Music in the Jewish Culture

Music began to occupy an important place in the cultural life of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel after World War I, with various attempts made by enthusiastic amateurs and a tiny cadre of trained musicians at forming a symphony orchestra, a choral society and even an opera company. Music on a professional level, however, became a major activity only in the 1930s when hundreds of music teachers and students, composers, instrumentalists and singers, as well as thousands of music lovers, streamed into the country, driven by the threat of Nazism in Europe.

The Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra (today the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra), founded at the initiative of Polish-born violinist Bronislaw Huberman, gave its first concert in Tel Aviv under the baton of Arturo Toscanini in 1936. It immediately became one of the pivots of the country's musical life and over the years acquired the reputation as one of the preeminent orchestras in the world. Soon after, a radio orchestra was established (today the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra), whose broadcast concerts attracted tens of thousands of listeners.

Additional musical organizations were founded at later dates, including the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Beer Sheva Sinfonietta, and orchestras based in Haifa, Netanya, Holon, Ramat Gan and Rishon Lezion, as well as the Israel Kibbutz Orchestra, whose members are drawn from kibbutzim throughout the country.

In the early 1980s, the New Israeli Opera began mounting productions on a high professional level, reviving public enthusiasm for operatic works which had declined following the disbanding of the first permanent opera company some years earlier.

During the early 1990s, Israel's musical life underwent a transformation with the massive influx of over one million Jews from the former Soviet Union. This immigration brought with it many professional musicians, including instrumentalists, singers, and music teachers, whose impact is felt with the formation of new symphony and chamber orchestras, as well as smaller ensembles, and a dynamic injection of talent and musical vitality into educational frameworks in schools, conservatories, and community centers throughout the country.

The chamber music tradition, which also began in the 1930s, includes a number of internationally acclaimed ensembles and choral groups, which have expanded in range and variety since the immigration of the 1990s. Leading groups include the Israel Camerata, the chamber orchestra of the IDF Education Corps, and the Kashtaniot Camerata of Ramat Hasharon. Many cities and towns sponsor their own choirs, and several festivals are devoted to choral music, including Jerusalem's Liturgica, vocal music in the churches of Abu Ghosh, and the Zimriya festival.

Musical performances, from recitals to full symphony concerts presenting a wide range of classical works, are held in historic settings like the restored Roman amphitheaters at Caesarea and Beit She'an, and in two major concert halls, the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem's International Convention Center. Smaller venues include the Jerusalem Theater complex, Tel Aviv's new Performing Arts Center, the Tel Aviv and Israel Museums, as well as cultural centers in towns and kibbutzim throughout the country.

Israeli concertgoers are enthusiastic and demonstrative, attributes much appreciated by the renowned guest musicians and world-famous Israeli soloists, such as Pinchas Zuckerman, Shlomo Mintz, Daniel Barenboim, and Itzhak Perlman, who are part of the country's music scene every year.
World-class music events which take place in Israel include the International Harp Contest and the Artur Rubinstein Piano Competition. Local festivals such as the Music Festival at Kibbutz Ein Gev, the Chamber Music Festival at Kibbutz Kfar Blum, and the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat, draw appreciative audiences, while the Israel Festival, which features music, theater, and dance performed by groups from all over the world, turns Jerusalem into a cultural magnet for three weeks each spring.

The creation of specifically Israeli music has been evolving since professional composing began in the country in the mid-1940s. While Russian and French traditions, German romantic and post-romantic forces, and the lively evocations of later European composers all left their mark on local compositions, a new expression of modern Israel in the so-called 'Mediterranean' style, integrating traditional Eastern melodies and the cantillation of ancient prayer, has gradually crystallized.
The first generation of Israeli composers, all European-born, made great efforts to write in a new musical idiom after immigrating to the country. Paul Ben-Haim utilized expanded tonalities to create a post-expressionistic style, welding old and new, East and West; Oedon Partos saw in the assimilation of authentic folklore an important compositional method; Alexander Uriah Boscovitch used popular forms of expression as a compositional building block; Yosef Tal founded electronic composition in Israel; and Mordechai Seter concentrated on integrating Yemenite melodies and rhythms into his works.

The second generation, most of them direct and indirect students of the first, has worked toward a musical expression which integrates the Hebrew language, with its consonants and intonation, its relevance to Jewish liturgy and tradition, and its incorporation into the Eastern world.
The third and most recent group of composers manifests a desire to participate in international composition with no national profile, to grapple with the Holocaust through music, and to break down barriers within music (such as in the music of Yehuda Poliker), merging Eastern and Western traditions and incorporating some innovations from popular music genres.

