Music in Israel at 60:

Processes and Experiences

Photographs by Edwin Seroussi

Originally presented at the conference

Hearing Israel: Music, Culture and History at 60
University of Virginia, April 13, 2008
 Kariel Gardosh’s Srulik
(from the book “What Happened,” 1964)
 A Jerusalem Billboard
Visuals conveying musical diversity during a typical spring week in 2008
 Jerusalem Billboard Detail 1

A joint appearance by Argentinian-born

rocker Pablo Rosenberg with veteran
mizrahi star Shlomi Shabat at the
Jerusalem Theatre
Jerusalem Billboard Detail 2

“Shlihei Ha-bluz” (“The Blues’

Messengers”) salute to Led
Zeppelin at the Tzolelet tzehuva
(“Yellow Submarine”), a hub for
the performance and recording of
progressive rock, jazz,
experimental and ethnic music.
 Jerusalem Billboard Detail 3
“Gaya,” a “world music” fusion
band celebrates the launching
of its new CD “Hofesh”
(“Freedom”) at Ma’abada (The
Lab), Jerusalem’s newest hip
performing arts center at the
old Ottoman-British railroad
station.
Jerusalem Billboard Detail 4

The new Israeli avant-garde

salutes the visit/pilgrimage of
New York-based Jewish
musical icon John Zorn.
 Jerusalem Billboard Detail 5
Dag Nahash, hip hop celebrities,
change their usual repertoire
and even their musical
instruments marking the
Jewish holiday of Purim.
Changing the music as a
carnivalesque gesture.
The event takes place at the club
located in the garage of the
Avi Chai Foundation building
in downtown Jerusalem.
A Special Event:
The Piyyut Festival of the Avi Chai Foundation
in Jerusalem and Yerucham (Negev Desert)
Jerusalem Billboard Detail 6

“The Adventures of Mickey and Rickie,”

a special musical for children at the
Gerard Behar Theatre on the
occasion of Purim.
Jerusalem Billboard Detail 7

Special evening at the Avi Chai

Foundation: “Singing the
Poets: Israeli Poetry Meets
Music.” Among the
performers, the Arab singer
Mira Awad and the avant-
garde cellist Yuval Mesner.
Among the canonical poets
whose poems were
performed: Natan Alterman
Yehuda Amichai, Haim Guri,
Meir Wieseltier and Natan
Zakh. An unintentional
remake of the 1970s program
“An Evening of Poets’ Songs”
by Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio
Station).
Jerusalem Billboard Detail 8

The Boogie, a hub for ethnic and

contemporary music, is a club
geared to the national religious
youth in Jerusalem. The poster in
English is geared towards
American religious students. The
eclectic Purim programming at
Binyanei Ha’Umah, the Jerusalem
Congress Center, promises a
combination of a synagogue
service, “free-style” dancing (i.e.
without touching) to “world music.”
Notice that a separate area for
women is “available,” not
mandatory.
Jerusalem Billboard from Another Angle
 Jerusalem Billboard Detail 8

The extremely successful Israeli jazz

quartet, Third World Love (Avishai
Cohen, Jonathan Avishai, Omer
Avital and Daniel Friedman), joins
the Revolution Orchestra, a grass-
roots organization of students
from the Jerusalem Academy of
Music and Dance at the
International Spring Festival. They
promise a program of “original
Israeli music, improvisation,
groove, and world music.”
 A funkier Jerusalem billboard at the
Mahane Yehuda market in downtown Jerusalem
 Catering to the Ethiopian Jewish population shopping at
the nearby Ethiopian goods store in the Mahane Yehuda market
The CD and video store at the Mahane Yehuda market
 Bollywood hits juxtaposed with
Richard Clayderman at the Mahane Yehuda store
 “To the Most Wonderful [Moroccan Yiddishe] Mother”
Moroccan-Arabic songs juxtaposed with High Holy Day prayers
at the Mahane Yehuda store
Henna songs in Moroccan Arabic
at the Mahane Yehuda store
“Greek Music, Sherif [The Druze-mizrahi Wunderkind], Russian Music”
All “original” CDs for 10 shekels apiece at the Mahane Yehuda store
 Mizrahi divas: Zehava Ben, Aviva Avidan, Yshay Levy
All “original” CDs for 10 shekels apiece at the Mahane Yehuda store
Poster announcing an evening of Bakkashot (paraliturgical poetry)
Issued by the Circle of Friends of Bakkashot Singing and the Piyyut
The location of the poster…
Music outlet in downtown Jerusalem:
a transnational perspective
 Music outlet in downtown Jerusalem:
a local perspective, fifty feet from Tower Records
World music, classical music, mizrahi songs
at local music outlet in downtown Jerusalem
 Any music…
at music outlet in downtown Jerusalem
Musicking in downtown Jerusalem:
Russian Bluegrass
… and Russian Blues
Musicking in downtown Jerusalem:
a global perspective from the Andes
A venerable musical instrument and supplies store
in downtown Jerusalem
On sale: instruments from five continents
A new superpower of music marketing
in downtown Jerusalem:
the Eighth Note
Inside the Eighth Note:
the Rock n’ Roll Section
... and the Israeli Rock one
… and the Jewish one: niggunim/klezmer, Yiddish, Oriental
Jewry, Ladino, Hazzanut, and anthologies
… and (following Irish music) “Israeli Ethnic”
arranged by artists
… and the greatest performers of Arabic song:
Oum Kulthum, Farid, Abdelwahab
… and of Persian popular song too…
Beit Shmuel’s musical offerings for the week from the “Mouse of the
City,” the cultural events section of the Jerusalem weekend newspaper:
Flamenco del Monte, Salonika Mon Amour, From Baghdad to Cairo
… and the Jerusalem Theatre offers an evening of songs from the
first decade of the State of Israel directed
by poet, translator and scholar Dr. Dan Almagor
… and in the lobby of the Jerusalem Theatre: rocker Izhar
Ashdod’s “Belly Dancing – The Irish Event,” a revival
appearance of the 1970s band Tzlil Mekhuvan, Margalit
Tzan’ani in a “Gypsy” program, and Matti Caspi’s “Intimate”
… and in the main hall of the Theatre: the Israeli Andalusian
Orchestra with soloist Taiseer Elias followed closely by … the
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
All-time Israeli diva and Yiddish revivalist
Chava Alberstein with Avi Leibovitz, founder and director of
the “Orkestra” Big Band, announcing their collaboration
There is not only “Israeli Music,”
but also “Israeli Taste”:
announcing the parade
of sixty years of Israeli brand products