German journalists from the world of music bring 17 Hippies to Givat Haviva!
17 Hippies Heimlich CD cover and the journalists taking a break during Wadi Ara tour
A recent group of visitors to Givat Haviva were 23 media folk from Germany whose trip to Israel through the organization Bundeszentrale was timed to coincide with the Tel Aviv concert of the popular German band 17 Hippies.
Bundeszentrale, The Federal Agency for Civic Education, brings to Israel every year six or more groups of journalists and educators. Their normally packed schedules include a day at Givat Haviva participating in an International Department organized seminar incorporating information with regard Givat Haviva activities, and meeting with Jewish and Arab presenters before undertaking an in-depth tour of the Wadi Ara, Dotan Valley regions surrounding the campus.
The journalists, some of whom writing for newspapers and journals, others involved in radio and television broadcasting, were in the main young and eager to deal with topics not normally on their journalistic music track – the title of their 12-day visit to Israel being "Pop Culture in Israel."
At the end of the seminar, the group presented lecturer and guide Lydia Aisenberg with a copy of the 17 Hippies Heimlich CD – and turns out that there aren't 17 in the band but a few less, and from their ages Hippies not! However, the music is something extraordinary, a mix of Balkans, Irish, Gypsy and much more, together with definite Arabic and Jewish influences thrown in for good measure.
The band have been going for a dozen or more years, have toured Europe extensively as well as Russia and Japan, but believe this was their first appearance in Israel, the concert being part of an Israel-German music exchange program.
As always, was a pleasure to meet and work with a group of Bundeszentrale folk and especially such a group that bring music wherever they go!
The group leaders were Milena Mushak, Buneszentrale division manager, Claudia Frenzel, a freelance music journalist and Max Czollek.
The journalists:
Wolfgang Aull, editor ZDF/3sat (television) Mainz
Sabine Busmann, project manager, MusikZentrum, Hannover
Jens Fritze, freelance journalist, Uniradio Berline-Brandenburg, Berlin
Andreas Hartmann, journalist, Junge World Wochenzeitung (weekly newspaper), Berlin
Lydia Heller, freelance author, Deutschlandradio Kultur, Berlin
Christina Hoffman, journalist, Frankfurter Allgemeine Wochenzeitung newspaper, Berlin
Philipp Hofmann, tour management, Agents4Music, Berlin
Holger Maack, board of executives, German Rockmusic Foundation, Hannover
Andreas Main, freelance editor, Deutschlandfunk, Funkhaus Koln (radio), Cologne
Manuel Moglich, freelance journalist, Cologne
Malte Prochnow, editor, Freir Senderkombiant Hamburg, Hamburg
Riesselmann, Kirsten, freelance author/culture journalist/translator, Berlin
Veronika Schreigg, freelance music editor, emcee, Deutschlandradio Kultur, Berlin
Bjorn Szostak, editor/project manager, Sudwestrundfunk Landessender Rheinland-Pfalz, Mainz
Elina Tilipman, artist management/music promoter/ Barn Barn Music, Berlin
Mathias Wagner, author/journalist, kult-Magazin, Regensburg
Christine Watty, freelance journalist/author, Deutschlandradio Kultur, Berlin
Carsten Wehrhoff, editor, Rundfunk Berlin Brandenberg, Potsdam
They shall have music wherever they go – the journalist wend their way through the traffic in Barta'a village, music from the Arabic music store in the background competing with the honking horns of the drivers in the street.
