Shem Tov Levy

For Shem Tov Levy, his work on the soundtrack for Desperados Square, for which he was awarded the Israeli Oscar in 2000, was the gentle nudge that took him back to his childhood. Beni Torati, the film’s director, inundated Levy with CDs of Persian, Turkish, and Arabic music. This music took him back to the sounds of his childhood, to the Balkan roots of his home, to the Yemenite Shearim neighborhood - a complete mesh of places, atmosphere, people, and music that made up the rich cultural and ethnic ambience in which he grew up.