Rami Kleinstein, one of the country’s most prolific and successful singer/songwriters, is marking the 30th anniversary of his landmark album Apples and Dates (Tapuchim V’tmarim) with a gala performance on November 28 at Tel Aviv’s Charles Bronfman Auditorium.
His most successful album to date, Apples and Dates went platinum within its first six months and has left the Israeli music landscape with standards like “Haboker At Holechet” (“This Morning You’re Leaving”), “Karov El Libech” (“Close to Your Heart”), and “Shemesh” (“Sun”).
An 'Israeli' artist
It also marked a breakthrough for Kleinstein, who made aliyah from Long Island when he was eight years old, in which he graduated from being a rock artist to being an “Israeli” artist, performing songs that evoke the Sabra ethos but without the inevitable schmaltz associated with the “Eretz Yisrael hayafa” (Beautiful Israel) genre.
“I had written some Israeli songs before, for [former wife and musical partner] Rita, or during my army days, but never for myself. There was this kind of split in my mind. For myself, I write pop and rock songs,” he told The Jerusalem Post in a long-range interview earlier this month.
“Then, I was the musical producer for a show by Gidi Gov and Yehudit Ravitz for the Arad Festival in 1993, two wonderful artists. And during the show, there was a section where they came out with acoustic guitars and played these beautiful Israeli songs, and the crowd of 18,000 – most of them teenagers – all sang along.
“I was taken aback. All the production I had arranged, the extravagance and the big band, and the peak of the show was this moment of quiet beauty. For me, it was a shock and a wake-up call. That’s when I wrote the song ‘Apples and Dates,’ which I consider my first Israeli song. And when it was released, it was like a missile. It was crazy how popular it became.
“But it taught me that it’s what I am. All my life, after coming on aliyah and going back and forth and trying to feel Israeli, it was time to root down. And that’s what I did with that album.”
The full interview with Kleinstein will be published in this Friday’s Magazine.
Tickets to Kleinstein and the Israel Philharmonic are still available at: to-mix.co.il/product/ramikleinsteinphilharmonic-apple30/?swcfpc=1