Once and forever

A few weeks after I emigrated to Israel in September 1978, my friend J and I rode into Tel Aviv one evening to see and hear the musical pairing of Yoni Rechter and Yehudit Ravitz in a show called 'Once and forever'. At the time, Rechter was the known quantity, having the Kaveret pedigree, whereas Ravitz wasn't well known (she had sung backup vocals here and there). Of course, all of this was to change in the next ten years, when Ravitz became a very big name whereas Rechter stayed at about the same level. I see that I alluded to this concert two years ago.

Although now I remember nothing about the evening (except for the fact that we went), it probably was a low key but enjoyable concert. Afterwards, I bought the record that the duo produced of the show (recorded in a studio) and many years later replaced it with a cd.

On the way to Barcelona two weeks ago, I stopped in the record shop situated in the airport. I was looking for cds by elusive singer Sivan Shavit but only found her second disc, which I already own. I was almost out of the shop when I noticed that there was a new packaging of the 'Once and forever' album: one cd and one dvd. The latter comes from a concert which the duo (and their backing musicians) gave for Israeli television in 1978 and of which I had been blissfully unaware for the the past 35 years. Of course, I snapped this item up ... and promptly forgot about it.

It was only when we were unpacking the other day that I remembered the double disc. When I had the chance, I put the dvd in the player and watched it on television. Black and white! The music was as charming as I remember it with a slightly different set-list and slightly different renditions. It was fascinating to see them as how they once were - and also to see how the audience was dressed. Obviously, they have matured as musicians but the core of their musicality was already present when they were in their twenties. Of course, most musicians did their best work when they were in their twenties.

Whilst this is still wallowing in nostalgia, the music is still as powerful today as it was then.

I now have a spare copy of the 'once and forever' cd if anyone is interested.

I notice that the dual disc set came out four years ago - why did I only find out now?