Naomi

Hebrew: נעמי. Alternative spellings: Na'omi, Neomi, Ne'omi. Two versions exist, one by Yoav Ashriel and one by Bentzi Tiram, both two-wall line dances choreographed in 1969.

The Dances

The version done in the eastern United States is Ashriel's, but differs in several ways from the original. Most notably, the dance fits the music slightly differently, so that its steps fall at a different point in the melody. Furthermore, in the US the dance is done in two facing lines, with the lines passing through each other as the dancers turn to face the second wall. Presumably these discrepancies are the result of inaccurate teaching (also known as "the folk process") when the dance came to the US.

Tiram's version is the one generally done in the western US.

Some sources mention a line dance to the same music by Shlomo Bachar, but he denies having made any such dance.

There is also an unrelated circle (not line) dance called Naomi choreographed in 2004 by Yoram Sasson to different music.

The Music

The name of the song is Ani Cholem Al Naomi (Hebrew: אני חולם על נעמי, I Dream of Naomi). The music is by David Krivoshi, an accomplished musician (and member of the Israeli Air Force Band) who was already known for several hits. He also wrote jingles for commercials. One such was an advertisement for Elite, the food company known for its chocolate, now Strauss Group. Sing along, to the tune of Naomi:

‏הלהיטים מפחדים ממצעד הפזמונים,
אולי יפלו השבוע,
ואולי בשבוע הבא ישכחו אותם,
כולם.
טעים תמיד מתאים תמיד העם החליט עלית.

Shortly thereafter, Hedva Amrani and David Tal, two friends of his who made up the well-known duet Hedva and David, asked Krivoshi for a song. He took the tune from the commercial and got lyrics from his friend Tirtza Atar (granddaughter of Yitzchak Alterman, the lyricist of Yesh Lanu Tayish). Hedva and David performed the new song in 1970 at the Yamaha Song Festival in Tokyo, where it won first place.

Tirtza Atar, the lyricist, was married twice. Her second husband was Benjamin Salor, for whom it was also a second marriage. Salor had a son from his first marriage, Eyal Salor. And Eyal had a girlfriend Naomi, who Tirtza loved, and for whom she wrote the lyrics to the song. (Sources below differ on whether the song was written before or after Eyal and Naomi broke up.)

Aftermath: Naomi later married Avshalom Vilan, co-founder of Peace Now and former member of Knesset for the Meretz Party; they have two children. Tirtza Atar died in 1977 at the age of 36 by falling out of a window. To this day, there is no clear answer to the question of whether it was an accident or suicide.

Links

Hebrew lyrics

Chedva and David perform Naomi at the International Song Festival in Tokyo, winning first place

After the festival in Tokyo, the song was translated into Japanese; performance here

English Wikipedia articles on David Krivoshi, Hedva and David, Tirtza Atar, and Avshalom Vilan

Ofer Gavish's blog post on the song (Hebrew)

Hebrew Wikipedia article on the song, explaining the wild coincidence by which the song made it to Tokyo

Versions of Naomi at israelidances.com

Video at Rokdim of Ashriel's version as done in Israel

Notes for Ashriel's version as done in Israel, closely matching the above video (transcribed by Tirza Hodes)

Video (from Hora Keff 2005) of Ashriel's version as done in the US, with a possible extra turn

Video at Rokdim of Bentzi Tiram's version