Many Israelis took to social media to express their frustration over the change, which some derided as unnecessary political correctness that ruined a classic Israeli tune.
By HANNAH BROWNAmerican model Bernie Dexter in a hommage to the US Pin-Up girl fashion of the 1950's. The 'Freicha' song was seen by many in Israel as a celebration of being an attractive free-spirited woman (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
There was a controversy in early December when the organizers of the Israeli entertainment extravaganza Festigal removed the word Freicha, which means flower or blossom but is slang for "bimbo" and usually "Mizrahi bimbo" from a performance of the Freicha Song performed by Anna Zak, because the term was considered offensive.Many Israelis took to social media to express their frustration over the change, which some derided as unnecessary political correctness that ruined a classic Israeli tune, which was a big hit for the late Ofra Haza.Now there is a further twist, as Guy Pines reported Wednesday night on his television show, Good Evening: the Yiddishpiel Theater has released a Yiddish version in which the word in question, pronounced with a Yiddish accent, is front and center. Not only that, but actress Alexa Lerner, who sings the tune, cavorts in skintight black leather and red spike heels, on and around a bar, sensually eating -- gefilte fish. She also dons a white fur coat and brandishes handcuffs, which she uses to open the jar of gefilte fish, and a whip.Pines reported that there is some controversy over the origin of the word itself, whether it is originally Yiddish or Arabic, and Lerner says in an interview that she feels the Yiddish pronunciation is especially sexy. She also says that she thinks there is no need for the word to be cleansed from any song, and that it should be taken in the context of its original Arabic meaning, which she says is "happy." At the end, she winks at the camera and asks in Yiddish, "Get it?"The television show presented Lerner's super-sexy rendition alongside Haza's more subdued version, from the 1979 movie, Shlager. The song was one of the Haza's signature tunes. Haza, who was from a Yemenite family, embraced every aspect of her Mizrahi heritage, singing traditional Yemenite songs in Arabic, wearing traditional Yemenite garb and performing the upbeat, Shir HaFreicha as if to wink at the ethnic stereotypes about Mizrahi women. Its lyrics are by the Israeli actor/director Assi Dayan and its melody is by Svika Pick (today also known as Quentin Tarantino's father-in-law). In it, a young woman tells off a man, saying that although she loves life, including being silly and dancing, she isn't into him.
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