Interesting Music lecture

[Judith Pinnolis <pinnolis...>]

Dear Jewish Music Listers:
I just saw and heard in the last hour an interesting music lecture, so I
thought I'd share this with you while still fresh in my mind.

It was a gentleman by the name of Avi Hadari who was lecturing on the music
scene in Israel today. He showed clips from Israeli tv, rock videos, popular
music and various music from every walk of life in Israeli society-- from
the ultra orthodox to the left wing doves and Arab youth rappers.

Apparently many Palestinian kids are watching the same music videos as the
Jewish kids, and many of the songs are just as popular with them. (although
it was also said that a lot of the teenagers are not watching as much tv as
before and/or some songs don't get that much air play.)  It was a
fascinating hour and half video/lecture.

He talked about how popular the sing-along tv shows are in Israel right
now....Everyone is singing.  How 2500-3000 kids try to get tix to a woman
doing weird piano music every Thursday night in Tel Aviv.... (I didn't quite
catch what that was all about)

He also showed clips from a series of films where 17 different producers
were given support to each make 3 minutes to show some idea about life in
Israel, --and the sounds they captured and music they used for those films.
The producers were from different age groups, different political
persuasions, men, women, religious and non-religious, Arab and other
non-Jewish and so on. It seemed that many nuances of the society were taken
into consideration and represented on the film makers. One of these shorts
was a rap song linked to sounds that people are surrounded by, like security
devices in everyday Israeli life. Another was a dreamlike sequence taken
from talking heads on tv compressing all the bombings and death overlayed to
"mein ruhe platz", an older Yiddish song. Another showed Israeli teenagers
doing rap in a school room, as if  'lecturing' kids about their difficult
futures to come.

There are so many contrasts, and complexities as artists, young and
seasoned, struggle to explain what they are feeling about life today and
their futures. They showed a clip by Shlomo Artzi on Israeli tv with an
"unwritten" song about not knowing who to vote for, because he doesn't know
the way to go. It was quite poignant. Another clip showed aging rock group
getting together for the first time in over a decade to play music to
lambast the politicians. Another was a music video by a comedian making fun
of just about everything with very bitter satire using a black women's choir
doing American gospel music in the background.

One popular song was Rachamim--Compassion where a young woman singer was
boiling the whole experience of the last year down to a message that
everyone should just be compassionate to themselves and to everyone else.

He showed a clip of a song commissioned by parents of both Jews and Arabs
whose kids had been killed in the violence. The song was written to be a
sort of a consulation to them, the parents, and it was about finding ways to
get along between Palestinians and Jews. It was very idyllic. There were
also hard liners rapping in a construction setting about not giving in and
standing up to others.
Russian immigrant kids also had their own music thing going on.

The whole lecture was totally intriguing, overwhelming, moving --to once
more be reminded that music can sometimes be the right vehicle to express
the inexplicable in the human condition.

Part of the video showed today's local election music themes and the ways
music was being played into either very slick political party ads, or the
way it was being used by ads with smaller budgets.

Apparently the music business in Israel is also very hard pressed this past
year in general. A lot of traditional stars are not producing new music.

The music ranged from basically Western pop, rock, rap, yeshivish... to
adaptations with Arabic and middle eastern instruments and musical elements.
Most used Western rock and studio instruments. There were a lot of
interesting combinations. There were still a lot of Jews and Arabs working
together this past year, in music in Israel, despite everything. But there
were also a lot who weren't.

Maybe the kids today, on both sides, will find a way to peace the parents
couldn't.

I will try to get the information about the playlist of these artists, but
wasn't able to get this today.

Judy

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