Daklon

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Daklon is the nickname of an Israeli musical artist. He was born in the mid-1940s as Yosef Levy in Tel Aviv's Kerem Hateimanim (Yemenite) neighborhood.

As Daklon explains the source of his nickname: "In those days everyone in the Kerem had a nickname. Your given name was only good for your ID. As a kid I was as skinny as a rake (dak in Hebrew) so they called me 'Daklon'."

For many Israelis, Daklon is the epitome of Israeli roots music. He started his musical career as an 11-year-old when his teacher sent him to do a spot for a religious music radio show. "They taped the show on Wednesdays on one of those great big tape recorders and they broadcast it on Fridays. We all sat around the radio listening to it at home. My parents were so proud of me. I was a local superstar," he laughs.

Daklon was first inspired to take his music more seriously by Morocco-born singer Joe Amar at the end of the 1950s. "Joe Amar started singing all those eastern songs but it didn't catch on so he left Israel," he explains. Daklon says he stepped into the breach. "In the Sixties we took Greek and Indian songs which were very popular here then and put Hebrew words to them. I, as a Yemenite, took over from the Greeks," he muses.

Daklon took Greek and Indian songs and put Hebrew words to them in the 1960s when his career was launched. He is famed for his performances with Yemenite virtuosos Haim Moshe and Avihu Medina.

Daklon songs are usually themed on his love for the land of Israel and the God of Israel. Daklon's music draws on centuries of Hebrew poetry and musical traditions of the Yemenite Jews.