I first became aware of Klepter in 1973-4, when he was lead guitarists in Kaveret, along with Danny Sanderson. He wrote the music for several of their songs, especially on their third and last album, as well as taking lead vocals on one (let's say that his singing was less impressive than his guitar playing).
Throughout the 70s, his playing and songwriting were part of the Israeli music scene and I was well aware of his contributions. In the early 80s, like Yoni Rechter before him, Arik Einstein recorded two albums with Klepter; his songs were always interesting and often had unexpected twists in the chord sequences.
After about 1985, he disappeared off my radar, and it was only in the (financially profitable) reunions of Kaveret that I ever saw him. He suffered from COPD and in this guise he made an unexpected appearance in a television show that showed the lives of five doctors ; he was one of the patients.
Last night, he was the leading item in the news; this shows how well he was regarded as there are so many things to report these days, such as political news (that I cannot bear to hear), tales of road rage and price increases across the board.
As it happens, I was in Tel Aviv yesterday, and my path took me past a musical instruments shop run by another lead guitarist active in Israel between 1976-1990, Shmulik Budagov. I used to see him every week as part of a quartet called Brosh (poplar) on a television show that supposedly was for children (Zehu zeh), but I suspect that more adults than children used to watch. He was one of the six members of a group called Sheshet (that can be translated either as 'sextet' or 'Man Friday'; four of the group achieved various levels of success afterwards, from moderately famous (Budagov) to extremely famous (Yehudit Ravitz). I don't know whether this group ever played live or how even they came about, but I enjoy their eponymous record that I first bought in 1978/9.
After retiring from active playing, he opened a guitar shop in Petach Tikva, and I read an article about him somewhere a few years ago about how he was developing his own brand of guitars. There were a few in his shop window: a telecaster copy, an acoustic and another electric guitar, but no prices (not that I intend to buy yet another guitar!). A sign in the window said that opening hours were from 10am; I was there at 10:05 and the doors were firmly locked. At some stage I have to return to that area, so I'll try to time it after 11am.
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