Naomi Shemer
| Naomi Shemer | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Native name | נעמי שמר |
| Birth name | Naomi Sapir |
| Born | July 13, 1930 |
| Origin | Kvutzat Kinneret (present-day Israel) |
| Died | June 26, 2004 (aged 73) Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Genres | World |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals |
Naomi Shemer (Hebrew: נעמי שמר; July 13, 1930 – June 26, 2004) was a leading Israeli musician and songwriter, hailed as the "first lady of Israeli song and poetry." Her song "Yerushlayim Shel Zahav" ("Jerusalem of Gold") written in 1967, became an unofficial second anthem after Israel won the Six-Day War that year and reunited Jerusalem.
Naomi Sapir was born to Rivka Sapir and Meir Sapir in Kvutzat Kinneret, a kibbutz her parents had helped found, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. In the 1950s she served in the Israeli Defense Force's Nahal entertainment troupe, and studied music at the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem, and in Tel Aviv with Paul Ben-Haim, Abel Ehrlich, Ilona Vincze-Kraus and Josef Tal.
Shemer did her own songwriting and composing, set famous poems to music, such as those of the Israeli poet, Rachel, and the American Walt Whitman. She also translated and adapted popular songs into Hebrew, such as the Beatles song "Let It Be" in 1973.
In 1963, she composed "Hurshat Ha'Eucalyptus" ("The Eucalyptus Grove"), a song that evokes Kvutzat Kinneret where she was born. It was covered in a recent version by Ishtar. In 1967, she wrote the patriotic song, "Yerushalayim Shel Zahav" (Jerusalem of Gold), which was sung by Shuly Nathan and became famous. She wrote it for the Israeli Music Festival. After Israel's victory in the Six-Day War that year, she added another verse celebrating the reunification of Jerusalem. The song "gained the status of an informal second national anthem."
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