Kaveret's final concert
Kaveret's final concertFlash 90

40 years after they first got together and wowed Israelis with a series of hits, the members of Israeli pop-rock band Kaveret said their final goodbye in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park last Thursday evening.

The band was only together for four years but released three successful albums, performed many concerts, and, since breaking up in 1976, reunited several times in 1984, 1990, 1998, 2000 and again this year, 2013. This reunion, however, was their last - or so they say. Many fans still hope that they will get together once, twice, or even dozens of more times.

Kaveret is made up of seven wonderful Israeli talents: Danny Sanderson, Gidi Gov, Yitzhak Klepter, Alon Oleartchik, Efraim Shamir, Meir Fenigstein and Yoni Rechter. Most of them met during their IDF service with the Lahakat HaNachal (The Nachal Troupe).

 

Sanderson, who wrote and composed most of the band’s hit songs, told Arutz Sheva that the band’s music is a reflection of the “melting pot” that is Israel, which is made up of different cultures and traditions all brought together. Sanderson, who was born in Israel, spent seven years as a child in New York, where he absorbed Blues and Rock and Roll music which undoubtedly inspired him as well.

Kaveret was not only about music, however. It incorporated humor in its repertoire as well, almost stand-up comedy.

“Basically, we’re pretty inane and zany offstage, and when we rehearsed we found that as much as we take our music seriously, we didn’t take ourselves seriously,” said Sanderson. “Once in a while we’d let a skit or some comedy happen, and it’s always been interspersed between the songs.”

Many songs by Kaveret became embedded in Israeli culture and are familiar also to the new generation of Israeli youth. As such, parents and their children were seen together at last Thursday’s concert.

In 1974, Kaveret represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest with their song, "Natati La Khayay". The song finished seventh, but nevertheless became of the band’s greatest hits.