The Song of Martin Fontasch
The focal point of Intruders, this song has its genesis in a story written by Italian Holocust survivor, Primo Levi. Fontasch was to be executed by a German guard, and wrote a song in his final half-hour ("If Not Now, When?"), which survived on paper and eventually found its way into the hands of the Jewish war-time leader, Gedaleh. The story is not apparently true, but has its basis in fact, with other Jewish writers and musicians known to have been murdered in similar circumstances.
In Leon's version of the story, a different angle is given. Leon is now referencing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, and imagines what Martin Fontasch would have had to say about oppression, war and suffering, given the different context. The key line comes in the final verse, Leon apparently speaking for himself: "Then let not our sufferings turn our souls to ice / So that we do to strangers what was done to us." Although Palestine is not named explicitly, the reference is unmistakeable, and addressed more directly in lines about those, "Whose homes have been taken, whose dreams have been broken / Who huddled on hillsides, demand to be heard".
This major new song was Leon's first to comment on the Israeli-Palestine issue, and would be followed by several others in ensuing years.
In Leon's version of the story, a different angle is given. Leon is now referencing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, and imagines what Martin Fontasch would have had to say about oppression, war and suffering, given the different context. The key line comes in the final verse, Leon apparently speaking for himself: "Then let not our sufferings turn our souls to ice / So that we do to strangers what was done to us." Although Palestine is not named explicitly, the reference is unmistakeable, and addressed more directly in lines about those, "Whose homes have been taken, whose dreams have been broken / Who huddled on hillsides, demand to be heard".
This major new song was Leon's first to comment on the Israeli-Palestine issue, and would be followed by several others in ensuing years.
"I found this story in Primo Levi's book about Jewish partisans in the Second World War, 'If Not Now, When'... The song Primo Levi attributes to Martin Fontasch is about standing up for yourself ('If I'm not for myself, who will be for me? If not this way, how? If not now, when?'). The song I've given him, fifty years on, is, for obvious reasons, rather different." - LR (sleevenotes to Intruders, 1995)
"With Israel's occupation of Palestine becoming ever more brutal, I feel Martin Fontasch would have written a different song, a song in Rabbi Hillel's ethical Judaic tradition ('Do not do to others what is hateful to yourself. That is the whole of the Torah'), a song of solidarity with the oppressed and a rejection of the mindless concept of tribal loyalty." - LR (Turning Silence Into Song (songbook), p25)
“‘The Song of Martin Fontasch’ was written in 1995 and, in a way, continues the argument between Jewish values I identify with and Israel’s values as a colonising state.” - LR (sleevenotes to The World Turned Upside Down (CD box set), p53)
"With Israel's occupation of Palestine becoming ever more brutal, I feel Martin Fontasch would have written a different song, a song in Rabbi Hillel's ethical Judaic tradition ('Do not do to others what is hateful to yourself. That is the whole of the Torah'), a song of solidarity with the oppressed and a rejection of the mindless concept of tribal loyalty." - LR (Turning Silence Into Song (songbook), p25)
“‘The Song of Martin Fontasch’ was written in 1995 and, in a way, continues the argument between Jewish values I identify with and Israel’s values as a colonising state.” - LR (sleevenotes to The World Turned Upside Down (CD box set), p53)
Recordings
Version 1 (1995)
- Intruders
- The Last Chance (EP)
- The Last Chance (Extended EP)
- The World Turned Upside Down