Charlie Megira
Charlie Megira was an Israeli Rock musician active from the late 1990’s to November 2016.
Gabriel “Gabi” Abudraham was born in Bet She’an in Northern Israel on 10.10.1972.
The first time he heard Rock'n'roll was through his father's Vinyl collection (Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, The Shadows...). Later, as a teenager, he discovered The Smiths, Depeche Mode, The Jesus and Mary Chain and so on. He has always been interested in art under different forms. He used to draw and paint and later wanted to study art.
Only At the age of 20 - A year before finishing his mandatory three-year stint in the Israeli army as a cook (He didn't want to carry any weapon) - he started to learn the guitar for several months and played in his first band called "The Shnek", along with Natan Gruper, singer of the duo. During their first performance, Gabi was hit in the head with a beer bottle. He proceeded to play on and bled all over his shirt collar.
Following the breaking up of The Shnek, he started to write songs. First with his friend Boaz Goldberg and then by himself. He recorded them on a 4-track tape recorder Natan Gruper bought for him. To fight the stage fright - amongst other things - he also started to build his character - Charlie Megira. Creating this crooner character brought him confidence and also defined his voice, his attitude and his style. He used to say it's a "Discipline".
"Rockabilly is all about dealing with the normal in an exotic manner.
I think everything that diverges from this rule should be considered
to be a crime against rock 'n'roll."
After Boaz Goldberg invited Shy Nobleman to record piano for Megira's "Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow", Nobelman invited Gabriel as a support act on June 2001 during Nobleman's How to be Shy tour, and it was his very first show as Charlie Megira.
Megira's first release, Da Abtomatic Miesterzinger Mambo Chic (2001) was the beginning of an incandescent underground career. After this debut short album (8 Songs, 23 minutes) he never recorded solo again, preferring recording with bandmates.
His next 2003 release, Fragmentim Rock-n-rolleim (Rock'n'Roll Fragments) was recorded with Michal Kahan on 2nd Guitar and Shiko on Drums and Percussion.
The name Charlie Megira started to pop out in the underground Israeli scene, but he preferred to take a break and remained silent for a while.
One year later, he collaborated with the punk trash skater garage band Los Kikes and recorded their first album S/T in Tel Aviv.
In 2005, he also had a part in "You insulted Tzachi", a short movie directed by Rano Dick aka Rani Steiner, who also collaborated with Boaz Goldberg as an additional photographer in documentary Tomorrow's Gone.
He eventually came back in late 2006 with "Charlie Megira und Hefker Girl", dropping his late 50's style for the 80's Cold-Wave style like Joy Division. On this album, Michal Kahan also sang a few songs, bringing in an American Alternative-Rock vibe.
In late 2007, Charlie plugged the fuzz pedal and wrote corrosives songs Inspired by underground punk-rock like Million Dead Cops - that will later become the Love Police material. He gathered two friends from Los Kikes : Yaniv on the drums and Shuki on bass guitar, gave them the name TRA LA LA LA BOYS.
The Tra La La La Boys disbanded on spring 2008, and a few months later The Modern Dance Club was formed.
They released the 2009 Love Police, a very raw 31-track album, with Tal Fatale on bass, Javi Scheiner on rhythm guitar and Michal Kahan on the drums, making it a full-on Punk outfit.
In 2013, Director Ari Folman hired Charlie Megira to write music for his movie The Congress, in which he even appears as a cartoonish version of himself. At that time, while he was 41, Gabi wanted to retire and make it in art-studies. He said that "It's a bit pathetic at my age to try to be a RockStar". Intead, after moving to Berlin with his wife and son, he continued to perform and it started to bear fruits: In 2014 he started a tour in the USA and played at Austin Psych Fest.
"The true lover is burning on his own fuel.
There's nothing more real than that.
It's so easy to fall in love."
The next release, this time under the name The Bet She'an Valley Hillbillies, was "The End of Teenage" under the Guitars and Bongos label. That was a cassette-only release, an 11-track tape that would later be re-cut and officialized by the prestige label Numero Group.
Later in the year, as Charlie was living in the United States, Jullian Casablancas offered him a deal in his record label, Cult Records, and even invited him for a joint tour. The tour was a success, but for some reasons the contract never materialized. After nine months in the USA, mainly living in North Carolina, Gabi moved back to Berlin.
In 2015 he released another recording with The Bet She'an Valley Hillbillies. Like the former “The End of Teenage”, "Boom Chaka Boom Boom" is a comeback to old Country/Rock'n'roll. That was his last official release.
"Make no friendship with an elephant keeper
if you don't have a place to entertain an elephant"
Back in Berlin, Gabi took a job as a hard-working cook. This time, he was really thinking of retiring from making music, but he still played a few gigs in little clubs. In June 2016 he played for the last in Israel, performing three shows in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. On the 5th of November, Gabriel Abudraham was found dead in his apartment in Berlin, while his wife and son were visiting Israel. He was buried in a Jewish cemetery in Berlin.
The legacy of Charlie Megira is now more than alive, with a solid cult fan-base all over the world and re-issues of his discography by the Numero Group Label.
In 2019, his former friend Boaz Goldberg released "Tomorrow's Gone" - a documentary musical film about Charlie Megira. This poignant film won prizes and helped make the fan-base of Charlie Megira grow larger & larger.
Written by Valentin P. Monnereau
"Da Abtomatic Meisterzinger Mambo Chic" (first version)
