Shuly Nathan
Shuly Nathan skyrocketed to fame as an Israeli folk singer at age twenty when she performed Naomi Shemer’s new song “Jerusalem of Gold.” Nathan immigrated with her family from London to Israel when she was two years old. At the age of sixteen, Nathan started singing and playing the guitar. She participated in various radio programs, where Shemer discovered her. Her performance of “Jerusalem of Gold" positioned her as a beloved Israeli folk singer. Nathan toured worldwide and studied music theory at the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem. In 1968 she met Israeli folk singer Nechama Hendel, and they began a collaborative partnership. After a hiatus to get married and have children, Nathan returned to performing, radio and television appearances, and CD recordings.
Jerusalem of Gold
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Early Life
Shuly Nathan was born in London on March 16, 1947. Her father, Yehoshua (Joshua) Bauernfreund (1915–1990), born in the village of Zboroz-Bardiov near Bratislava in Slovakia, came to England as a refugee in 1939. There he met Chava (Eva) Nathan (1915–1970), a refugee from Hamburg, Germany, where she was born into an old Jewish family of Portuguese origin. Her father, Abraham Nathan, was a leading tenor at the Hamburg City Opera during the early years of the twentieth century. Nathan’s parents married in 1945, immediately after the war, and immigrated to Israel in 1949, when Shuly (Shulamith) was two years old. Both parents were artists. Yehoshua was a painter and sculptor and Chava was an illustrator and potter. They settled in the village of Bnei Atarot in the center of Israel. When Shuly was seven years old the family moved to Ramat Gan, where she completed elementary and secondary school. Her brother Ilan was born in 1956.
Performance Career and Family
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Selected Works by Shuly Nathan
Beloved Songs. Israeli songs in Hebrew. Hed Arzi: 1995.
Songs of Praise (Jewish folk songs and prayers in Hebrew. (“Mi Ha-Ish,” “Lekhah, Dodi” and “Al Ahat Kamah ve-Kamah” sung with Nechama Hendel; medley on final track sung with women of the Makuya movement.) Hed Arzi: 1995.
Open Roads. New Hebrew songs and Jewish traditional chants. (Title track sung with Nechama Hendel and The Taverners.
Hebrew version of “Hard Times, Come Again No More,” by Stephen Foster (translated by Ehud Manor), sung with The Taverners.
“Blessed Be the Almighty,” “Most Beautiful Bird” and “Lovingly Inherit Your Land” sung with Rahel Jaskow.) Hed Arzi: 1999.
Mostly Carlebach. (“Mizmor le-David,” Elohai, Neshamah” and two medleys of songs by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach sung with Rahel Jaskow.) Hed Arzi: 2003.
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