Israeli metal band Salem have had the great honour to perform their controversial song "Ha'ayara Bo'eret" live during the Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel on April 30th. With their performance in Tel Aviv in front of mainstream Israeli media, Salem probably became one of the first ever metal bands to play at such an event, and saw permanent recognition for a song that originally stirred up enough controversy to reach the Israeli parliament "Knesset".
Ha'ayara Bo'eret is a cover, not only Salem's most controversial song but maybe one of the most unique yet controversial covers ever recorded. The song was written in Yiddish in 1938 in Poland by jewish poet Mordechai Gebirtig as "S'brennt". The song was written after a pogom that destroyed a small jewish settlement by putting it to fire. S'brennt became a warning for the upcoming antisemitism which would eventually lead to the Holocaust. During the holocaust the song became an anthem often sung in jewish ghetto's. Ever since the war ended and the modern-day state of Israel was established, the song has been often sung during ceremonies remembering those who died in the camps during the world war.
You can imagine this song is very emotional and sensitive for many Jews, so when a dark metal band decided to cover the song there was a lot of commotion. Their idea to create a video for the song that contained actual footage and images from the concentration camps, further stirred up controversy. Was it appropriate that a metal band would sing such a song? And was such a shocking video appropriate? The Knesset (the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem) eventually had to decide if the song could be published or not. After hearing several band members had family that survived the holocaust and how they wanted to make the song an anti-war statement rather than a commercial efford, the Knesset gave green light for the song to be released. It still remained a controversial issue, but the song was given green light.
And the result is impressive. It starts with a very eerie intro based on a Jewish piyyut, however one that sounds dark and uncomfortable. This intro sounds more eerie, as if it predicts something very worrying is upcoming. Then as soon as the first heavy guitars make their intro the images of the concentration camps follow. The band are pictured playing in a very dark basement, with an eerie candle light as only bit of light while the singer sings the first lines of the song: "Srefa, achim, srefa" (burn, brothers, burn). What follows is an impressive doomy sounding song, but unlike many such doom metal tracks this one really gives you a doomy feeling. The images of the camps are so horrifying, and especially because you realise that this is all real footage. The doomy sound and vocals combined with such terrible images give you an almost apocalyptic feeling.
Was it appropriate for a metal band to cover this song? It is open for debate. One thing can be said: this song and video leave a very deep impression on you, and indeed form an excellent anti-war and anti-racist statement. When you realise this version has reached out to metalheads and brought problems like racism and war into the spotlight to a new audience, then maybe the Knesset did make the right decision by allowing the song. A decision that, we can say, now has been confirmed right once again by giving Salem the honour to perform their version of the song on Holocaust Memorial Day.
You can imagine this song is very emotional and sensitive for many Jews, so when a dark metal band decided to cover the song there was a lot of commotion. Their idea to create a video for the song that contained actual footage and images from the concentration camps, further stirred up controversy. Was it appropriate that a metal band would sing such a song? And was such a shocking video appropriate? The Knesset (the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem) eventually had to decide if the song could be published or not. After hearing several band members had family that survived the holocaust and how they wanted to make the song an anti-war statement rather than a commercial efford, the Knesset gave green light for the song to be released. It still remained a controversial issue, but the song was given green light.
And the result is impressive. It starts with a very eerie intro based on a Jewish piyyut, however one that sounds dark and uncomfortable. This intro sounds more eerie, as if it predicts something very worrying is upcoming. Then as soon as the first heavy guitars make their intro the images of the concentration camps follow. The band are pictured playing in a very dark basement, with an eerie candle light as only bit of light while the singer sings the first lines of the song: "Srefa, achim, srefa" (burn, brothers, burn). What follows is an impressive doomy sounding song, but unlike many such doom metal tracks this one really gives you a doomy feeling. The images of the camps are so horrifying, and especially because you realise that this is all real footage. The doomy sound and vocals combined with such terrible images give you an almost apocalyptic feeling.
Was it appropriate for a metal band to cover this song? It is open for debate. One thing can be said: this song and video leave a very deep impression on you, and indeed form an excellent anti-war and anti-racist statement. When you realise this version has reached out to metalheads and brought problems like racism and war into the spotlight to a new audience, then maybe the Knesset did make the right decision by allowing the song. A decision that, we can say, now has been confirmed right once again by giving Salem the honour to perform their version of the song on Holocaust Memorial Day.
If I manage to find footage of the live version, I will publish it in my blog at a later stage. You can find the official video on YouTube by searching for "Salem Israel" however (I am not putting a direct link due to the shocking nature of the images, and people browsing for the video should be warned for the footage they are about to see)
An exact translation of the song is not available though with the help of a Hebrew-speaking person I know from the web, this is a more-or-less relevant translation:
Burn, brothers, burn
Our little town is completely on fire
Black spirits are raging through our town
Destroying flames are burning it down, leaving no traces
The town is going down in ashes
And you do reach out your hands but do nothing
Nothing to stop the fire
The fire on our little town
Burn, brothers, burn
Because the hour (of destroying) is near chas vechalila
The flames will go on and destroy us all
Only the remainders of the walls will testify
of what has once been here
And you reach out your hands but without offering help
Without stopping the fire
The fire on our little town
Burn, brothers, it is burning!
Only in your hands lies help!
Please reach out your loving hands
and save us from death
With your blood, stop the flames
Please, stop the flames with blood
Don't look from a distance
Because the flames are rising higher
Please don't take away your hands
The fire rises high!
More information on Israeli metal will be published on my website soon, including a chapter on the iconic cross-cultural oriental metal band Orphaned Land.
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