Aviv Geffen - Journey Diary
- FaceOff - עימות חזיתי
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Written By: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 03.09.1985
"One day it will happen, without us noticing, something will change, something will touch us, something will calm within us, and there will be nothing to fear." (Rita/Idan Raichel)
In March 1998, at only 24 years old, Aviv Geffen divorced his childhood sweetheart Ilana Berkowitz. Later that year he would meet Shani Friedan, the model who would become his partner and wife for the next 24 years.
Geffen had been one of the most controversial artists of the 1990s, inspiring a love-hate relationship among the public. But suddenly he seemed calmer. He had grown up, perhaps even become more settled, and the transformation was clearly reflected in his songs, which had always been deeply personal and, in many cases, blunt. Suddenly, he had softened. His point of view was no longer that of the rebellious adolescent he had once been.
"Wake up, wake up, beloved homeland, because we are so tired, we need some rest," Geffen sings in "Wake Up", the opening track of his 8th album "Journey Diary", released on September 3, 2000.
The song captured the feelings and atmosphere in Israel at the time it was written and became, in its own way, a love song to the country. Geffen later explained that he had originally written the phrase as "dark homeland", but after much hesitation changed it to "beloved homeland", believing that the softer wording would allow the message to reach a much wider audience. The decision helped turn "Wake Up" into a massive radio hit.
In 2001, the Likud party offered Geffen NIS 1.8 million for permission to use the song in its campaign for the special election for Prime Minister, in which Ariel Sharon was running. Geffen declined the offer.
There is little doubt that the rebellious Geffen of the early 1990s would have chosen the provocation of "dark" at almost any cost. Unfortunately, it is also a word that has become increasingly common today as a way of dismissing the other side.
But the Geffen who entered the new millennium was a man who had already been through several personal journeys. Perhaps they made him less confrontational, but they also made him more capable of seeing someone different from himself and still extending a hand.
Compared with the screams and distortion that had been such dominant elements on his earlier albums, "Journey Diary" revealed Geffen's growing affection for softer ballads. "You Deserve More", for example, is driven by prominent piano playing. Yet many of the themes that had occupied him in the past, including the army, destruction and death, return here as well.
Whereas in the past his partner for duets had been rocker Berry Sakharof, this time Geffen's choices of Arik Einstein for "Journey Diary" and Shalom Hanoch for "The King's Courtyard" clearly reveal where he was now aiming. He was no longer satisfied with teenagers as his audience. He wanted their parents on his side as well.
The connection between the Geffen family and Arik Einstein went all the way back to the "Lool" period of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Yehonatan Geffen wrote songs that Einstein performed. Einstein was also a familiar presence around the family while Aviv was growing up.
That relationship continued when Aviv Geffen asked Einstein to record "Cry for You" in 1995, a song Geffen had written in memory of his friend Nir Shpiner. Geffen later recalled that Einstein had called his mother after hearing his songs on the radio and asked her to bring him anything Aviv had thrown away. Following Yitzhak Rabin's assassination, "Cry for You" took on an entirely new meaning and became one of the songs most closely associated with the Candle Youth generation.
The album's title track became an emotional duet with Einstein. During his own concerts, Geffen had frequently performed covers of "Atur Mitzchech" and "Avshalom", and for the recording sessions of "Journey Diary" he also recruited guitarist Haim Krio, who had played on Einstein's "Drive Slowly" in 1974.
"Countless paths and an exit, recording it all inside a journey diary, to blend in without disappearing, recording it all inside a journey diary."
Among the many songs he has written, Aviv Geffen has regarded "Journey Diary" as one of the works that best represented his maturity as a songwriter.
Geffen later described how the collaboration with Arik Einstein came together. The two had known each other since Geffen's childhood through his father Yehonatan, and Einstein had followed Aviv's development as a songwriter long before they finally recorded together.
While working on the new album in 1999, Geffen wrote "Journey Diary" and invited Einstein to the studio. They met at Zaza Studios, where Einstein recorded several vocal takes. Geffen wanted to make corrections, but Einstein felt the performance was finished and saw no reason to keep working on it. Geffen later tried to persuade him to return to the studio for one small correction, but Einstein jokingly promised that he would come back on his motorcycle. Geffen waited for hours before realizing that Einstein, who of course did not ride a motorcycle, had been joking with him. The song was released as it was.
Geffen explained that he had written the lyrics about his own journey through life and specifically wanted Einstein on the song because he was searching for something that would give it a sense of timelessness.
Other songs on the album deal with the elusive attempt to achieve genuine happiness, as in "Airplanes", while "Look to the Skies" revolves around anxiety, sorrow and loss.
In "Drawn Guns", Geffen writes about a soldier returning home from military service carrying what appears to be combat trauma. He carries psychological wounds and pain from his service, while the song explores the internal conflict between attempting to return to ordinary life and living with the experiences he cannot leave behind.
Interestingly, a later edition of the album included "Heavy Rain Is Going to Fall", a Hebrew cover of "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" by Bob Dylan. The song had been translated into Hebrew by Yehonatan Geffen, who also participated in the recording.
The new journey diary of Aviv Geffen ended as an enormous success, selling approximately 40,000 copies. The album gave Geffen the confidence he needed to part ways with his longtime producer Moshe Levy and head toward a completely new adventure with Steven Wilson under the name "Blackfield".
That collaboration would also give new life to "Scars" from "Journey Diary", which became "Scars" on the duo's debut album "Blackfield".
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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