HaBanot Nechama

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A group of three women singer-songwriters are reviving the folk movement in Israel. The trio is HaBanot Nechama and The World’s Aaron Schachter introduces us to them.

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JEB SHARP: Once upon a time, popular music in Israel was basically folk music, songs that praised the budding Jewish state and its collectivist values.    Well, times have changed, and the popularity of folk music has been dwindling there for decades. But now a trio of female singer-songwriters is generating new interest. The group’s called HaBanot Nechama, and their optimistic vibe is taking the country by storm.  The World’s Aaron Schachter met up with the trio in a Tel Aviv cafe.

AARON SCHACHTER: I first saw the Hebrew word “nechama” translated as “comfort,” so the name of this trio would basically “Comfort Girls.”  But Yael Deckelbaum explains, that’s not what they’re trying to convey.

YAEL DECKELBAUM: The word nechema is a deep word, as Hebrew is also very deep and wide.  It’s almost a holy word, because that’s what we felt together.

SCHACHTER: Nechama actually means soothing or consoling.  Deckelbaum says when she met Karolina Avratz and Dana Adini seven years ago, they were in need of a little consoling.  They were two shop girls and a failed waitress, hoping for something better.

DECKELBAUM: Really, it’s true, I’m telling you the truth.  We were all crying saying, “nothing’s going to happen with me. I’m nobody, I’m nothing, I’m not going to make it.”  And then Karolina said “So why don’t we just make a band together and make some money, you know? Let’s start doing shows.”

[HaBanot Nechama music plays]

DECKELBAUM:  Wee did like each of us four or five songs, and then three songs together. The minute we did three songs together, that’s it, there was a band.

[HaBanot Nechama music plays]

KAROLINA AVRATZ: I didn’t want these songs released.  Dana, she arrived and I told her, “I’m feeling really bad and I wrote something.”

DANA ADINI: “I wrote something.  It’s not a song, it’s uhhh..  I don’t know, listen to it.”  And suddenly I heard it and it was the most amazing thing I ever heard.  It sounds like God speaking.  Really, I swear, and I told her it’s amazing and actually it was a very huge hit in Israel, this song.”

[HaBanot Nechama music plays]

SCHACHTER: The women, as you can tell, mix English and Hebrew, whimsical and serious.

[HaBanot Nechama music plays]

SCHACHTER: The three are all pretty self-deprecating.  It takes a while for Dana Adini to admit that she’s not just a singer, but also a famous actress, appearing in a popular Israeli takeoff on the HBO series “Entourage.”  And she also wrote a song she thought was a throwaway, but was rescued for HaBanot Nechama’s self-titled debut album.

ADINI: “Really it’s just a love song.  I was in love with some boy, that today is my husband, and I wanted him so bad, but I just couldn’t say anything because I was in another relationship.  So it’s a request from God to release my soul just to love him.

[HaBanot Nechama music plays]

SCHACHTER: The HaBanot Nechama CD went platinum in Israel, selling about half a million copies, which is a big deal in this small country.  The group is now working on a second album and they’re starting a US tour Friday in Philadelphia.

[HaBanot Nechama music plays]

SCHACHTER: For The World, I’m Aaron Schachter, Tel Aviv.

[HaBanot Nechama music plays]

SHARP: And you can find out more about HaBanot Nechama’s US tour at ‘The World dot org.

From the Nan and Bill Harris studios at WGBH, I’m Jeb Sharp.  We’ll be back tomorrow.

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