Yafa Yarkoni
Yafa Yarkoni | |
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File:Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - YAFFA YARKONI DURING THE "TELETROM"..jpg | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Yafa Abramov |
Also known as | The “Songstress of the Wars” |
Born | Giv'at Rambam, British Mandate for Palestine |
24 December 1925
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Reut Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel |
Occupation(s) | Singer |
Yafa Yarkoni (Hebrew: יפה ירקוני, also Yaffa Yarqoni, (24 December 1925 – 1 January 2012) was an Israeli singer, winner of the Israel Prize in 1998 for Hebrew song. She was dubbed Israel's “songstress of the wars” due to her frequent performances for Israel Defense Forces soldiers, especially in wartime.[1] She was from a Mountain Jewish family.[2]
Biography
Yafa Abramov (later Yafa Gustin and Yafa Yarkoni) was born in Giv'at Rambam (today a neighbourhood of Giv'atayim) to a Jewish family that immigrated from the Caucasus. At the age of ten, she studied ballet dancing under Gertrude Kraus, one of Israel's dance pioneers.
In the 1940s, her mother ran a café in Givat Rambam, where Yafa performed with her sister Tikva and her brother Binyamin. On 21 September 1944, she married Joseph Gustin, who fought in World War II with the Jewish Brigade and was killed in battle in Italy in 1945.[3]
Yarkoni married Shaike Yarkoni in 1948.[4] They had three daughters.[5]
In 2000, Yarkoni was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.[6][7] According to her daughter, Haaretz journalist Orit Shochat, her condition worsened in 2007. That year she appeared for the last time on a television show produced in her honor by the Israel Broadcasting Authority.
Music career
In 1948, during Israel's War of Independence, Yarkoni joined an IDF song troupe affiliated with the Givati Brigade. Bab el-Wad, a song she performed at the time, became a classic, sung every year on Israel's Memorial Day. After the war, she performed songs for a program on the Kol Yisrael radio station.[8]
Most of Yarkoni's songs were written by Tuli Reviv and Haim Hefer.[9] Yarkoni also performed some of Naomi Shemer's early children's songs.
Among her most well-known songs are "Don't Say Goodbye, Say I Will See You," about a soldier parting from his girlfriend before battle, and "Road to Jerusalem," about soldiers transporting food to Jerusalem when the city was under siege in 1948.[5]
Awards
In 1998, Yarkoni was awarded the Israel Prize, for Hebrew song.[10]
Death
On 1 January 2012, Yarkoni died at Reut Medical Center in Tel Aviv. She is buried in the Kiryat Shaul cemetery in Tel Aviv, beside her husband.[11]
See also
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Yaffa Yarkoni, Israel's Queen of Song dead at 86
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Yaffa Yarkoni dies at 86; Israeli singer
- ↑ NRG-Maariv, "Mom doesn't remember she was a singer anymore – Orit Shochat, Yafa Yarkoni's said her mother had been suffering from Alzheimer disease since 2000" (in Hebrew); Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, Jerusalem Post, "TAU discovery: Excess protein linked to Alzheimer's must be prevented before it accumulates on brain": "The latest Israeli personality whose Alzheimer's disease was disclosed is Yaffa Yarkoni".
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links
- Nathan Shahar, Yafa Yarkoni, Jewish Women Encyclopedia
- Yafa Yarkoni at the Internet Movie Database
- Yafa Yarkoni at MOOMA (Hebrew)
- Use dmy dates from October 2012
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with hCards
- Articles containing Hebrew-language text
- Articles with Hebrew-language external links
- 1925 births
- 2012 deaths
- Israeli people of Mountain Jewish descent
- Israel Prize in Hebrew song recipients
- Israel Prize women recipients
- Israeli female singers
- People from Givatayim
- Place of birth missing
- Deaths from Alzheimer's disease
- Disease-related deaths in Israel
- Jews in Mandatory Palestine