Wow. He is gone.
I think I speak for many when I say that his music was the soundtrack for Israel. What a terrible loss and how grateful we all are that he was around to share his gifts with us all. He was a giant.
Here is one of those old black and white videos with Arik, Shalom Chanoch, Uri Zohar and others singing one of his most famous songs – Lama Li La’Kachat La’Lev.
One publication tried to identify some of his finest songs, a virtually impossible assignment considering how many songs he’s recorded and how many of them were superb: http://www.haaretz.com/culture/arts-leisure/1.560395
For the Hebrew speakers, here is a wonderful interview that truly captures his personality. There’s a moment where he answers a question about why he didn’t work with Shalom Chanoch, one of his primary collaborators, for twenty years. He answers that Shalom is a force on his own, a poet, a composer, a singer and can work by himself. He thought that Shalom didn’t need him and he didn’t feel comfortable pressing his former collaborator to work together again. Unbelievable and true humility coming from the most famous, and probably the most important, Israeli singer of all time.
http://youtu.be/SrzGWegLu3A
