Manya Bernbaum paper

Popular Israeli Music

“Israeli music is one of the most amazing things we have in Israel – and people in Israel love music. Our music style is very unique because it is full of combinations –for example, one of my favourite artists came from Greece to Israel and his music is a combination of Greek and Israeli styels. There have been so many different influences on Israeli Rock and Pop that make it unique and there are many mainstreams of music. “ Ohad Eliyahu, an Israeli of Iraqi descent who recently moved to Edmonton.

What features define popular music as “Israeli”?

GENERALLY: WHAT IS ISRAELI MUSIC?:

-The music of Israel = a combination of Jewish and non-Jewish music traditions that have come together over the course of the past century to create a distinctive musical culture

-Jewish immigrants from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere brought to Israel their musical traditions, melding them with the musical history that already existed of the people from that land.

-Languages : Hebrew or Arabic ( the official languages of Israel)

Popular Israeli Music:

Here's a Facebook survey of Popular Israeli music from September 2010

Ofra Haza : #1 on these charts for 8 weeks Yerushalayim Shel Zahav ( English: Jerusalem of Gold ) was written in 1967 by Naomi Shemer. It describes the Jewish people's 2000 year longing to return to Jerusalem, and after the 6 day war in 1967, Jerusalem was finally reunited under Israeli control. Ofra Haza sang this version at a concert in 1948 marking Israel's 50th birthday.

Idan Raichel's project # 2 for four weeks This other popular song by Idan Raichel is very good too The Idan Raichel project is a successful pop/ethnic group formed in the 2000s, it merges Ethiopian and Western music. Raichel collaborated with Ethiopian Jewish immigrants to produce a unique sound, combining Electronic music sounds, classic piano, electric guitar, traditional drums and Ethiopian-style singing, with its complex quartertone scales and rhythms. The songs are sung in a combination of Hebrew and Amharic (Semitic language from northern Ethiopia). This band really created their own style.

here are the Facebook survey results from November

-A new number one song: Ninet Tayeb, born October 21, 1983, in Kiryat Gat, Israel. She is an Israeli-pop rock singer and actress who came to fame as the first winner of Kochav Nolad (the Israeli version of American Idol).

Is Israeli popular music the same as Jewish popular music? What features make music “Jewish”?

Jewish popular music includes music from the Jews who live in the diaspora, whereas Israeli popular music is music written or performed by an Israeli, who could be a Jew, a Muslim, a Christian, or of other religious affiliation (or non-religious).

A comparison of well-known Israeli popular musicians representing different styles: “eastern” vs. “western” influenced artists