Nahum Nardi

Nahum Nardi was born in 1901 in Kyiv

Nahum Nardi was born in Kyiv in 1901 to a Hasidic family with 7 children. He showed musical talent at a young age and began accompanying performers at 12.

He studied at the Kyiv Conservatory on a scholarship and graduated with honors in 1915. After the Petliura riots in 1919 he moved to Warsaw and then to Vienna. He graduated from the Vienna music academy in 1922.

In 1923 he immigrated to the Land of Israel and first worked as a pianist. After a 1929 European tour with singer Bracha Zefira, he turned to composing and blended Eastern melodies with Western music. He married Zefira, and many of his songs set words by Hayim Nahman Bialik.

In 1939 he accompanied Shoshana Damari at her first concert. In 1947 he represented the Yishuv at a world music conference in Paris. He later married singer Ahuva Tzadok and toured the United States with her from 1952.

He also wrote many children's songs, mostly with lyrics by Levin Kipnis. He received the Akum Prize in 1958 and died in 1977. A street in Tel Aviv was named after him in 2009.