Tsippi Fleischer – Ballad of Expected Death in Cairo

The other day, I had an appointment with a doctor who happened to be around 85 years old. What caught my attention was the presence of a vintage stereo system in his office, playing opera in Hebrew from the radio. It wasn’t like anything I had heard before so I Shazam’d the song and looked up the artist. 

Born in 1946 in Haifa, Tsippi Fleischer holds degrees in music, Hebrew language, Middle Eastern history, and Arabic language and literature. Fleishcer is also a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University and Levinsky Institute in Tel Aviv. Selected works include a musical after Shalom Aleichem (1975); the cantata Like Two Branches in Arabic for chamber choir, two oboes, psaltery, cello, and a set of tar drums (1989); The Gown of Night (1988) a magnetic tape piece made from the voices of Bedouin children; In the Mountains of Armenia for Armenian girls, narrator, and clarinet on magnetic tape(1988); The Clock Wants to Sleep for children’s or women’s chorus (1980); and the oratorio 1992 for symphonic orchestra, mixed chorus, and ensemble of guitars and mandolas in memory of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1991). Her music is extremely cultural and comprehensive.