Israeli, Lebanese singer collaborate on Arabic version of Hebrew song
Singer Yair Levi has collaborated with a Lebanese singer to record a duet in Arabic.
Levi’s song, “Refa Na” (“Please Heal”) with Lebanese singer Carine Bassili, has garnered both positive and negative attention within Israel and Lebanon.
Bassili contacted Levi after hearing the original version of the song in Hebrew, asking if she could cover the song in Arabic, as Bassili believed the lyrics and the message of “Refa Na” could bring healing to Lebanon during the ongoing social and economic crisis.
Upon hearing the proposition, Levi felt the two singers could do one better, and instead sang a duet of the song in Arabic together.
“Before recording the song with Yair, I was very concerned about the consequences of doing so. I have received many threats from people living in Lebanon, as well as calls for boycotts, etc.,” said Bassili in a press release announcing the song. “As you may know, in Lebanon
we have a law that forbids any kind of relationship with Israelis. Breaking this rule could mean being thrown in jail or death.”
Since recording the single, the song has been played in dozens of countries including Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Sudan, Egypt and Dubai, among others. As in Israel and Lebanon, the song has brought up mixed reactions in the rest of the Arab world as well.
Bassili has received personal threats against her life and livelihood, with many calling to boycott the singer for working with an Israeli.
In reference to the negative reactions, Prime Minister’s Office spokesperson Ofir Gendelman endorsed the song in a tweet, writing, “Music is refusing hate. Watch this amazing collaboration between Lebanese Carine Bassili and Israeli Yair Levi in a worship song ‘Refa Na.’”
Levi, a former IDF captain of the Shayetet 13 unit, noted that he couldn’t be happier with the version of the song that was released, and that while recording the duet he has come to know Bassili and the struggles of many living in Lebanon, where before he had seen Israel’s
northern neighbor as just another enemy country.
“We have suffered wars and terror attacks by Hezbollah, a terrorist organization ruling the South of Lebanon, which borders Israel. I had mixed feelings on this,” he said in the press release.
Bassili also struggled with the decision due to the laws forbidding collaboration with Israelis, and about Levi’s former status as captain of an elite IDF unit.
“I would basically be recording along with an Israeli military figure,” she said. “When the first war between Israel and Lebanon broke out in 1982, the first missile that was shot into Beirut caused the death of my great grandfather .... Every son and daughter in Lebanon grew up with the sound of jets and bombs. We grew up in hate.
“However, my heart told me to just do it,” Bassili said. “And I dared to do so because I felt it was the right thing to do.”
Yair added that within his experience, recording the duet has given him a chance to get to know people who live on the other side of the Israel-Lebanon border.