A Rare Species

One of the earliest videos of Corinne Allal that the internet has to offer is from 1977, when she accompanied Arik Einstein’s unforgettable classic Atur Mitzchech – written by poet Avraham Halfi and composed by Yoni Rechter. In the video, we see 22-year-old Allal, sporting long hair and a traditional embroidered Romanian blouse, singing pure and innocent background vocals while sitting on a stool next to Yehudit Ravitz and behind Einstein, with her hands politely on her lap. In a few years, Allal would look and sound completely different; but it took her a while to find her own unique artistic voice.

Corinne Allal, daughter of a Mossad agent, was born in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, and made Aliyah with her family at the age of 8. She has since become 100% Israeli, but always retained the French flair she brought with her from the country she was born in.

Like most Israeli singers of her generation, Allal began her career as part of a military band, but her feisty personality was evident from the get go. She started in Lehakat Pikud Darom. After refusing to dance in one of their shows, she moved to the Combat Engineering Corps military band, where she performed alongside Yehudit Ravitz. Both were about to become stars and continued to collaborate frequently throughout their careers, and neither was satisfied with being only a singer.

Allal was destined to become a singer, guitarist, producer and arranger, composing her own songs. Her music and her public persona would be a radical departure from her early Eretz Israel image. In the late 70s and early 80s, Allal participated in many musical projects, mostly blending in with her surroundings, but all this changed with her debut solo album.

Corinne Allal playing her 1989 album “Antarctica” in its entirety at Beit Avi Chai, 2013

Her eponymous debut album, produced by Izhar Ashdot – one of Israel’s most cutting-edge record producers of the 1980s – was released in 1984 and introduced a new Corinne Allal: with chopped hair and chopped sounds. Mixing rock, New Wave, Synthpop and Reggae, Allal brought a new sound and a new approach to Israeli pop. The lyrics of opening song Motek ("Sweetie") were penned by Gideon Kafan and Tzeruya Lahav, and Allal chose them as her bold statement of intent. With this song Allal made her position very clear: she does not wish to be called Sweetie – a belittling nickname for girls and women that makes her break out in hives, like the song says. Throughout her career, Allal composed most of her songs, while choosing biting and edgy lyrics to sing.

Allal became the quintessential Israeli female rock star, never shying away from complex and blunt messages. Alongside Ravitz, Allal was a pioneer of independent female musical creation. She stood centre-stage with an electric guitar and combined a modern, contemporary sound, with a twitchy stage presence. At the height of her career, Allal’s music was indebted much more to what was going on in the international pop scene at the time than to the roots of Hebrew music.

Her third album, “Antarctica”, produced by Ravitz and released in 1989, was a huge hit and made Allal a household name in Israel. Since then, she released many more albums. While her unconventional singing voice is always instantly recognizable, her music has changed over the years. A few years back, for instance, she staged an experimental show for which she composed and sang the entire Book of Ecclesiastes.

Allal’s importance in Israeli popular culture runs deeper than just her music and defiant persona. She became a lesbian icon long before she publicly came out of the closet in a TV interview in 2001, and she worked with generations of local artists, as collaborator as well as mentor.

Celebrating 40 years since her debut solo album, Corinne Allal is still very much active and we can only hope that she will continue to surprise and inspire.

The Beit Avi Chai Stage Welcomes Corinne Allal
In Hebrew | Tuesday | April 9 | 9pm | Beit Avi Chai & Zoom
For more details: https://www.bac.org.il/events/?eventID=18616

Photo credit: (חי) wikipedia