![\"nahum_nardi_2.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.iemj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/nahum_nardi_2.jpg\")
Following their return to Palestine, their relationship became strained, owing partly to a professional dispute. The dispute, according to Tzefira, began when Nardi did not agree to include songs other than his own in their performances. They finally separated In February 1939, though they occasionally performed joint concerts together until July of that year, when they began performing separately. Their separation climaxed in a lawsuit filed by Nardi for rights over their songs, which he lost.<\/p>\n
Tzefira\u2019s work in collecting melodies and songs from the local Arab residents of Palestine and from Jewish communities from Yemen, Persia, Bukhara and the Sephardic community, had a unique influence on Nardi\u2019s musical development. During their work together he arranged the melodies she sang, and he gave them a new interpretation, while all the while composing new melodies in the same spirit. The melodies of songs like\u00a0Aley Giv\u2019a<\/em>,\u00a0Yesh Li Gan<\/em>, and\u00a0Ben Nahar Prat<\/em>, are examples of melodies with Arabic origins. Nardi developed a unique style of piano accompaniment for his concerts with Tzefira and for their new songs.<\/p>\n After his separation from Tzefira, Nardi went back to playing classical concert music, for which he received ambivalent criticism. From thereafter he turned to tutoring and accompanying other singers, most of them of Yemenite origin. Gradually he retired from the concert hall. Also, according to Yerimi, due to the demanding preparations that these kinds of concerts required, he returned to focusing on composition and accompanying and training singers to perform his songs. In 1947 he represented Israel at the “World Congress of Music and Sound” in Paris, where his music was received with enthusiasm. In 1949 the U.S. television network NBC aired a show about the life and work of Nardi. During the same year, Nardi composed the ballet suite\u00a0Mapala Venitzahon<\/em>\u00a0which was performed at Madison Square Garden in New York.<\/p>\n Nardi\u2019s line of work with female Yemenite singers was preserved throughout his career, likely due to his will to achieve proper expression for his oriental-influenced music, and to work with a singer who could transmit his music. The Yemenite singers he worked with include\u00a0Brakha Tzefira,\u00a0Shoshana Damari,\u00a0Esther Gamli\u2019elit,\u00a0Hanna Aharoni,\u00a0Ahuva Tsadok, and\u00a0Miryam Ya\u2019akovi. In addition, he also played with singers of different origin, such as\u00a0Sarah Ye\u2019ari\u00a0and\u00a0Marta Schlamme, producing somewhat different results.<\/p>\n In addition to his songs, Nardi also wrote incidental music for the theater. Several examples include the play\u00a0Megilat Esther<\/em>, which was performed at the Erets-Yisraeli Theater of Gnessin, in 1928, and\u00a0Bamitbakh<\/em>\u00a0by\u00a0Shalom Aleikhem, performed at Habimah Theater in 1947. In the medium of art music, Nardi composed several piano pieces, such as:\u00a0Fantasia Lemahol<\/em>, and\u00a0Yeled Li Nitan<\/em>\u00a0which is based on a melody of a Sephardic Romance. And other works, such as:\u00a024 variations for orchestra<\/em>;\u00a0Suite for Bassoon and Clarinet<\/em>;\u00a0Yemenite Wedding<\/em>;\u00a0Shepherd\u2019s Suite<\/em>;\u00a0Trumpet Concierto<\/em>;\u00a0Eastern Suite for Voice, Cello and Clarinet<\/em>; and several cantatas.<\/p>\n In May 1958, Nardi was awarded the Alconi Award, (part of the Engel Award). Apart from Bialik, famous people who appreciated his work include the poet\u00a0Shaul Tchernichovsky\u00a0and\u00a0Albert Einstein. During the last years of his life, Nardi disappeared from the public eye, and lived in relative solitude in Tel Aviv, though he received attention and care from a woman who admired his art.<\/p>\n Nahum Nardi died in Tel Aviv in 1977 following several brain strokes. The Tel Aviv City Council, then headed by mayor Shlomo Lahat, conducted his funeral, and put the gravestone on his grave in Kiryat Sha\u2019ul. After his death his family members, Rahel and Eran Nardi, collected his artistic legacy which included musical scores, recordings, and other documents, and handed it to the Archive of Israeli Music at Tel Aviv University. In September 2005, the Tel Aviv City Council erected a memorial board for Nardi on Kalonymus Street, where Nardi spent his last years. During Tel Aviv\u2019s centennial year, the council decided to name a street after Nardi.<\/p>\n Read the article on the Jewish Music Research Center\u2019s website<\/a><\/p>\n![\"d78-25_476a_couv.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.iemj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/d78-25_476a_couv.jpg\")
Nardi established a girls\u2019 choir, and invited the singer\u00a0Ahuva Tsadok\u00a0to sing in it. Subsequently, the two were married in 1955 and had a son, Yair. With Tsadok, Nardi performed in concerts around Israel, and in 1956, they embarked on a long tour of the U.S. During this tour they performed at Carnegie Hall and at many other famous New York halls. The couple divorced after three years of marriage. Nardi continued working with other singers, including\u00a0Miryam Ya\u2019akobi, whom he accompanied in concerts in Israel and the U.S.<\/p>\n![\"p_3236_vig.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.iemj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/p_3236_vig.jpg\")
As a composer, Nardi composed 1,111 songs, as mentioned by Eliyahu Cohen in a Radio interview with the composer. Three hundred of these are children\u2019s songs, and eighty are set to\u00a0Hayim Nachman Bialik\u2019s poems (see video example). Nardi\u2019s acquaintance with Bialik began when he invited the poet to his concert in order for him to hear the music he composed for his poems. Nardi continued to invite Bialik to listen to new melodies for his children\u2019s songs, and the enthusiasm of the poet encouraged Nardi to continue composing Bialik\u2019s poems. After Bialik\u2019s death, Nardi continued to compose his poems, and when he noticed that he had composed most of his children\u2019s songs, he decided to finish the job and compose them all. Nardi also composed other poets\u2019 children\u2019s songs, such as those of\u00a0Levin Kipnis. Additional poets whose poems he composed are, to name a few,\u00a0Natan Alterman\u00a0(Shir Ha\u2019avoda)<\/em>,\u00a0Ya\u2019akov Pichman\u00a0(Al Na Tagidi Li Shalom)<\/em>,\u00a0Alexander Pen\u00a0(Shishi Admat Hasharon)<\/em>.<\/p>\n