Singer Yigal Bashan, born in Nahalat Yehuda, recently passed away in tragic circumstances in his apartment on Bari Street in Tel Aviv.
On the late Yigal Bashan
Born Yigal Bashari in Moshav Nahalat Yehuda. From a young age he loved to sing and play the guitar. In high school he studied at the Renanim School of the Arts in Tel Aviv.
From the age of 15 he performed with Shlomit Aharon and at the age of 17 he appeared in the musical “I Like Mike” alongside Shula Chen and his good friend Motti Giladi, who recommended that he change his last name to Bashan. In September 1968, he released a debut CD under the name “Yigal Bashan” with four songs (“I loved a girl”, “I have leisure”, “Carnival” and “West Bank cities”). The floppy disk was a great success and Bashan became a well-known singer.
In 1969, when he was only 18 years old, Bashan won the “David Violin Prize” and performed “On the White Stone Wave” at the Singing and Choral Festival, with lyrics by Yaron London and a melody by Yaakov Hollander. He also participated in the Hassidic Singing Festival where he performed “Making Peace” composed by Nurit Hirsch for lyrics from the prayer, and won second place. At the end of 1969 he released another successful floppy disk (with the songs “I Have Nothing More to Say” and “Song for the Evening”) and on the eve of Rosh Hashanah 5739 he was named Singer of the Year by Gali Tzahal.
In the IDF, he served in the Northern Command band in which he was the lead singer in most of the songs, alongside Edna Lev
In 1974, Bashan starred alongside Dalia Friedland in George Ovadia’s film “Sarit”, in which he also composed and sang the songs, including “Stars Do Not Lie” accompanied by Ricky Gal. That same year he released the album “Coffee at Bertha’s”. The album included innovations to “You and I Were Born in 1958”, in addition to “My Uncle Returns Home”, “Towards Shabbat” and the record theme song, which became a huge hit, and was renewed that year by the “Pure Souls” trio. And the chorus with the song “There will be a good time” which won third place.
In 1981, Bashan released his first album after his final return to Israel, “Sivan”, which was recorded with the band “Brosh”, during the 90’s, despite the success with “Hoppe Hi”, Bashan did not give up on the adult audience either.
In 2001, Bashan released “A Little Bird in the Heart”, a double compilation album featuring 40 of his greatest hits.
In February 2008, Bashan began presenting a new personal program on Channel One, called “60 Personal.” In the program, Bashan meets with artists, creators and public figures and talks to them about their Israeli musical soundtrack. Through the songs, the interviewees return to personal and formative events in the history of the State of Israel.
In August 2014 he was hospitalized in the tooth due to stab wounds. In early June 2015 he was hospitalized again due to stab wounds,[
בשנת 2016 זכה בפרס אקו”ם למפעל חיים.[3]
On June 17, 2016, Yigal Bashan returned to the stage after two years in which he did not appear in public
He was 68 at the time of his death
Family message
With great sorrow and great pain we announce the passing of our beloved
Yigal Bashan
A warm and loving family man
Artist and creator
Details of the funeral will be announced later