1. Avihu was born in the Shabazi neighborhood of Tel Aviv, and grew up as a teenager in Kibbutz Kissufim, where he absorbed musical influences in the spirit of the 1960s.
Participated in the First Lebanon War despite receiving an exemption
2. Medina enlisted in the Armored Corps in 1967 and was a tank commander. During the Yom Kippur War he was called up to the reserve and served as a commander and gunner, among other things replacing a number of tanks after the tanks he commanded were hit. He also participated in the First Lebanon War, although he was more liberated from it.
3. At the age of 39, Avihu Medina retired after working in the diamond industry for 15 years and investing his money wisely.
4. Medina married Judith, a convert of German descent, from whom he divorced. He is the father of three children.
The central figure in the transformation of oriental and Mediterranean music into a successful genre in Israel
5. Medina is responsible for many classics, including “The Flower in the Gardens”, “Do Not Throw Me Away” and “Praise Jerusalem”. Medina is responsible for countless other hits and some believe that he is the main figure in making Eastern and Mediterranean music a successful genre in Israel.
6. The story of the praise of Jerusalem: A Jerusalem bard asked Medina for a piyyut. Medina complied with the request, opened the Book of Psalms and came across the verse “Praise of Jerusalem”. He composed and informed the bard, but it did not return to him and the song was not published for about a decade. The person who discovered the song was Daklon, who was missing one song on the album, and she searched the country drawers for a song to complete.
Composed the Israeli song with the most performance
7. According to the official ACUM documentation, Praise of Jerusalem is the Israeli song that has the most performance. By country: around 340 different performances.
8. During the corona Avihu wrote an autobiographical book called “Beams and Melodies”.
9. In 2015 he was chosen to light a beacon on Independence Day, in 2016 he was awarded the Minister of Education Award for Jewish Culture in the Field of Music, and in 2022, the Diamond in the Crown: The Israel Prize in the Field of Hebrew Singing for the year 5722.
10. Madina told about “The Flower in the Gardens” that Zohar Argov did not want the song, and Shimi Tavori was not happy to take it either. At the end Shimi took the tape, and said to Zohar: ‘Seriously, this is the song that will win. Take and say thank you. ‘ Zohar apologized to Medina, sang it at the festival and won first place. Eventually the song became the song most identified with Argov.