Gavriel

Lyrics: Shmuel Krol
Music: Zvika Pik
Arrangements: Eldad Shrim
Album: Pituyim (1982)

Bezalel: “Shmuel Krol gave us the song on a cassette. The song was slow. I wanted to ‘bring it to life,’ so we made it faster. Ofra and I really loved the lyrics. Ofra recorded the song several times, but it didn’t turn out well. It was difficult for her to sing it. One day we returned from a performance at 1:30 at night. I said to Ofra, ‘Ofra, your voice is open now—we can record the song.’ Ofra wasn’t very eager, but in the end she was convinced. We drove to Triton Studios in Bnei Brak, and there we recorded the song in one take.”

The day after the performance at the Libithrom with “Gavriel,” Tzvika Pik called Ofra and said to her: “I wouldn’t have recognized the song with the vocal ornamentations you added. How beautiful. If I had known this would be the result, I would have recorded the song myself.”

In 1986, with the beginning of the international response to Ofra Haza’s songs, the song also received a French version.

The background vocals at the opening of the song are sung by Ofra herself.

The song reached number 35 on Reshet Gimmel’s annual chart in 1983, but climbed to first place for two weeks on the weekly charts.

Transliteration
Translation

Gavriel
Gavriel, ma ata sho’el
Hen teda shvilei shamayim
Bo elai, tovim ha-shnayim
Gavriel
Kol kanfot tevel
Ha-noshkim im redet layla
Kshe-ata over le-ma’ala
Gavriel

Malakh metayel ba-shamayim
Malakh mevakesh kokhavim
Lir’ot hu rotse
Hakel ha-mayim
La-na’ar ha-ze hitpalalti, Gavriel
La-layla ha-ze khikiti, Gavriel

Gavriel, im Elohim no’el
She’arav shel Gan ha-Eden
Red elai, malakh mi-kedem
Gavriel
Od notar ha-tzel
Glimatkha poreset erev
Ve-nishma tsakh-tsuakh kherev
Gavriel

Malakh metayel ba-shamayim
Malakh mevakesh kokhavim
Lir’ot hu rotse
Hakel ha-mayim
La-na’ar ha-ze hitpalalti, Gavriel
La-layla ha-ze khikiti, Gavriel

Gavriel, na’ar mitpalel
Et tomar shirat shamayim
Al tishkakh shirat ha-shnayim
Gavriel

Gavriel

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