بیا همه با هم برقصیم
دعونا جميعا نرقص معا
בואו כולנו נרקוד ביחד
Original Anthem: Hatikva
Country: Israel
Style: Klezmer/Arab
“Let’s all dance together” is based on a reworking the Israeli national anthem, “Hatikva”.
The original source of the melody was a baroque dance tune, “Il Ballo di Mantova” (The Dance of Mantova) attributed to the Italian tenor, Giuseppino del Biado from around 1600, which subsequently became widely popular in countries of central and eastern Europe, including Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania and Ukraine. Perhaps most famously it was employed by the Czech composer Smetana in his symphonic poem, “Vltava”.
More recently from the late 19th century it was taken up by the Zionist movement, which had its origins in eastern and central Europe, and forms the basis of the melody of “Hatikva”.
My reworking is based on two transformations, one melodic and the other rhythmic. The European diatonic minor mode of the original melody has been exchanged for an alternative Arabic mode (or maqam), in this case the Shad ‘Araban (شدعربان). The rhythm is partly derived from the popular Iranian Bastaki (بستکی) style. The result to my ear is quite klezmer in feel, which is entirely appropriate. The intention of the piece is very much in the spirit of the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra, founded by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said, and it is to convey a message of peace. The stately dance feel is also very much in the spirit of Giuseppino del Biado’s original “Ballo”, and its other many manifestations, not least the Greek Μπάλος, from which the term derives.
