Paris with the Kramon band for a month of performances at the "Olympia" theater in Paris. Due to several professional connections he made, he remained in Paris for 11 years until 1981.

In Paris, Klinger met Israeli singer Sylvain Mergui. Their friendship resulted in the duo "Sylvan and Yair". They worked together for about 11 years in various contexts. Sylvan and Yair appeared on the show of French star "Rika Zaray", that took place in many locations around the world. Sylvan and Yair also participated in two tours as the opening act for singer "Joe Dassin"at the Olympia in Paris.

In Paris, Klinger learned film music composition and wrote scores for local singers, including the "Compagnon de La Chanson" ensemble and Israeli singer Rika Zarai.

Every year Klinger sent songs to the "Israeli song festivals" and later to the pre-Eurovision Song Contest. Many of his songs were accepted and recorded, including "With You Like Always" (Sylvan and Yair, 1973), "A Song for Father and Mother" (Sylvan and Yair, 1974), "I'm Making Music for Myself" (Sexta, 1978), "Shir lee Shirili lee" (Irit Bulka and Vicky Tavor, 1979), and "Come to Me" (Hedva Amrani, 1980).

One of the songs was "Dreams", which became a huge hit performed by Ruhama Raz to lyrics by Rachel Shapira.

1980s and 1990s in Israel
In the beginning of the 1980s, Klinger returned to Israel. His prominent songs during that time were "Good Days, Coming Days" by Sexta, "Home" (Habaita),, performed by Yardena Arazi to lyrics by Ehud Manor (originally performed in French by Sylvie Vartan), and "Drishat Shalom" sung by Arazi and the Nahal Brigade in the "Shirutrom" operation of the IDF in 1985.

In that year, Klinger appeared as part of the band "Four Red Hearts", along with Sylvain Mergui and with Penina Birk and Ruthi Ben Abraham, former members of the band "Sexta", in the promotion of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "He Will Come". The song "The Girl with the Kites" also received widespread airplay.

"Kum VeHit'halech Ba'Arets" means "Get up and pace the country", written by Yoram Teharlev and performed by the band Pikud North, was the big hit of Klinger in that year. The singers were Yehuda Elias (whose voice was compared to that of singer Yehoram Gaon) and Yisamin Gamliel. Another song that Klinger wrote the lyrics for, performed by Yehuda Elias, was "One Land," which was one of the classic and beloved folk dances.

Other hits by Klinger include "Adama" by Ofra Haza, "Kol nidre," "I Swear" with lyrics by Shmulik Kaluski, "Before We Part" by Haim Moshe, "So Familiar," which he wrote for Margalit Tzanani's successful album "Menta," and songs he wrote for Yehoram Gaon, including "A Free Woman." In 1988, Klinger wrote "Damar earings" for Yardena Arazi, which was dedicated by the songwriter David Broza to Shoshana Damari, the winner of the Israeli Prize that year. In the central event of the 40th anniversary celebrations of the state, Damari herself, along with Yafa Yarkoni, sang the song "Just Return in Peace" by Haim Hefer and Klinger. In honor of the annual Hebrew song festival of the radio Channel 3 that year, Klinger wrote the lyrics for Dudu Barak "The Man from the Dream," which was a success when performed by Yardena Arazi.

Activities with youth bands in the 80s and 90s
Klinger established creative music workshops for young people at the Bikurei Ha'Itim center in Tel Aviv. In Rosh Ha'Ayin, he founded the youth band "Young Rosh,", from which talented and creative musicians emerged, some of whom are still active in the music industry today. Klinger also managed the "Girls Girls" band from Kiryat Shalom in Tel Aviv and the TLV Scouts band. He was one of the first to produce a national youth song competition, called "Song Rosh." In the youth city of Tel Aviv, he managed the musical activities.

The peak of his activity with young people was from 1995 to 1998, with the "Young Sound" project, which included more than 1200 young people involved in music, around 100 educational institutions, youth villages, and residential homes throughout Israel.

Choirs, vocal performance groups and artistic management
In addition to working with youth bands, Yair Klinger began to work with adult singing groups and choirs. These are groups of people who love music and singing who meet once a week and perform in events and singing celebrations.

In 1993, Klinger served as the artistic director of the Ein Gedi Festival three times and also as the artistic director of the "Wine Festivals" in Rishon Lezion.

In 1995, a collection of his songs was published in the book "Derech Shalom - Songs of Yair Klinger" by "Yediot Ahronot" Publications.

