Jimbo J does not like to just say "festive". For this evening, there is no more suitable word
Over the musical events of the Israel Festival, a question hovered: will we be able to enjoy culture again without a constant sense of mourning hanging over it? But it was precisely the direct look at the reality of life that concocted exciting, honest, and uplifting events. From the performance of the Aner Shapira project to "Hip-Hop Talpiot" — a polished evening where the Jerusalem Street Orchestra, produced by Tamir Muskat and arranged by Omri Bar, brought together Eden Derso, Jimbo J, Teddy Neguse, and many others for a spectacular production full of highlights.
A few days ago, I happened to watch "Black Gold" on Kan. In one of the segments, there was an interview with members of Shabak S, and Moki, if I'm not mistaken, spoke about the Israel of the nineties: terror attacks, intifada, depression — and about how hip-hop was actually the escape from all of that. Life in the shadow of the situation, and despite the situation.
Last week, I arrived at the VERSE event as part of the Israel Festival, and it felt a bit like we had lost the right to escape. The question that flooded me throughout the event — which was beautiful and produced to perfection, as only the Israel Festival knows how to do — was whether we will ever be able to enjoy "just" culture here again? Culture that doesn't have a constant sense of mourning hanging over it?
The opening performance was by a group of young and talented artists from a joint project of the Aner Shapira Association, the Academy of Music and Dance, and the Roim Rahok Association. Shapira, of blessed memory, who was murdered on October 7 after repeatedly pushing back grenades thrown into the death shelter, was a rapper — incredibly talented, if I may say so. His family even released his debut album in 2024, "Introduction to Anerchism", and at the event, held in cooperation with the association, a new and beautiful single of his was launched featuring Ester Rada. The young and excited artists of the project gave honest and painful verses on stage. "When you grow up, there will be no army, it's hard to be optimistic when you stand in front of a tombstone," sang one of them, who lost his brother in the war. Nietzsche said that art saves us from the truth, but in the Israel of 2026, it mainly forces you to look at it with wide-open eyes and doesn't even let you blink.
And then came Hip-Hop Talpiot. On Thursday evening, hundreds of people made their way to the industrial zone — a not-so-simple task, by the way — for an evening that, God help me, was just fun. But nothing about it was simple: it was a huge, polished, and beautiful production that brought together some of the most prominent artists in the contemporary hip-hop scene for an evening whose only downside is that it was too short. The legendary producer Tamir Muskat concocted, together with the Jerusalem Street Orchestra, an event of wild collaborations with fascinating arrangements by Omri Bar.
First on stage was Eden Derso, in a mesmerizing white dress and a large black hat, looking like a million dollars. In "Potential + This Is It", the orchestra gave her power and drama that turned her into a diva on stage, in the best sense of the word. The evening started on an insanely high note and only intensified from there. Echo burned the stage, Tapash crushed it — and was also revealed to be quite a good vocalist — and Jimbo J reminded us where we are after all with "Where I Live" and "100", which was insanely powerful. But it was "Mythological Ex", which seemed destined from the start for a performance with an orchestra, that is the performance etched in memory.
On stage, Jimbo J said he doesn't like to just use the word "festive", but in this case, there really is no more suitable word: it was a celebration of hip-hop. Every artist gave a show, but the orchestra shone above them all. I usually don't take many photos at performances. I try to be present in the moment. This time, I couldn't bear the thought that after this evening ended, I wouldn't have a way to hear these performances again, and I found myself filming almost everything. Just because I didn't want it to disappear. And yes, the arrangements were dramatic — very. Very. Very. But that's how orchestral arrangements should be. You don't bring a full orchestra, with strings and winds, to play it safe. How do they say? Go big or go home.
One of the highlights of the evening — although it's hard to talk about highlights on an evening that moved almost entirely from peak to peak — came with Teddy Neguse, who was dressed way too warmly for the event, even in the relatively cool Jerusalem. First of all, the orchestra's arrangement for "In Isolation", which almost reminded one of James Bond tunes of the past, in the style of "Goldfinger", was spectacular. Later, in another hit of Neguse's, "It's in My Blood", Tomer Yosef came on stage and the song turned into a very successful mash-up with Part of the Glory by Balkan Beat Box. From there, all the members of Balkan Beat Box came on stage, with songs that I was surprised to discover how nostalgic they already feel. It seemed that here they were appealing to the slightly older part of the audience, those who were there when Balkan were at their peak.
In general, the audience was incredibly diverse — men and women of different ages, even families with children — and everyone just wanted to enjoy a bit of good music. As a Jerusalemite, I admit that I was really encouraged by this display of sanity in a city that one usually hears about, and also lives in, mainly through disturbing news. And back to Balkan: besides the uplifting nostalgia, Tomer Yosef deserves praise for the fact that after almost a whole evening, someone finally gave a worthy place to the backing singer and keyboardist who was no less than amazing and accompanied the event from the beginning, Yael Zelinger. Zelinger was positioned at her own station above the main stage and was a mesmerizing presence from the very first moment, when she accompanied Derso in singing. Throughout the entire evening, she conducted the event (metaphorically, of course, we also had an actual conductor, the talented Ido Shpitalnik) with peak energy and talent that makes you want to see her in the center of the stage as well.
At the end of the evening, all the artists returned to the stage for a final joint number. Then Tamir Muskat, who artistically managed this wonderful evening with a firm hand, also spoke to the applause of the satisfied and smiling audience. The only thing that can be improved for next time is to give more than three songs to each artist, because I would have gladly stayed for a full-length performance of each and every one of them.
So will we ever be able to do here or enjoy here "just" culture? Probably not. Reality will always find a way to sneak in, after all "we dialed 100, 100 times. 100, 100 don't answer". And yet at Hip-Hop Talpiot, people sang, danced, enjoyed, drank beer, ate a slice of pizza as if for a moment we are a normal country and not one struck by fate and disasters. And perhaps this is the escape that is possible for us now: not to ignore reality, but to manage to enjoy despite the fact that it is there.
