Banerjee
3/17/12
Music Nabhojit 139
Response #8
With the establishment of the state of Israel came a polity to which Jews of all
nationalities could find refuge. A particularly large number of Jews subsequently came from
predominantly Muslim countries and brought with them their unique, Oriental sounds, in
addition to both native and immigrant Arabs. As related by Grove, after an initial period of
distaste, the Ashkenazi establishment has not only come accept this so-called Mizrahi sound,
but has come to fully apply, consume, and celebrate this sound.
Track 11 from CD 5, Eini Yachol, sounds at first simply like a Western style ballad sung
in Hebrew. However, upon careful analysis of the singers voice, it can be concluded that he has
a distinctly Eastern style, redolent of the maquamat of his homeland. This provides an early
example of how Mizrahi musical influences were integrated into the Ashkenazi mainstream.
Track from 11 CD 7, Ganavim, provides an example of how popular musicah mizrahit
must have become by the late 1980s. The Eastern, Islam-flavored sound is featured heavily but is
molded into a more flexible form, combining flawlessly Western and Eastern instrumentation
and structure. This style must have taken a long while to have developed out of the incipient
Orientalism featured in Israeli music in the 1970s and speaks to how completely Mizrahi
influences had become embraced.
Track 2 from CD 9, Lamah Limekh Kmo Qerach, is a rock tune that incorporates
influences reminiscent of the Oriental clichs used by Israeli art music composers in the decades
prior. The implication is that in making such a seemingly standard rock song, it has become very
easy and maybe even necessary for Israeli artists to broach at least some level of Orientalism in
their music, perhaps to reach completeness in their representation of Israeli sound.