Lost in Quotation: Three Echoes of Inta Omri in Israeli Pop Music

`Inta Omri` is an Egyptian popular song composed by Mohammed Abdel Wahab and recorded in 1964 by Umm Kulthum, one of the most influential arab musicians of the twentieth century. In this paper I wish to discuss the song`s reception in the Israeli cultural sphere. I will present three different appropriations of Um-Kulthum`s song, from three different periods in the history of Israeli popular music. The first of these, quoted in Aris San`s late 1960`s Greek hit `Boom Pam`, is a defining moment in the history of Israeli music and has been widely discussed as such. The second echo of the song to be presented is singer-songwriter Micha Shitrit`s song `Inti Omri`, taken from from his 1998 debut album. Although this example contains merely a textual reference to the original, it is nonetheless noticeable and functions as an essential part of the song`s meaning. The third echo is briefly sounded in a recent hit song from 2016 by singer-songwriter Idan Amedi, `Achshav Kulam Rokdim`. In this case Amedi employs the quotation of `Inta Omri` in a manner that complements the meaning of the song, as it interacts with its lyrics, music and video to form an ambiguous expression of criticism on Israeli culture. The changing intertextual relations of the original and its appropriations are thus contextualized by three differing temporal and cultural locations, reflecting semantic shifts within Israeli society and culture and its relation to its Arab "Other".