Dana International
HaKol Ze LeTova

Ha malkat ha pop shel Israel ze hazar.

The queen of Israeli pop is back. And she's done it in style. After the 2002 flop with 'HaChalom HaEfshari' (The Possible Dream), a decent work but coldly received by the public, a cdbox and various collaborations with several DJs, mostly Israeli, English, and American, Dana International returns with a whole new album: 12 unreleased songs and 2 remixes to reclaim her position as the queen of Israeli pop.

After divorcing her discoverer and mentor throughout the nineties, Ofer Nissim, Dana proved perfectly capable of producing music on her own: "Yoter Ve-Yoter" (2001) remains, in my opinion, her best work, in which she distanced herself from the overly hyped dance, the screams, and the ambiguity that marked the first part of her career. She proved able to explore new genres, sing heartfelt ballads, and create music by herself. She had matured. And with "HaKol Ze LeTova" ('it's all for the good'), Dana confirms this. For the first time, she signs almost all the songs in lyrics and several in music as well. The album opens with the title track, a sweet-paced song in which Dana encourages a hypothetical person who has recently experienced a love disappointment. "Now you don't realize it because through tears you can't see well, but this breakup is for your own good," she says. A well-structured, well-sung song. It's not the best track on the album, but certainly a good opening. It is followed by 'Yom Huledet' (birthday), with electronic flavors and melancholic sounds.

The third piece is one of the most significant of the work: "BeReshit" (from the Hebrew title of the book of Genesis of the Torah/Old Testament) has all the flavor of Polish, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian Ashkenazi Jewish motifs, reviewed and corrected in a pop-dance key. The text is funny and significant at the same time. Dana assumes the role of a hypothetical first woman (not clarifying whether she is referring to Chavah (Eve) or Lilith, who in Jewish culture is the first wife of Adam, then turned into a demon because of her rebellious nature), who sings a praise to Elohim (God) for his marvelous work: Eden and the world are beautiful, all living beings live in harmony, sin has not yet been invented. The only mistake that Dana/Eve/Lilith reproaches God is precisely that of having created man who, with his greed, ruined everything. 'Yallah Balagan' with the Arabic title (translatable with an expression like 'come on, let's make a mess'), where the singer urges the youth, whether they are Arab or Jewish, to put aside problems and differences and have fun together. The piece is structured with samples of typically Arab strings and typically Jewish horns, to indicate a meeting point between the two cultures.

'Seret Hodi', 'Indian film', is the only duet of the album, with Idan Yaniv. The video is a delightful parody of Indian films, where Dana is 'the beautiful' bride promised to an old and fat maharajah but secretly loves the young and handsome man of the moment, played of course by Yaniv. However, the most representative piece of the album is 'Love Boy', with only the title in English but entirely sung in Hebrew. It is a vaguely seventies amusing and catchy dance in which Dana talks about young 'escorts': until a few years ago there were only female objects, but today a woman can become the 'mistress' and make a man an 'object'. The video is very ironic and fun. With this song and its video Dana reasserts her role as a gay icon (if there were ever any doubt about it). Then comes 'At Muchana?' ('are you ready?') in which Dana laments the media's attitude towards her, the various criticisms, the falsehoods about her that have appeared in Israeli and other newspapers. In short, the classic diva text tired of paparazzi. The novelty, however, is the hybrid flavor between rock and pop: the singer had never explored this musical genre and in this piece, she timidly introduces electric guitars and aggressive rhythms to what is the terrain she knows best: pop-dance. The operation is successful because the piece is pleasant and well-constructed.

Following a few dance tracks ('Ata Memagnet Oti' and 'Eyfo Halev') in which, although infinitely grown and better structured, the old disco Dana returns and two ballads: 'Yom Acher' and 'Khorbot HaAhava', perhaps one of the best pieces of the entire album, which closes with the two remixes of 'HaKol Ze LeTova' and 'Love Boy'. The CD also includes two videos: that of 'Love Boy' and 'Lola', from 2004, a single released when Dana was a testimonial for Londa, a German cosmetics company. Overall, the album is good: light years ahead of those released in the nineties, confirming her artistic growth. Unfortunately, however, in my opinion not on par with 'Yoter Ve-Yoter'. The difference is minimal, but the 2001 album is slightly more accurate. The return to more pumped dance (albeit well done and qualitatively infinitely better than that produced with Nissim) represents for me a small step backward. For this reason, I give four stars to this album instead of the five I gave to 'Yoter Ve-Yoter'.