Avihu Medina

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Avihu Medina
אביהו מדינה.jpg
Background information
BornAugust 19, 1948
Tel Aviv, Israel
GenresMediterranean Israeli music
Occupation(s)Composer, arranger, songwriter, and singer
Websitewww.hebrewsongs.com/artists-avihumedina.htm

Avihu Medina (Hebrew: אביהו מדינה‎, born August 19, 1948 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli composer, arranger, songwriter, and singer of Mediterranean Israeli music.[1][2]

Medina was born in Tel Aviv. He was the third son of Aaron and Leah Medina.[3] His mother's family immigrated from Yemen in 1906 and she was born in Jerusalem, and his father immigrated from Yemen in 1939 when it was under the British Mandate.[1] He is Jewish, and his father was a cantor.[1]

As a teenager he lived on Kibbutz Kissufim.[4] He served as a tank commander in the Israel Defense Forces.[3] In the 1980s he established a diamond polishing business.[4]

Avihu is a resident of Petah Tikva.[3]

Avihu Medina is not this singer's real name but is actually a very elaborate Hebrew pun based on rebracketing (which is the method that most Hebrew gag names are derived)[5] "Avihu Medina" literally means "Louis the Fifteenth" which sounds like the regal name of a monarch (and is also spelt "Louis XV"). With rebracketing, the spacing of the name is changed and is spelt "avi hu medina" which translates to "My father is a state". This refers to a famous quote often misattributed to the French king Louis XIV ("Louis the Fourteenth") "L'état c'est moi" which means "I am the state" in French. Thus the name "Avihu Medina" refers to a fictional son of King Louis XIV who himself was king.[6]

Music career[]

Avihu has composed more than 401 Mizrachi music songs.[7] Through 2007, he had released nine albums.[8] He is considered by some to be the best-known Oriental singer, and has composed many of Zohar Argov's songs.[9]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Amy Horowitz. Mediterranean Israeli Music and the Politics of the Aesthetic. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
  2. ^ Rebecca L. Stein, Ted Swedenburg (2005). Palestine, Israel, and the politics of popular culture. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c "אביהו מדינה". Archived from the original on January 18, 2012. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Zohar Argov's flower that launched a million cassettes, Haaretz
  5. ^ See p. 146 in Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2003), Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Palgrave Macmillan.
  6. ^ See p. 146 in Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2003), Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Palgrave Macmillan.
  7. ^ Motti Regev, Edwin Seroussi. Popular music and national culture in Israel. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
  8. ^ Fred Skolnik, Michael Berenbaum (2007). Encyclopaedia Judaica. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
  9. ^ Anton La Guardia (2003). War without end: Israelis, Palestinians, and the struggle for a promised land. Macmillan. p. 242. Retrieved July 20, 2011. Avihu Medina.

External links[]

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