Please identify this Israeli pop song!

May 18, 2011 5:03 PM

Please identify this Israeli pop song (circa 2000)

That's pretty much it. I'm pretty sure I first heard this during a stay in Jerusalem in late summer/early fall 2000. The clip has terrible audio quality (I recorded it the other day with my phone off an internet stream; but I couldn't record straight from the stream), and it only captures a part of the song that's quite different from the rest of it (think the "na-na" portion of "Hey Jude" compared to the rest of it). Halfway through that chant it switches from a studio recording to a live recording of an audience making the chant.

Anyway, the song is very dreamlike and the phrase "ova le lo" (or something similar; my Hebrew listening is terrible) repeated throughout like it would be the probable song title.

Song begins about 4 seconds into the clip.

Thanks!

posted by holterbarbour to media & arts (3 answers total)

I tried but didn't recognize it. That said I have always had success with the encyclopedic HebrewSongs.com if you can make out any of the lyrics at all.
posted by milestogo at 9:56 PM on May 18, 2011

The song is called "Af Pa'am Lo Tedei" (You'll Never Know) by Shlomo Artzi.

You can hear it here. The na na na's start at 2:16.

Lyrics.

(my Israeli officemate identified it in about 3 seconds...)
posted by franc.o.bolos at 1:04 AM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Awesome! I had no idea it was so old- the version I recently heard was a remix (found here), which explains its ability to incorporate an audience singalong. Thanks so much. Tell your colleague Toda Raba!
posted by holterbarbour at 2:01 AM on May 19, 2011