Jordana Arzi needs no introduction. The one who won the title of singer of the year five times, and is considered one of the assets of the Iron Sheep of Israeli music, will perform this coming Saturday evening on the stage of the Wahl Amphitheater in Tel Aviv. But this time, different from her usual performances, Erazi will host her friends for the “Chocolate Mint Gum” trio – Leah Loftin and Ruthie Holtzman. The reason? 50 years since the establishment of the mythological group.
Listen to the interview with Jordana Erzi, Leah Loftin and Ruthie Holzman, here, network b
“It makes me very happy,” says Erzi in an interview with Here News. “But somewhere I also feel a terribly ‘egotistical’ feeling, that I have someone to lean on, that I have support. Both the support of friends and the support of leaning on repertoire and vocalization that I love to sing together so much, because I’m usually alone on stage. When two friends So good and such excellent singers join me, and together we embrace the songs – for me it’s great happiness and excitement every time.”
Courtesy of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation archive
I conducted the interview with Arzi and her trio friends at Ruthi Holtzman’s house in Tel Aviv. “This is her childhood home and the home I first met when I arrived from Haifa to Tel Aviv,” Arzi shares. Yes, the relationship between these three impressive women, which continues to this very day, began back in the days of the Nahal band.
“We met in training when we enlisted,” recalls Holtzman. “We received consecutive personal numbers. We arrived at Camp 80, entered a tent one bed next to another, and that’s it – we became next to each other. I don’t think any of us have a soul mate like these two friends.” Loftin also remembers that day, and does not hide her excitement. “I remember they turned me on from the first moment I saw them.”
“I met Jordana and Ruthie at Bekum,” she says. “I came from the kibbutz, I met two ‘urbanites’ and simply because they were different, because each of us came from a different place, there was something that turned me on about them. For me, the connection was immediate. I really fell in love with both of them, really. I thought to myself how lucky I am. I swear to you. And it doesn’t end. 50 years later, I still think I’m lucky.”
“Listen, we grew up together,” Arzi joins in. “They’ve been my girlfriends since the age of 17 and a half. So what haven’t we been through? You know, life is shaking and takes you both to sad moments and to very happy moments. We shared them, and went through all kinds of things.”
Courtesy of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation archive
When they left the military band, the three girls were each signed separately in the office of the late promoter Avraham (Desha) Peschnell. In preparation for the 1972 Children’s Song Festival, Paschenel decided to send a new composition from the “Zionist Laughter Congress” show he staged at the time. The trio of girls, then still with Tami Azaria, came in second place with the song “Abra Kadabra”. When I asked Arzi, who later developed a successful and prosperous solo career, why she didn’t do it immediately upon her release from the Nahal band, she replied: “I always wanted to be part of the band and it didn’t bother me at all. It only happened at the age of 30.”
The three girls, this time with Loftin who replaced Azaria, made history. They participated in all festivals of all kinds, recorded four albums, worked with the best creators, released a series of huge hits and represented Israel in the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest in Holland. From there they even broke into a year of performances and recordings throughout Europe.
Courtesy of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation archive
“There aren’t many vocal ensembles that consist of three soloists,” Erzi explains. “We didn’t excel at dancing and we weren’t, you know, like choreographers do today. We relied on our vocalizations and that, I think, is what sets us apart. Each one is a singer, a soloist, in her own right. It’s the connection that I think makes the ‘magic’ “.
“I think we have something cosmic about our vocal cords,” adds Holtzman. “They are very similar. If someone were to check them and put them on a computer, then they would see that the register (range of sounds) is the same. The processors had a lot of fun working with us, because they could ‘knead’ us into all kinds of styles.” Or as Luftin says – “we were like material in the hands of the creator”.
The band broke up in 1978, but Jordana, Ruthie and Leah remained close friends. In 1989, they recorded together up-to-date cover versions of the songs “Venezuela” and “Nara Meshem Otsar” for Arzi’s album “A station on the way”. In 2003 they released a double collection and last November the trio reunited for a celebratory performance at the Culture Hall to mark Jordana’s 70th birthday.
Over the years, Jordana in particular and the trio in general established a position of honor in the local LGBT community. If in the 90s it was the “passion girls” who stepped into their shoes on various channels on Channel 1, the remix version released by Erzi in 2007 of the successful song “We’ll Come” conquered the radio stations and became an unofficial anthem of the community.
Courtesy of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation archive
“I think the external appearance has a part in it,” Arzi surmises. “Nonetheless, we are one redhead, one blonde and the one with braids, it’s easy to imitate that and it’s very easy to turn it into something stage-theatrical. I think the community really likes it.” “It makes me very happy that we are an inspiration,” says Loftin. “The truth is that I got to perform several times before the LGBT community and it was a hysterical celebration.”
And what do you think about the selection of singer Noa Kirel as Israel’s representative for the next Eurovision in Britain? “I trust her to do exactly what she knows how to do,” says Holtzman. “She’s excellent, she’s lived on stage. She’s excellent and she doesn’t need advice.” Arzi, a veteran Eurovision vixen who hosted the contest in 1979 and represented Israel again in 1988, says the choice is nothing less than excellent. “She is surrounded by very strong people. She is very talented and is what is called ‘gifted’, she has this ‘pretzel’ over her head. I don’t think she needs any advice. Just lean on herself.”
So what do we wish them for next year? “May it never end,” says Jordana; “Health,” adds Leah, “that we don’t stop singing”; And Ruthie concludes with a smile – “And I will continue to be a grandmother”.