More on Mizrahi music

[Eva Broman <evbr4965...>]

Greetings,

Judith C. wrote:

>hi, thanks for the link to the article on Mizrakhi music. Some years ago
>in the "EthnoFolk Letters" column (which I'd invented) of the Canadian
>Folk music Society Bulletin, I published a brief note on bus station
>music and the effects on "musica cassetot" distribution of closing the
>old Tel Aviv bus station and opening up a gleaming new one not conducive
>to "musica kassetot" stands. I don't think it's on line, but can look
>around if anyone likes. Actually, I remember the first ethnomusicology
>conference I attended in Israel, in '88, and how daring and innovative a
>serious paper on mizrakhi music was seen to be. Judith

Hi Judith,

I've been able to dig up a few scholarly studies on Muzika Mizrakhit or Israeli 
Mediterranean music, and later on I could send a list of the articles and 
studies I've found (several of whom have been mentioned here already, of 
course). For now, I'll send the links to two online articles:

http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/culturalstudies/tpp/tpp3/Dardashti.pdf

This one is written by jewish-music member Galeet Dardashti, and it's a very 
interesting comparison between muzika mizrakhit and muzika etnit (Yair Dalal et 
al).

http://humanities.uchicago.edu/journals/jsjournal/kemper.html

This article is basically a description of the style, highlighted by an 
analysis of Zohav Argov's "Ha-Perah BeGani".

Concerning the question of the dissemination of "musica cassetot": I'm sure 
that the onlist Israelis can tell you much more, but many studies I've read 
attest that Musica Mizrahit has finally managed to enter the Israeli 
mainstream, which probably means that distribution through open-market cassette 
stands is not as essential as it was in the 70's and 80's when the genre was 
virtually cut off from official channels of distribution and exposure (record 
companies, radio channels, record shops). Nowadays the style has even conquered 
the Internet: the main online shops for Israeli music carry large "Oriental" 
sections, and I've found several web sites devoted to Mizrahi artists! Now, if 
mainstream exposure leads to mainstream acceptance is another question. It's 
probably been easier for Sarit Haddad or Eyal Golan, with their "poppier" 
sounds to "cross over" than it is for the more the "Eastern", "arabesque"-style 
artists like Ofer Levi.

All the best, Eva