I lived in Israel for 14 years (1961-1995.) Still have some ties to that country. This is just about all the introduction I need, so that I can get to the actual subject: Israeli pop/rock music & me.

     The sixties (that's when I got there at the age of 14) were a musically enlightening period in my life. I did not care very much for the early 60's Israeli music scene; it was mostly Russian & Middle-Easter influenced folk. In retrospect I realize that some of it was quite good and I do listen to that sometimes, however, what was getting my blood to flow faster was Rock'n'Roll. Elvis was O.K. but my favorite singer was Cliff Richard. In those days he was just a punk and his repertoire included every rocking style you could imagine. I do not think anyone dreamed that he would one day be knighted. His voice would be velvety and extremely seductive one moment and screeching like an animal or Little Richard the next. I did get to see him once and was not disappointed. It was a highlight of my teenage years - amazing that they granted the guy a visa - the Ministry of Education later on managed to prevail upon other governmental offices and deny the Beatles that same privilege. In the late 60's & early 70's things improved a bit and I did get to see some more foreign bands the greatest of which was by far "Mungo Jerry."

     The local bands that I remember from the mid sixties were "The Sing-Sing" and "The Blue Stars" - they were quite interesting and while the Sing-Sing covered just about everything, the Blue Stars specialized in surf music which was quite a novelty for me.
During '67 & '68 I was stationed in a town named Rosh Pina which was only about 20 miles from Tiberias - is a very happening city on the shores of the sea of Galilee. Most club/restaurants would book a band for the weekend and you could have a bite and a drink in between the dancing, in your bathing suit. When I got too hot I could just jump into the sea to cool off. So that is were I became more aware of the booming local music scene.