Citation (1)
Map of Israel
Citation (3)
Garland Encyclopedia of World Music-Israel
- Israeli MusicRead more about Israeli music!
Books
Klezmer! by
The first serious look at Klezmer, the rich tradition of Jewish dance music, from its roots in late 19th-century Eastern Europe through its modern renaissance today as world music and "Jewish jazz."
Call Number: ML3528.8 .S26 1999
Music in Biblical Life by
Music was integral to the daily life of ancient Israel. It accompanied activities as diverse as manual labor and royal processionals. At key junctures and in core institutions, musical tones were used to deliver messages, convey emotions, strengthen communal bonds and establish human-divine contact.This book explores the intricate and multifaceted nature of biblical music through a detailed look into four major episodes and genres: the Song of the Sea (Exod. 15), King Saul and David's harp (1 Sam. 16), the use of music in prophecy, and the Book of Psalms. This investigation demonstrates how music helped shape and define the self-identity of ancient Israel.
Call Number: ML166 .F75 2013
The Music of Israel by
First published in 1949, Peter Gradenwitz's work on the rise and growth of Jewish music over 5,000 years received critical praise. This new edition provides new material on music of the Holocaust and on Jewish composers in modern Israel and the world over.
Call Number: ML345.I5 G73 1996
Playing Across a Divide by
In the last decade of the twentieth century and on into the twenty-first, Israelis and Palestinians saw the signing of the Oslo Peace Accords, the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and the escalation of suicide bombings and retaliations in the region. During this tumultuous time, numerous collaborations between Israeli and Palestinian musicians coalesced into a significant musical scene informed by these extremes of hope and despair on both national and personal levels. Following the bands Bustan Abraham and Alei Hazayit from their creation and throughout their careers, as well as the collaborative projects of Israeli artist Yair Dalal, Playing Across a Divide demonstrates the possibility of musical alternatives to violent conflict and hatred in an intensely contested, multicultural environment. These artists' music drew from Western, Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Afro-diasporic musical practices, bridging differences and finding innovative solutions to the problems inherent in combining disparate musical styles and sources. Creating this new music brought to the forefront the musicians' contrasting assumptions about sound production, melody, rhythm, hybridity, ensemble interaction, and improvisation. Author Benjamin Brinner traces the tightly interconnected field of musicians and the people and institutions that supported them as they and their music circulated within the region and along international circuits. Brinner argues that the linking of Jewish and Arab musicians' networks, the creation of new musical means of expression, and the repeated enactment of culturally productive musical alliances provide a unique model for mutually respectful and beneficial coexistence in a chronically disputed land.
Call Number: ML3754 .B75 2009
Rock 'n' Roll Jews by Call Number: ML3776 .B53 2001
Listen to Israeli Music
Facts in Brief
Capital: Jerusalem
Official Languages: Hebrew and Arabic
Current Population: 9,289,761
Area: 22,072
Climate: The climate is Mediterranean, with hot, dry summers, when the maximum temperature in Jerusalem is generally between 30°C and 35°C (86°F to 95°F), and mild, rainy winters, with a minimum temperature in the city of about 5°C (41°F). The climate is sub-tropical on the coast but more extreme in the Negev Desert, in the south, and near the shores of the Dead Sea (a lake on the Israeli–Jordanian frontier), where the summer temperature may exceed 50°C (122°F).
Main Religions: Judaism and Islam
Citation (2)
Folk and Popular Israeli Music
Folk and Popular Israeli Music
An area of musical creativity originating in Erets-Israel (‘land of Israel’) was Erets-Israeli song, which consists of Hebrew texts set to music with a monophonic texture, usually by identifiable Erets-Israeli composers during the period 1882–1948. Erets-Israeli songs developed alongside other Hebrew songs sung in Erets-Israel up to 1948.
