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Bands and entertainment performing around Israel this summer.

By BARRY DAVIS
SINGER SHLOMO ARTZI and three grateful fans 370 (photo credit: Courtesy)
SINGER SHLOMO ARTZI and three grateful fans 370
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Sounding the Gong
Veteran Franco-British progressive rock band Gong will perform at the Reading 3 Club in the Tel Aviv Port on July 3.
Australian-born guitarist, singer and composer Daevid Allen formed the band in 1967 after leaving psychedelic rock outfit Soft Machine. Allen joined up with a fellow Soft Machine alumnus, London-born Sorbonne professor and poet-singer Gilli Smyth, and added a vocalist and flutist.
In 1971, the band gained wider notice when it performed at that year’s Glastonbury Festival in England, and in the following years it became one of the first acts to sign to Virgin Records.
Guitarist Steve Hillage joined the group in 1973, and Gong released its best known work, the Radio Gnome Trilogy, around that time. Allen and Smyth left the band in 1975, but both returned in the late ’80s. Gong has disbanded and reformed several times over the years, with various instrumental lineups and artistic directions.
It last re-formed in 2006, with Hillage on board along with jazz saxophonist Theo Travis and bass guitarist Chris Taylor.
The Tel Aviv show begins at 8 p.m.
For tickets and more information: www.facebook.com/ProgStage/ app_102075033235468
Artzi takes the country
Iconic pop singer Shlomo Artzi will cover much of the country in a five-date circuit from June 26 to July 26.
Artzi generally makes his public appearances in the summer, at major venues like Caesarea and Tel Aviv, but the upcoming tour will kick off in new territory for the veteran performer: Tiberias.
The new show includes a new lineup of string players and will feature new arrangements of time-tested Artzi hits. Following the Tiberias show will be gigs in Caesarea (July 3), Kiryat Motzkin (July 10), and the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv (an afternoon show on July 18), with the closing performance in Shuni on July 26.
For more information: https:// www.facebook.com/shlomoartzi? fref=ts%20
Game On for Israel Ballet and Mayumana
Dance and dynamic percussive rhythm will join forces at the Haifa Auditorium Friday and Saturday evening for a first-time confluence between the Israel Ballet dance company and the Mayumana troupe.
The production, Game On, is based on Stravinsky’s highly emotive work The Rite of Spring. The dance-music synergy is a natural fit, as Stravinsky wrote the composition in 1913 for an orchestra and modern ballet dancers.
The current project incorporates 27 artists from both companies and features classical ballet technique alongside the here-and-now rhythms and multimedia output of Mayumana. Choreographing the new work is Ido Tadmor, with additional music by Mayumana; Tadmor, Boaz Berman and Eilon Nofar are responsible for artistic direction. Both shows will take place at 9 p.m.
For tickets and more information: (04) 837-7777, www.barak-tickets.co.il or www.ethos.co.il
Downtown Haifa
Downtown Haifa is buzzing, with a rich and varied lineup of entertainment and hands on events lined up throughout the summer. The Paris in the Square program offers a whole host of free daily activities, including kickboxing and aerobics, painting and drawing lessons and zumba dance. There will also be weekly movie screenings, on Mondays at 8:30 p.m., through to September 15, starting this Monday with Woody Allen’s early gem Bananas, with other choice films including the Coen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski and O Brother Where Art Thou?, and Israeli classic Dizengoff 99 from 1979.
Other highlights in the Downtown program include the national breakdance championships on July 10, French Independence Day festivities on July 14 and the Indie 100 music festival on July 22.
For more information: 106 (from Haifa) and http://downtown.co.il/
Riv looks back
David Riv’s “300-60-48” exhibition covers 20 years of the internationally renowned multidisciplinary artist’s paintings and video art works. The show opened at the Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Art Education Center at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art on May 30 and will run until November 29.
The exhibition primarily features video works that Riv filmed during demonstrations since 2005 at Bil’in, Ni’lin and Nabi Saleh, as well as paintings based on frames taken from the films.
For more information: (03) 691- 9155