Talented young Israelis begin their training by attending one of the many conservatories or by studying with one of hundreds of private teachers; many gain experience by joining one of the country's youth orchestras. Further study is provided at the degree-granting academies for music and dance in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Master classes for singers, instrumentalists, and chamber groups are frequently conducted by visiting international artists at the academies, as well as at the Jerusalem
Music Center.

Music education and research at institutions of higher learning were inaugurated at the beginning of the 1960s with the establishment of the Artur Rubinstein Chair of Musicology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Since then, musicology departments have been added at Tel Aviv University and Bar-llan University. Two major areas of specialization are offered: Jewish music and the music of Israel's various ethnic groups, with particular emphasis on the music of the Eastern/Sephardic communities.
"Songs so far"Tears and laughterVoices of men, stars of time.The sun and the seaBread, the world,The bitter, the sweetAnd everything that has beenwe shall leaveTo live within the song.Lyrics: Natan Yonatan

The early pioneers brought their songs with them, translating the original lyrics into Hebrew or setting new Hebrew words to treasured tunes. Since then, thousands of songs have been written, with melodies incorporating elements of the musical styles brought by consecutive waves of immigrants, ranging from Arab and Yemenite traditions to modern rock and pop, sometimes set to biblical or traditional texts or to the modern verses of Israeli poets and lyricists.


While it is difficult to define a typical Hebrew song, Israelis differentiate between songs written in Hebrew, on various themes and in a variety of styles, and the Shir Ivri ('Hebrew Song'), whose words transmit the voices, values, and moods of the country and whose melodies are dominated by Slavic influences. Accompanying the major historical events in the national life of the Jewish people over the past century, these songs have recorded the nation's dreams, pains, and hopes. While expressing universal sentiments like all folk songs, they also strongly articulate Israeli feelings such as love of the country and its landscape. These are the songs everyone knows, the songs which have become an integral part of the nation's cultural legacy.

Israelis love to sing their songs, from those of the pre-state period to ones just written. Community singing takes place in public halls and private homes, in kibbutz dining rooms and in community centers, during hikes and around bonfires, often under the guidance of a professional song leader, accompanied by piano, accordion, or guitar. Participation in such group singing generates a sense of togetherness, evoked by patriotic sentiments as well as by nostalgia for the early pioneering days and the struggle for independence, for wars won, friends lost, and recurring moments of hope and love.

The Song to Peace :

Let the sun riseAnd give the morning light,The purest prayerWill not bring us back.He whose candle was snuffed outAnd was buried in the dust,A bitter cry won't wake himWon't bring him back.Nobody will return usFrom the dead dark pit,Here - neither the victory cheerNor songs of praise will help.

Refrain:So - sing only a song to peace,Do not whisper a prayer.Better sing a song to peaceWith a big shout.

Let the sun penetrateThrough the flowers,Don't look backwardLeave those who departed.Lift your eyes with hope,Not through the rifle sights.Sing a song to love,And not to wars.Don't say the day will come,Bring the day,Because it is not a dream,And within all the city's squares,Cheer only peace.Lyrics: Yaacov RotblitMusic: Yair Rosenblum

Idan Raichel (Courtesy Israel 21c)

Contemporary Music
The contemporary music scene in Israel is hugely varied and often audacious. Hip hop band Hadag Nahash, for example, uses music to display political cynicism. One of their most famous hits is "Shirat Hasticker ("The Sticker Song" in English), written together with Israeli novelist David Grossman. The song's lyrics are an amalgamation of slogans seen on Israeli bumper stickers. The opposing political slogans are juxtaposed to create a furious, ironic, and often absurd portrait of Israeli life.

Other ensembles such as the Idan Raichel project have fused the Ethiopian musical heritage with Middle-East soul and liturgical influences. Bands such as Teapacks, Mashina, and Knisiyat Hasechel, as well as solo artists Ehud Banai, Shlomo Artzi, and even Sarit Hadad are all veterans on the mainstream Israeli music scene, but have maintained their popularity.
Many of the newcomers to Israeli music's pop scene have emerged through the TV program Kochav Nolad (A Star Is Born), Israel's answer to the U.S.A.'s American Idol. Ninet Tayeb, Harel Moyal, and Yehuda Sa'ado are just some of those who have launched their music careers through this popular program. 2007's winner was Boaz Mauda, whose Israeli Yemenite family tradition can be heard in his music.