The origins of Hebrew songs coincide with the revival of Hebrew culture in Europe and the beginning of the Zionist movement in the latter half of the 19th century. The Hebrew cultural revival included literature and poetry, just as the Zionist movement brought with it waves of immigration to Erets-Israel.
The majority of songs in Erets-Israel during the era of the first immigration were brought by immigrants. Songs typically expressed a longing for Erets-Israel along with the hope for rebirth in the homeland. Many of the song lyrics were written in Hebrew by poets who were part of the ḤibatṢion (love of Zion) and Hatḥiyah (revival) movements, but who, for the most part, had never visited Erets-Israel. The majority of song melodies were borrowed from Hasidic and Yiddish sources, and from Russian, Romanian and Polish folk and popular songs.
Most melodies were in minor keys and in duple metre, at times in slow march-like tempos, with typical Hebrew syllabic emphasis on the penultimate syllable.
Four distinct song types characterize these eras. First, Ḥibat Tzion songs continued from the previous era, becoming part of the second immigration's repertory. The second category includes songs composed within Erets-Israeli educational institutions. The third category includes songs with Arab melodies that were widespread in Erets-Israel to which Hebrew texts were fitted, e.g. Hachmisimi, Bein Nehar Prat, Yad ‘Anugah and Ani Re'itiha. The fourth category includes songs with melodies originating in Eastern European Hasidic culture. Such texts include short verses from the Bible or from prayer books.
Citation (4)
Composer Highlight: Paul Ben-Haim
Paul Ben-Haim
Israeli composer of German birth. After serving in World War I, he graduated from the Munich Academy of Music (1920) where his teachers included Friedrich Klose (composition). He went on to hold the posts of choral director and vocal coach at the Bayerisches Staatstheater under Bruno Walter and, in 1924, became Kapellmeister of the Augsburg Opera. He was also active as a pianist. His early compositions, written during these years, include the String Trio (1927), which demonstrates his fondness for stylistic pluralism in its juxtaposition of extreme chromaticism and jazzy rhythms, and works that display the influence of Orientalism (Pan,1931) and neo-classicism (Concerto grosso, 1931). His friendship with the Jewish composer and organist Heinrich Schalit (1886–1976) led to the composition of a number of a cappella motets on biblical texts, culminating in a setting of Psalm cxxvi ‘Wenn der Herr’ (1929) that was well received at the Nürnberger Sängerwoche (1931).
Brought to prominence through commissions and frequent performances of his works by artists such as Menuhin, Pressler, Bernstein, Heifetz, Wiesel and others, Ben-Haim became internationally known soon after 1945. His flowing melodies, idiomatic instrumental writing and rich orchestration made his music appealing to audiences all over the world. Although he held the music of Bach in highest esteem, he was also strongly influenced by the harmonic and melodic styles of Debussy, Ravel and Falla and the dramatic and symbolic expression of Mahler. While most of his music is tonal with modal embellishment, he used dodecaphony to depict strong images, such as the dry bones in the Vision of a Prophet (1959). His honours included the 1957 Israel Prize for the orchestral work The Sweet Psalmist of Israel (1953). In 1972, after attending an honorary concert organized by the City of Munich, he was severely injured in a car accident that left him partially paralysed; this condition substantially limited his activities during the last 12 years of his life.
Citation: Hirshberg, J. Ben-Haim [Frankenburger], Paul. Grove Music Online. Retrieved 7 Dec. 2021, from https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000002689.
Citations
(1): "The Holy City" by "Graham"
(2): Location, Climate, Language, Religion, Flag, Capital (Israel), in Europa World online. London, Routledge. University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Retrieved 02 December 2021 from http://www.europaworld.com/entry/il.is.2
(3): https://www-europaworld-com.proxy.lib.utk.edu/entry/il.MAP
(4): Hirshberg, J., Shahar, N., Seroussi, E., & Shiloah, A. Israel. Grove Music Online. Retrieved 7 Dec. 2021, from https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000041316.