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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 and Gali Atari 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.
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:
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
- The Jews
Soft rock artist are:
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:
Ethnic music - Ofra Haza.
- Ahinoam Nini a.k.a Noa.
- Yehuda Poliker (Greek music)
- Mirel Reznik (Gypsy-style violinist)
Oriental music Mediterranean music, known in Hebrew as Mizrachit מיזרחית ("Oriental"), is an oriental style of music, mainly popular within the oriental Jews who immigrated and fled to Israel from Arab lands (Sepharadim). 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: 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 (Eminem for example) was imported to Israel. Subliminal & the Shadow (Kobi Shimoni and Yoav Eliasi), the best known of Israeli hip hop artists, are known for their nationalistic and right-wing views. 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)
- Hadag Nahash (the "SnakeFish")
- Muki
- Shabak'sameh (disbanded)
- Tamer Nafar
- Shorti and Bigi
Israel is also one of the leading creators of Goa trance and psychedelic trance.
Trance artists:
References - Lenz, Dubi. "A Narrow Bridge". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 363-369. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
- Cohen, Judith. "Ladino Romance". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 370-379. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
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