Israel
- Israeli Music
Modern Israeli music
is heavily influenced by its constituents, which include Palestinians
(see Palestinian music) and Jewish immigrants (see Jewish music) from
more than 120 countries around the world have brought their own musical
traditions, making Israel a global melting pot.
History
Israeli music is an integral part of society. Many of the most popular
songs are called Shierei Eretz Israel Hay'shana Ve Hatova [Ereẓ Yiśrāʼēl
hay-yəshānāh wə-haṭ-ṭoḇāh, ארץ ישׂראל הישנה והטובה] (Songs of the Good
Old Land of Israel), and are Hebrew songs set to Russian and Slavic
melodies. The youth and kibbutz movements have played a major role in
Israeli musical development, and in the popularization of many of these
songs.
The first few years after Israel's creation saw an attempt at forging a
unique Israeli cultural identity by melding the constituent cultures.
This failed, however, as the disparate musical traditions did not blend
well together. After 1948, explicit policy encouraged Hebrew language
songs instead of Ladino or Yiddish ones. Hebrew is thus the language of
choice for most Israeli musicians, though many also include an
occasional song or album in Yiddish or Ladino.
From the 1930s to the 50s, Yemenite Jews made up most of the musical
stars. Bacha Zefira, Shoshana Damari and Esther Gamlielit were some of
the most famous singers, due to Yemen's long history as a center for the
preservation of Jewish traditions. Yemenite Jews remain popular, and
performers like Ofra Haza, Noa, Gali Atari and Dana International have
some international fame.
Sephardic Jews have also played a major part in Israeli popular song.
Sephardic musicians include Yehoram Gaon, Emil Zrihan, Jo Amar, Haim
Louk and Ruth Yaakov.
Modern singer-songwriter traditions have produced an Israeli tradition,
with musicians like Chava Alberstein modelling themselves after
Americans Joan Baez and Pete Seeger. The 1980s and 90s saw a wave of
roots revival and fusion musicians arrise, fusing Iranian, Turkish,
Greek and Moroccan traditions with rock and roll, pop music and jazz.
Habrera Hativeet is perhaps the most influential of these groups; they
began performing in the 70s and have included influences ranging from
American blues to African folk music and Hassidic songs. Even more
recently, hip hop has made some inroads into mainstream Israeli
audiences.
Israel is also one of the leading creators of Goa trance and psychedelic
trance. The most popular artists are Astral Projection, Infected
Mushroom, Astrix and Skazi.
Styles
The Israeli music is very versatile and combines elements of both
western and eastern music. It tends to be very eclectic and contains a
wide variety of influences from the Diaspora and more modern cultural
importation. Hassidic songs, Asian and Arab pop, especially Yemenite
singers, and hip hop or heavy metal.
National/Folk Music
Termed in Hebrew שירי ארץ ישראל היפה ("The songs of the beautiful land
of Israel"), folk songs are meant mainly to be sung in public by the
audience or in social events. Some are children's songs; some combine
European folk tunes with Hebrew lyrics; some come from military bands
and others were writtem by poets such as Naomi Shemer and Chaim Nachman
Bialik.
Those songs are very canonical and often deal with Zionist hopes and
dream and glorify the life of idealistic Jewish youth who intend on
building a home and defending their homeland. Tempo varies widely, as do
the content. Some songs show a leftist or right-wing bent, while others
are typically love songs, lullabies or other formats; some are also
socialist in subject, due to the long-standing influence of socialism on
Jews in parts of the Diaspora.
Patriotic folk songs are common, mostly written during the Israeli wars.
They typically concern themselves with soldiers' friendships and the
sadness of death during war. Some are now played at memorials or
holidays dedicated to the Israeli dead.
Well-known singers:
* Yehoram Gaon
* Arik Lavi (1927 - 2004)
* Yafa Yarkoni
* Shoshana Damari
* Sarale Sharon
* Nahal (military troup)
* Ha-Givatron
* Esther Ofarim
See also: Patriotic songs.
Classical music
Israel is well known for its famous classical orchestras and the Israeli
Philharmonic Orchestra under the management of Zubin Mehta has a
worldwide reputation.
As the Holy land, Israel is full with ancient churches, and holy music
of various sorts, including ligathorica and Gregorian chanting, either
remain popular or have been revived.
Notable Israeli classical musicians:
* Daniel Barenboim (piano, conductur)
* Dudu Fischer (cantor, opera singer)
* Itzhak Perlman (violin)
* Yavgeni Shapopalov (opera singer)
* Pinchas Zukerman (violin, viola)
Rock
Israeli rock is more soft and quiet than American or British rock'n'roll
and tends to feature soft vocals more often than heavy riffing and
guitar virtuosos.
Well-known bands:
* Kaveret, known in English-speaking countries as Poogie
* Mashina
* Hayeudim
Soft rock artist are:
* Aviv Geffen
* Shlomo Artzi
* Arik Einstein
Pop
* Tsvika Pik (singer, songwriter and a composer)
* Sharona Pik and Daniela Pik (daughters of Tsvika)
* Gali Atari (Eurovision Song Contest winner, as lead singer of Milk and
Honey)
* Rita
* Rami Kleinstein
* Dana International (Eurovision Song Contest winner)
* Izhar Cohen (Eurovision Song Contest winner)
Heavy metal and alternative rock
Since the 1980s, Israel has had an active underground scene of
alternative artists playing death metal, doom metal, black metal, punk
and Gothic rock. The best known Israeli metal bands are Salem and
Orphaned Land; both combine Goth and oriental elements with hard-edged
guitar riffs and lyrics focusing on Israeli issues such as the Holocaust
and the Israeli-Arab conflict. The fuzion between oriental Jewish music
and doom metal is called Oriental metal.
Bands:
* Salem (band).
* Orphaned Land.
* Sleepless.
* Eternal Grey.
* Substance For God (disbanded).
* Lehavoth.
Ethnic music
* Ofra Haza
* Ahinoam Nini a.k.a Noa
* Yehuda Poliker (Greek music)
* Mirel Reznik (Gypsy-style violinist)
* the Idan Raichel Project
Oriental music
Mediterranean music, known in Hebrew as Mizrachit מזרחית ("Oriental"),
is an oriental style of music, mainly popular within the oriental Jews
who immigrated and fled to Israel from Arab lands (Mizrahim). This style
features a modernized adaptation of Arab music and San Remo, enriching
the traditional instruments (such as the oud) with violins and
electronic musics. This music is mainly knowm for its singing style,
known as Silsulim. Main artists:
* Zohar Argov
* Eyal Golan
* Zehava Ben
* Haim Moshe
* Amir Benayoun
* Sarit Hadad
Until the 1980s, this music was an underground music and not accepted as
legitimate culture by the dominant European-oriented cultural elite. The
great breakthrough was made by Zohar Argov who made this music popular
with the general public and on commercial TV and radio.
Hip hop and Rap
The successful hip-hop and rap style was imported to Israel. They remain
popular, although shunned in many circles. Other performers include the
Israeli Arab Tafer Nawer and leftist Israeli Jews Hadag Nahash and Muki.
Rappers:
* Subliminial & the Shadow (Kobi Shimoni) - known for their
nationalistic and right-wing views
* Hadag Nahash (the "SnakeFish")
* Muki
* Shabak Samech (disbanded)
* Tamer Nafar
* Shorti and Bigi
Trance
Israel is also one of the leading creators of Goa trance and psychedelic
trance.
Main artists:
* Alien Project
* Analog Pussy
* Astral Projection
* Astrix
* California Sunshine
* Infected Mushroom
* Skazi
* Space Cat
* Yahel
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Israel
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