{"id":74066,"date":"2023-04-19T20:07:58","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T01:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=74066"},"modified":"2023-04-19T20:07:58","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T01:07:58","slug":"two-late-iconic-israeli-singers-have-been-resurrected-via-ai-for-a-duet-not-everyone-is-happy-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/two-late-iconic-israeli-singers-have-been-resurrected-via-ai-for-a-duet-not-everyone-is-happy-about-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Two late iconic Israeli singers have been resurrected via AI for a duet. Not everyone is happy about it."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By JACKIE HAJDENBERG<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 Two popular Israeli singers \u2014 one the \u201cMadonna of the East,\u201d the other the \u201cking\u201d of Mizrahi music as well as a convicted rapist \u2014 have teamed up on a new song in honor of their country\u2019s 75th birthday.<\/p>\n<p>The twist: Both Ofra Haza and Zohar Argov have been dead for decades.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_74067\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-23-Ofra-Haza-with-AI.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-74067\" class=\"wp-image-74067 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-23-Ofra-Haza-with-AI-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-23-Ofra-Haza-with-AI-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-23-Ofra-Haza-with-AI-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-23-Ofra-Haza-with-AI-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-23-Ofra-Haza-with-AI-1536x853.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-23-Ofra-Haza-with-AI-2048x1138.jpg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/167;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-74067\" class=\"wp-image-74067 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-23-Ofra-Haza-with-AI-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-23-Ofra-Haza-with-AI-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-23-Ofra-Haza-with-AI-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-23-Ofra-Haza-with-AI-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-23-Ofra-Haza-with-AI-1536x853.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-23-Ofra-Haza-with-AI-2048x1138.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-74067\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ofra Haza, known as the &#8220;Madonna of the Middle East&#8221; died in 2000, but AI technology has allowed for her voice and likeness to be recreated and used in a new song. (Screenshot via YouTube)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Their collaboration, \u201cHere Forever,\u201d wasn\u2019t unearthed in a dusty archive. Instead, the song and its accompanying video are essentially deepfakes, created using artificial intelligence that mined recordings from when they were alive to fabricate a lifelike performance of a song composed long after their deaths.<\/p>\n<p>Their families signed off on the song, a soulful duet about Israel\u2019s bygone past that has caught on among Israeli listeners. But some in the country are asking why Argov, who died in prison while facing another rape charge, should be a centerpiece of Israel\u2019s Independence Day celebrations.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, others who were close to the artists, including Haza\u2019s longtime manager Bezalel Aloni, have panned the song.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe song does not resemble the tone of her divine voice,\u201d Aloni told Israeli news outlet N12.&nbsp;\u201cShe broke through thanks to her artistry, and none of that is reflected in this piece. \u05bfI want to cry for her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>An Argov impersonator who was part of the team that created the song also slammed it in the press, calling it \u201cshameful\u201d for not accurately reproducing Argov\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n<p>The song is part of a growing trend of using AI to create new tracks with pop stars\u2019 voices. Fresh, but fake, songs or covers have been published using the vocals of artists like Drake and Rihanna, raising ethical questions as to who owns an artist\u2019s voice or likeness.<\/p>\n<p>The new song\u2019s popularity \u2014 the video has racked up 200,000 views since launching last week, and the song is the 16th-most-requested in Israel on Shazam, a music app \u2014 also suggests that Israelis are embracing nostalgia for a shared Israeli past at a time when the country is occupied with social strife and political upheaval.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot to be too cliched, but with everything that\u2019s been happening in the last three months, that offered a lot of inspiration,\u201d Oudi Antebi, CEO and co-founder of Session 42, the Israeli music production company spearheading the AI music project, told the Times of Israel.<\/p>\n<p>The video for \u201cHere Forever\u201d uses archival footage of the singers to make them look like they\u2019re singing the song, combined with grainy scenes from Israel during earlier eras of its history.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u05db\u05d0\u05df \u05de\u05ea\u05d2\u05e2\u05d2\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd: \u05e2\u05e4\u05e8\u05d4 \u05d7\u05d6\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d6\u05d5\u05d4\u05e8 \u05d0\u05e8\u05d2\u05d5\u05d1 \u05d1\u05d3\u05d5\u05d0\u05d8 \u05d7\u05d3\u05e9 - &quot;\u05db\u05d0\u05df \u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd&quot; \u2764\ufe0f\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7ND1Pw6QD_0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Both Haza and Argov played a role in shaping that history through their music, which earned them distinctive nicknames. Haza, who died in 2000, was dubbed the \u201cMadonna\u201d of Israel, and is perhaps best known to American audiences for her singing on the soundtrack of the 1998 animated musical film \u201cThe Prince of Egypt.\u201d Her musical style blended Mizrahi influences and pop.<\/p>\n<p>Argov was called, simply, the \u201cking\u201d of Mizrahi music, and he helped mainstream the genre that is rooted in the songs and poetry of Jews from across the Middle East and North Africa. But his life and legacy have been tainted by a conviction for rape as well as other criminal charges. He died by suicide in a prison cell in 1987 while facing his second rape charge, nearly 10 years after the conviction. Even so, in the decades since his death, his music has become ever more popular. He is one of the most-played artists on Israeli radio, even after growing awareness of sexual abuse in the years since the beginning of the #MeToo movement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had hoped, but it\u2019s hard to say I expected\u201d that attitudes toward Argov would change, Orit Sulitzeanu, executive director of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, told the Times of Israel last year in an article exploring Argov\u2019s legacy. \u201cUntil there is societal shaming, sexual violence will continue all over the place,\u201d she said. \u201cThere have to be people pushing for it \u2026 the only way to make change is through activism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a column last week, Israeli music journalist Avi Sasson suggested that Argov\u2019s rape conviction should have been grounds for excluding him from \u201cHere Forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat about this pairing?\u201d Sasson wrote in the Israeli publication Ynet. \u201cAfter all, Ofra Haza and Zohar Argov worked in parallel in the \u201970s and \u201980s, and when they could have collaborated, they chose not to. Moreover, did anyone stop to think about the fact that, had Ofra Haza been alive today, in the #MeToo era, perhaps she wouldn\u2019t have opted to record a duet with Argov, a person who was convicted of rape and later ended his life in a jail cell?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For his part, Aloni said that Haza \u201cvehemently refused to collaborate with Zohar Argov,\u201d but the manager did not attribute that refusal to Argov\u2019s rape conviction. Rather, although Haza is widely described as a Mizrahi singer and was of Yemeni Jewish descent, Aloni said Haza did not consider her musical genre to be Mizrahi.<\/p>\n<p>Antebi said that after conducting a poll to see which artists best represented Israel, the vast majority voted for Haza and Argov.<\/p>\n<p>Antebi told the Times of Israel that the track is \u201ca love song for the nation.\u201d Its chorus seems to allude not only to Israeli resilience but also to the technological innovation that made the song possible \u2014 and that has placed new words in Argov and Haza\u2019s mouths long after their passing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll stay here always, I\u2019ve missed you,\u201d the lyrics read. \u201cEven if you can\u2019t see it, we are here forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Two%20late%20iconic%20Israeli%20singers%20have%20been%20resurrected%20via%20AI%20for%20a%20duet.%20Not%20everyone%20is%20happy%20about%20it.\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":74067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,7137],"tags":[8790,8795,8788,13020,13019],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74066"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74066"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74068,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74066\/revisions\/74068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}