Re: Israeli/Jewish music

[hrmso!leo <hrmso!leo...>]

> Lenny,

> <<I don't consider Israeli Music to be "Jewish Music" as such>>

> Are you familiar with the lyrics of any current Israeli music, e.g., Ilana
> Avital's song about Russian Aliyah, Yehuda Poliker's stuff about the 
> Holocaust,
> Chava Albershtein's song about the Intefada? Israeli artists, like artists of
> all countries, address a variety of topics. Many of the topics of modern
> Israeli songs relate to Judaism & Zionism.  Other topics include Israeli
> politics (which many people view as a legitimate Jewish arena), relationships,
> Israeli society, etc.~ If you know what you're looking for, there's a
> considerable amount of "Jewish" content in Israeli music.

Certainly, the music of Hava Alberstein is very "Jewish", as is the music of 
Naomi
Shemer and a few others.  However, most of what one hears on "Reshet Gimel" or
"Galei Zahal" in Israel, (i.e. contemporary popular Israeli music), does not 
have
any particularly "Jewish" content, IMHO.

For the most part, I find that most Israeli music is merely hebraicized Western
"Culture", and I prefer to listen to that in the original, if at all.

Even when there are Israeli groups that I really enjoy listening to, I don't 
usually
consider their music "Jewish" as such.  For instance, I am a big Poogy (Lahakat
Kaveret OB"M) fan.  I enjoy the lyrics and music, find them both entertaining 
and
witty.  But I do not consider their music any more "Jewish" than that of Neil
Sedaka, Paul Simon, Burt Bachrach, etc...

To the extent that there is an isolated song here or there that does address 
Jewish
issues, or has a particularly Jewish sound to it, fine.

Lenny

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