Anyone who enjoys Israeli music will want to see the new three-part documentary series, Kaveret: I Gave Her My Life, which debuts on Saturday night on KAN 11 after Roni Kuban’s interview program.
Kaveret, Hebrew for “beehive,” was the biggest Israeli supergroup of all time and has been called Israel’s Beatles. It was founded in 1973 and flourished until 1976, with several major reunions in the 1980s, 1990s, and finally in 2013.
Its members – Danny Sanderson, Gidi Gov, Alon Oleartchik, Efraim Shamir, Meir Fenigstein, Yitzhak Klepter, and Yoni Rechter – went on to stellar solo careers.
But the magic of the songs they created together in Kaveret is such that they can still be heard on the radio every day, not only during oldies’ hours.
Kaveret was brilliant, quirky, playful, funny, exuberant, and musically rich, and it inspired generations of younger performers.
Among their hits is the title tune, “I Gave Her My Life,” (an English version of which was eventually recorded as “She Looked Me in the Eye,” which lacked a certain something) as well as “She’s So Beautiful,” “Goliath,” “The Grocery Song,” “Nice,” “Yo Ya,” and so many others, which can still bring an entire audience of all ages to its feet when Sanderson performs them in solo shows.
All the band members are alive, except Klepter, who died in 2022, and they continue to perform, so this is the perfect moment to produce such a documentary.
About the series
The series is narrated by Yoav Kutner, a music editor and television and radio presenter, who goes back into the band’s history to try to discover the secret of their special sauce.
It combines individual and group interviews with the band and those who helped them get their start together with video clips and new jam sessions in which they play their classic hits.
Each band member goes into how they got into music as children. Particularly touching is Shamir’s story of how he was a Polish immigrant who struggled with Hebrew and who found himself through music.
Sanderson, Gov, Oleartchik, Shamir, and Fenigstein met in the IDF Nahal Entertainment Troupe and later teamed up with Klepter and Rechter.
The seeds of the group came from their participation in a comedy radio program on Army Radio in which they created a character called Poogy, which was Fenigstein’s nickname.
Fenigstein, who went on to found the Israel Film Festivals in the US, reveals how he came up with the unique, silly voice for his Poogy character – imitating an announcer they met at a kibbutz.
These comedy bits inspired Sanderson to compose a rock opera about Poogy.
That opera was not a hit until producer Avraham “Pashanel” Deshe convinced Sanderson to divide it into individual songs.
Looking back, it seems crazy that the band was not an overnight success, but it took time for them to find an audience.
After they had been together only briefly, the Yom Kippur War broke out, and they were sent around the country, entertaining the troops.
They say that many soldiers who saw them during the war eventually went to their shows with their girlfriends when they were back home.
Another highlight of the series is a clip of a 1974 performance of “The Left-Handed Octopus” with the Arab orchestra of the Israel Broadcasting Authority.
In 1974, they represented Israel at Eurovision, wearing not especially fashionable vests they bought in Jaffa, and performed“I Gave Her My Life.”
There was a rule in those olden times when Eurovision performers sang in their native languages (and not in English, which is the norm today) that only six could appear onstage, so keyboardist Rechter was relegated to conducting.
They gave a rousing performance and were convinced they would win – until a Swedish band called ABBA showed up and played a song called “Waterloo.” Kaveret finished seventh.
As time went on, similar problems to those that led to the breakup of the Beatles surfaced.
Sanderson was the dominant figure in the early days, writing most of the songs, and the others wanted to compose as well, which led to conflicts and hurt feelings.
The first two episodes, which were released to the press, detail the origin story and first years of the band. The third will deal with the breakup and reunions.
This documentary is entertaining from start to finish, with many laughs, both from the clips of their early days and the band members today as they reminisce.
It’s also touching to see how they can still make great music together.
Gov and Rechter went on to make the Sixteenth Sheep album with Yehudit Ravitz and David Broza, the revival of which is this year’s hot ticket.
No one will ever really be able to explain the musical alchemy behind Kaveret, but it’s fun trying.
A long-awaited release
THE LONG-AWAITED Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) spy drama series from Keshet, Trust No One, which was released and withdrawn after one episode aired last year, will premiere (again) Monday night on Channel 12 after the news.
The series, which deals with the youngest-ever head of the intelligence agency, played by Yehuda Levi, and a high-level Hamas informant, was sold to Netflix two weeks before the war broke out.
Keshet has refrained from airing it until now, presumably due to the sensitivity of dealing with Hamas in any way in a drama. Netflix has not announced a release date for the series.
The less you remember of the classic 1963 Luchino Visconti film The Leopard – starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, and Claudia Cardinale – about a charismatic Italian prince in the 1860s trying to preserve his family and his social standing, the more you will likely be able to enjoy the new Netflix series The Leopard.
It’s based on the same novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa as the movie and follows the basic outline, although it goes into more detail since it has six episodes.
The production of the new series is lavish, and it gives just enough information to explain what was going on politically in Italy at that time.
Lancaster, Delon, and Cardinale were three of the most glamorous movie stars in history, and no one will ever erase their memory, but the new actors do surprisingly well, given the challenge.
Kim Rossi Stuart is especially likable as the prince. Deva Cassel and Saul Nanni also give good performances.
Unfortunately, the original movie is not currently streaming anywhere here.