Odeana Choir: Crafting the Dream

Conductor: Anat Aharoni | Special guest: Yonatan Kunda At the heart of the program – two new Israeli works written in recent days: "The Envy of the Earth" by Haim Permont A work for choir and accordion – words: Yechiel Hazak | accordion: Itay Tevel The poem "The Envy of the Earth" is one of the most powerful and moving poems by the poet Yechiel Hazak (1936–2022), a member of Kibbutz Afikim. His poetry is rooted in the landscapes of the land and reflects the kibbutz experience and way of life: the connection to the land, its labor, the sacrifice and commitment to working it. The poem holds longing and lament for lost lives (the poet's brother, Baari, fell in the Yom Kippur War), alongside social rupture and the loss of connection to nature. The work was commissioned by the Audiana Choir and received a grant from the Ministry of Culture for new Israeli creation. It is written for mixed choir and accordion, and combines spoken passages, solo singing, and choral singing – as a tribute to the kibbutz "masekhet" (chronicle) genre. "Only in the cemetery, in the west, on the banks of the Jordan did the earth remain with itself, with its reckoning, with its silence, with its envy, with its lament." The work lasts about half an hour "Lawein rayehin — where are we going?" The Audiana Choir collaborates for the first time with Yonatan Kunda – a multilingual poet and one of the pioneers of spoken word in Israel. The fruits of the intriguing encounter between Kunda and the Audiana Choir deal with our connection to this land, to our prayers and our dreams. The blend of choral music and spoken word, of Hebrew and Arabic, of ancient text and what is constantly renewed in us – come meet the craft of the dream. Composition: Anat Aharoni