It's OK

After reading the breaking news about Naomi Shemer plagiarizing a Basque lullaby for her famous song "Jerusalem of Gold", which is considered an alternate national antem for the Israelis, many thought that the Basques were going to be upset.

As violent as they are.

For anyone that knows the Basque character the reaction should not come as a surprise.

And what is the reaction?

In the words of Paco Ibanez in a follow-up article by Haaretz called "Shemer Had No Reason to Feel Bad, Says Basque Singer of Copied Tune":

Ibanez said yesterday that he was saddened to hear of Shemer's guilt feelings over basing the song on the Basque folk melody and not admitting it. "It is a shame. She had no reason to feel guilty," he said yesterday. "True, I think she heard the song from me, but that's life and that's how I see it. It wasn't even a secret. I spoke to friends about it and mentioned it in conversations with people. I didn't speak to Naomi Shemer since then because I didn't see her again, and it didn't really matter to me. If I had seen her, I certainly would have mentioned it, but of course, without anger."

Meaning, no hard feelings.

And just in case you want to hear the original:

Ibanez said his mother would sing the lullaby to him when he was little and sat in her lap. He recorded the song, which is based on a folk tune, in his volume "Songs I Heard from My Mother."

Dan Almagor adds a bit of info about Naomi's denial that she had lifted the tune from a Basque lullaby:

Almagor said he had been with Shemer and a group of other musicians at Ibanez's performance in a Jaffa club in the early 1960s. "[The singer] Benny Amdursky reminded her of this for years on end," he said.

So, it was not a random friend singing the song, they went to a concert by Paco Ibañez. Now, lets think about it, we are talking 1962, at that time Israel was still trying to consolidate itself, and the Basques were being opressed by Franco and his Falangists. So you can imagine in what state of mind those Israeli musicians, singer and composers went to see Ibañez perform. It is just natural that one of the songs would leave a mark on those who had the chance to go to the concert.

Like I said, hopefully the Israelis will learn a lesson from all this situation, and maybe they will come to accept the Basques for what we are.

You can also read the whole article here.

Related posts:

• Basque Lullaby for Jerusalem.
• Blogosphere Reaction to Basque Lullaby.

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