Saturday 28 April 2007

Shabbat-o-rama: Wing

This is the discovery of the year. Wing, a Chinese singer who emigrated to New Zealand, will perform at your bar mitzva, wedding, or retirement home, and will sing all your favorite hits, from ABBA to AC/DC. She had her own episode of South Park and reached international fame... Shabbat shalom!

Saturday 21 April 2007

Shabbat-o-rama: "Dallas"

Today, you will have the honour of discovering the French version of the opening credits of the cult 80s show "Dallas". I always thought that our version was a translation of the American one, until I moved to Canada and discovered in great astonishment, after years of ignorance, that you guys had a totally different song! I used to love that show when I was about 7 years old. I probably didn't understand anything that was going on, but knowing that JR was constantly cheating on Sue Ellen, that Bobby was a good guy, that Pamela always had nice outfits, and that Lucy was a bit of a slut, was enough for my enjoyment of the show. Actually, thinking about it now, it was like watching a live version of my Barbie games, house and pool included. I remember that my mom and her sisters found hilarious to compare every character of the show to members of my dad's family... I only understood why that was funny years later... Shabbat shalom!

Monday 16 April 2007

Musical Chairs 2007

The next wave of Musical Chairs is to start soon. (reminder: Musical Chairs is, according to my friend Andy, a phenomenon that occurs every year or so, in which friends swap countries: X1 moves to Y2, X2 moves to Y3, X3 moves back to Y1...)

Musical Chairs 2007 (to be confirmed):

Miss WW from London to Tel Aviv
Anna from New York to London
Vera from London to Stuttgart
Zsofi from Tel Aviv to Zurich
My father from Paris to Bratislava
Julien from Paris to Montreal

Where are you readers moving from and to?

Saturday 7 April 2007

Shabbat-o-rama: Serge Gainsbourg

Serge Gainsbourg - Le Sable et le Soldat (Chanson pour Israel)

During the Six Day War, Serge Gainsbourg* wrote a song for Israel. Gainsbourg never openly showed his support for the State of Israel, and the song never got released and remained unknown to the public until 35 years later. Listen to it here. Shabbat shalom!

"Oui, je défendrai le sable d'Israël,
La terre d'Israël, les enfants d'Israël;
Quitte à mourir pour le sable d'Israël,
La terre d'Israël, les enfants d'Israël;
Je défendrai contre tout ennemi,
Le sable et la terre, qui m'étaient promis
Tous les Goliaths venus des pyramides,
Reculeront devant l'étoile de David."

In english, that would be something like:

"I will defend the sand of Israel,
The land of Israel, the children of Israel;
Should I die for the sand of Israel,
The land of Israel, the children of Israel;
I will defend against every ennemy,
The sand and the land that were promised to me
All the Goliaths from the pyramids,
Will retreat in front of the star of David."