In the years 1996 to 1998, he served as the artistic director of the Wine Festivals in Rishon Lezion, and as the music manager of many vocal ensembles and singing groups. In 1998, he joined the founders of the Mila Israel Association (The Israeli Center for Choirs and Singing Groups), with the inspiration and support of the late conductor, Avi Klauzner, "father of choirs" and Ofir Turial, the former chief of music at the Ministry of Education. Today, the organization brings together dozens of conductors and hundreds of choirs and singing groups in order to promote and encourage amateur singing in Israel.

The 2000s
In 2001, the song "Ein Davar", written with music by Klinger and lyrics by Shimrit Or, won first place in the pre-Eurovision song competition and was chosen to represent Israel in the Eurovision. The song was performed by singer Tal Sondak, and it came in 16th place in the competition.

In 2002, Yair wrote a musical composition called "Between Warsaw and Jerusalem" to the lyrics of Dudu Barak from his book "Poland between Fear and Hope". The composition was presented as a musical theatrical show, which Klinger also directed. The musical was performed by the ensemble "The Raananim" and the soprano Sigal Vardi. It's a musical and theatrical journey into the lost world of Jewish Poland after the Holocaust, blending imagination and reality.

In 2005, Tal Sondak released his album "Fly to You", which Klinger managed artistically, and also composed 9 songs from it.

In September 2009, Klinger was elected as the Chairman of the Israeli center for choral and singing groups, "Mila".

Klinger conducted and continues to conduct many singing groups and choirs, such as "The Raananim" in Raanana, "The Kramim" in Rishon lezion, "The Green Fields" in Beer Tuvia, "The Voices of the Heart" in Yehud, "The Voices of the Mountain" in Beit Shemesh, "The Voices" in Bat Yam, "The Melalikah" in Kfar Malal, "The Good Spirit" in the Galilee, and "Yesharachat".

In 2010, a collection album of Klinger's best hits was released, including three recorders and 52 songs in their original performances. The collection album also included a new song "Like in the First Moment" by Yair Klinger, with lyrics by Shmulik Kluski.

The ensemble "The Raananim" performed with the musical show "Open Closed Open" of songs by Yehuda Amichai, under the musical direction, conducting, arrangement and staging of Yair Klinger.

In 2014, he composed music for the lyrics of the poet Yovav Katz, "Prayer for Peace."

In 2015, the ensemble "The Raananim" performed the show "To Life" with songs by Haim Hefer, under Klinger's conducting, arrangement and direction.

In 2016, the singing group "The Voices of the Heart" from Yehud, conducted by and arranged by Klinger, performed songs by Nathan Yonatan.

In 2017, in the cultural hall of Rishon lezion, the ensemble "The kramim" performed their new show "Life in pink", which was dedicated entirely to French chanson from all time, with its new arrangements, conducting and direction by Yair Klinger.

In 2019, Klinger musically directed an evening of original songs by Nathan Lifshitz, a member of the ensemble "Hetrogenia" known for creating many documentary films for Israeli and international channels and as a wine expert.

In 2020, the ensemble "Hetrogenia" performed the show "Nostalgia is not everything" under the conducting, arrangement and direction of Yair Klinger, as part of the annual conference of Mila in the dead sea.

50 years of musical activity
In 2016, Yair Klinger celebrated 50 years of musical activity. The opening show took place at "Tsvata" in Tel Aviv on May 6, 2016 with the participation of Yair Klinger and accompanied by various artists. The event was musically managed by Rami Harel, and hosted by Liat Regev with production by Nili Shor.

Awards and recognition
In 1975, the song "Alex" performed by "Sylvan & Yair" won the best performance award at the Paris International Festival

In 1982, the song "Love is Love" performed by Alessandra Mussolini won the "silver" award at the Tokyo festival. The song was published on the album "Amor"

In 2001 the song "There is nothing" performed by "Tal Sondak" won the pre-Eurovision and represented Israel in Eurovision 2001

In 2017, Yair Klinger won the Lifetime Achievement Award of IUPA (Emi- Israel Artists Union).

Links
https://www.youtube.com/@yairklinger

http://stereo-ve-mono.com/discography?artist=%D7%99%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A8_%D7%A7%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%92%D7%A8

https://musicbrainz.org/artist/ddd9d584-bdcf-48f2-9797-a5afe21604ea

https://www.maariv.co.il/culture/music/Article-550010

https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3867585,00.html