The backstories of those favorite albums that still frame our memories

“We’re up to the second generation” 

Kivi & Tuki album series

COUNTRY YOSSI (YOSSI TOIV) shares the backstory

HOW THE ORIGINAL CONCEPT DEVELOPED

It all started when I received a very long-distance phone call from Kivi and Tuki’s parents asking me if I could babysit them for a few hours because they had to go to a wedding. I quickly agreed, not realizing that due to the Einsteinium time and space differential, five hours on their planet was five years on Earth. Boy, was I in for it!

But the truth is, I always wanted to do a project geared to little kinderlach. One day, while studying the Hebrew/English dictionary, I came across the word Tuki, which means parrot. Wow, I thought, that would be a great name for a character. If only I could think of another cute name, I would have the perfect duo. Just then I heard my next-door neighbor calling out the window to her son, “Kiiiiiviiiii!” Boyng! A light went on in my head! And so, Kivi and Tuki were born.

HOW WE DO IT

When we got the first volume out there in 1982, we were overwhelmed by its immediate acceptance and popularity. I write a large selection of songs, both parodies and original, and my partner Heshy Walfish and I choose the best ones and weave together a storyline, adding funny intros and outros, divrei Torah, humorous interplay, and of course, a little mishugaas in order to achieve our goal of teaching Torah, middos, and mitzvos. But because we do this part-time, some albums take years to complete.

Heshy does the voices for all the characters, while I write and sing the songs. Heshy also plays all the instruments, edits and arranges the songs, and engineers the whole production.

Incredibly, Kivi & Tuki will be celebrating their 40th birthday this year, and to mark the occasion, we’re currently working on a new album. It’s a good thing they come from a planet whose inhabitants don’t age! Ahf unz gezookt! Baruch Hashem their popularity continues with a second generation of children.

MY MOST MEMORABLE FEEDBACK

I received the following email a while back, and it made my day: “I grew up on all your Kivi & Tuki and Country Yossi tapes in the ‘80s and ‘90s. I would listen to them over and over again, and my family would listen to them on all our car trips. We knew every word by heart. No joke. Now, many years later, I recently found your tapes are downloadable online. I downloaded all the Kivi & Tuki tapes. My five-year-old son Gavriel loves them and listens to them every night in bed. As I sit there listening to them for the millionth time while I rock the baby to sleep, tears well in my eyes as I hear Gavriel laughing out loud at all Tuki’s craziness and singing along with all the songs. So, what I’m saying is, thank you for all the joy you’re giving my son and all the joy I had 30 years ago from all your music.”

MY FAVORITE SONGS 

Every song has a story but “A Very Special Man,” “Upside Down World,” and “Who Is He?” hold a special place in my heart.

In Shor Yoshuv, way back in the ‘60s, my then-roommate Shmelkie Brazil (today a beloved rosh yeshivah in Israel) somehow convinced me early one frigid winter morning to learn Rambam with him for a half hour before Shacharis. We were learning in the nearly deserted beis medrash when suddenly the door burst open and Rosh Yeshivah Rav Shlomo Freifeld ztz”l, hat and beard encrusted with ice, stood there in the doorway. His all-encompassing gaze quickly passed over me and then, in a classic double-take, returned and stared intently at me in disbelief for a few seconds. Right before davening was about to begin, he signaled to me with his finger to come to him. As I stood at a respectful distance, he gestured with his finger to come closer still. I slowly approached the shtender he was sitting behind. His two fingers then beckoned me to bend down until I could feel his moustache tickling my ear. He then whispered words that still reverberate in my soul: “Yossi, you made my day!” Rebbi, you made our lives! I wrote “A Very Special Man” with him in mind.

I wrote “Upside Down World” the night after I came across a story in the Gemara (Pesachim 50a) about Yosef, the son of the sage Rabi Yehoshua ben Levi, who became deathly ill and was thought to have died. Then he suddenly regained consciousness. It was as if he had returned from some faraway place. As he regained consciousness, his father said to him: “What did you see?” Yosef said: “I saw an olam hafuch — a world turned upside down. What is above was below and what is below was above...” His father said to him: “My son, you have seen an ‘olam barur,’ you have seen the world clearly....”

I wrote the song “Who Is He” at a subway station while waiting for the train and thinking how many Hebrew words mean something entirely different in English. I got so caught up in the “hu/he” thing that I didn’t even notice the train had come and gone. I got home late that night but had a great song I couldn’t wait to record.

MY FAVORITE EPISODE

The return of Sholom Ber on Goodbye Kivi and Tuki (who makes his debut on Shteeble Hoppers #5) after almost drowning while saving his buddies was most memorable. I love happy endings.

SURPRISES ALONG THE WAY

Kivi was a pleasure, very serious, quiet, and studious. But Tuki surprised me. He’s a real handful, always likes to kid me and make me meshugeh in the head.

WHAT I’D DO DIFFERENTLY TODAY

Our original concept, “Torah, middos, and mitzvos through laughter and song,” is timeless, and really doesn’t need updating. As proof, our next Kivi & Tuki album is in the works right now, almost 40 years after the original.

A FUNNY STUDIO MOMENT

The whole process is a lot of fun, because we record the voices in real time, and Heshy ad-libs his own funny lines in Tuki’s voice all the time.

THE BEST GUEST PERFORMER

Well, remember when Michoel Streicher once showed up and tried to give Tuki voice lessons? But no luck...

WHAT I WISH I COULD CHANGE OR TAKE BACK

When we decided to end the Kivi & Tuki series, we released Goodbye Kivi & Tuki, and sent them home to their parents. After all, an eight-year babysitting job is more than enough — especially when one of the kids is Tuki. Unfortunately, the public outcry at their departure was immediate and dramatic. Tearful phone calls and in-person pleas were soon followed by dire warnings and ominous threats. We had no choice but to bring them back in the very next album, Welcome Back Kivi & Tuki!

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 931)