The Israeli Music Scene: An Essay in Secular Culture

Abstract

This essay deals with some issues relating to music in Israel. Many regard music as a universal language bridging barriers thrown up by spoken tongues, but there is more to music than meets the ear, for music divides by ethnicity, social class and age. Since the middle 1960s when classic Israeliness began to be challenged, Israeli culture has become much more contentious. Canonical highbrow culture was important in creating Israel's social structure, especially differences between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim. Thus classical ''art'' music is jostled for supremacy by such genres as Israel rock, musica mizrahit, Mediterranean music, and exposure to global pop cultures. Israeli culture has developed an open market in which everyone competes for devotees.