As Israeli musician Neta Weiner hits the first note and stretches the bellows of his accordion, low, rich, emotive sounds of Middle Eastern music start floating through a Northeastern University classroom. Weiner, 37, starts singing, “So you bought me a little green tree made of plastic…” His wife, Stav Marin, 39, an award-winning choreographer, dancer and singer, joins in, “You were so sure things are falling apart.” “And you bought me a dagger, painfully sharp,” Weiner picks up. “Because you were certain that flowers I hate,” Marin completes.
They wrote this gruesome love song called “I Wrote You This Song” before Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. Since then, the lyrics have taken on layers of new connotations. Weiner finishes the song with a rhythmic monologue that few people in the room can probably understand because he switches between Hebrew, Yiddish, Arabic and English, sometimes in one sentence or every couple of sentences. “Yanni,” Weiner says in conclusion, a Hebrew word for “God is gracious” that could also be an Arabic filler phrase for “you know.”
