Mizrahi musicians
March 29, 2012
On the border between East and West Jerusalem, where the sound of a daily Muslim call to prayer meets the running footsteps of religious Jewish children, stands the Center for Classical Oriental Music and Dance. Situated in a picturesque old Arab house from the time of the Ottoman Empire, its interior design, colorful red tile flooring and windows decorated with both eight-point and six-point stars, reflects the intertwining of both Muslim and Jewish traditions.
The center is one of a few in Jerusalem where both Muslim and Jewish students study together.
Founded in 1996, it is one of a kind in Israel in that it teaches 140 enrolled students eight subcultures of classical Eastern music, encompassing Jewish, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Sufi, North African and Greek traditions. The students learn the music not only as an intellectual pursuit but as a means of connecting with their heritage.
Expelled to Israel
Many of the students are Mizrahi Jews, a large and diverse population of Jews with roots in North Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia. When the state of Israel was born in 1948, many Mizrahim were either expelled by their rulers or chose to immigrate to Israel. An estimated 900,000 members of the ethnic group relocated to Israel in the early years of the state's formation.
Mizrahi Jews were not always warmly received, and in fact, many faced racial segregation from the Ashkenazim, Jews who fled Eastern Europe and were attached to the Western classical musical traditions of Beethoven and Brahms, and who were predominant in founding Israel's cultural institutions.
The school prides itself as being a beacon of cultural pluralism in Israeli society, a place to reclaim Middle Eastern traditions and be tolerant of the country's Muslim and Arab influences. After all, the Mizrahim have long assimilated Arab influences and lived side by side with Muslim populations.
But the School's Founder, Avi Shoshani, says the government of Israel has neglected to support the style of Oriental music promoted by the Center.
"Actually, the state of the Israel is giving all of the money only to classical European institutions like the opera, or the philharmonic or the symphonic orchestra, to choirs, and so on," Shoshani told DW. "So this is, I think, a mistake and a little tragedy for the state of Israel because I believe we could communicate with our Arab neighbors by using this music and poetry, which belongs also to them."
Shoshani, whose father immigrated from Persia 100 years ago, says the government continually cuts funding for his institution while increasing the funding of other cultural institutions that cater to western music and art.
Variable funding
The Minister of Culture refused to comment for this story, but her spokeswoman, Or Doron, issued a lengthy statement dismissing the criticism that it is biased against eastern music.
"The Office of Culture and Sport recognizes the importance of encouraging intercultural activity among the citizens of Israel - either as consumer of cultures or producers of culture," the statement said in Hebrew. "This is due to our fundamental belief that it enriches the culture in Israel as a whole."
Doron says that 75 percent of The School of Oriental and Classical Music's funding has come from the ministry and that the school has received an annual average of 902,000 shekels ($242,000) from 2008 to 2011.
Shoshani, however, disputes the data provided by the Ministry of Culture's office as false, claiming that most of his funding has been scraped together though private donations and student tuition of around 7,000 shekels a year per student. Shoshani adds the school is unable to pay its rent and will be forced to close without help from the government or private benefactors.
Charges of discrimination
Others have issued charges similar to Shoshani's. A recent article in Israeli newspaper Haaretz voiced complaints from the Mizrahi Orchestra, a group that describes themselves as playing classical music from the Babylonian diaspora. The article published data showing that ensembles rooted in the Western classical tradition received substantial government funding in 2010. The Israel Philharmonic was allotted 9.3 million shekels; the Haifa Symphony received 3 million; 5.3 million went to the Jerusalem Symphony; and the New Israeli Opera garnered the largest budget of all: 19 million shekels.
By contrast, the Mizrahi Orchestra, defined as a "project," was granted 70,000 shekels.
Miriam Guez-Avigal, a cultural studies scholar at Bar Ilan University, whose parents were born in Tunisia and who completed her doctorate in the singing of holy Jewish music by Tunisian women, has been trying to advocate on the orchestra's behalf.
"First of all, the Ministry of Culture needs to give money to the Mizrahi Orchestra, so it won't die," she said.
"There is no other orchestra in Israel that plays on original instruments. The difference between producing those songs on Western instruments and Eastern instruments, is the difference between heaven and earth," Guez-Avigal continued, adding, "It's unthinkable that in a country where half of the population is Eastern, only the voice of Western music will be heard."
A future in doubt
The philanthropic Jerusalem Foundation advertises that it is seeking a gift of 1.2 million dollars, which would enable the Center for Middle Eastern Music to purchase its building and to establish a permanent home in Jerusalem.
In the meantime, its students and staff are waiting anxiously to see what will happen to their beloved school.
Arno Morell, 37, a student of Turkish music, believes Israeli Society as a whole needs to wake up to its own heritage instead of continually ignoring it and favouring European culture.
"We were not born in Germany; as a people, we were born here," he said. "The music that came with the Jewish people, the music that came with the state of Israel and the land of Israel is actually Middle Eastern. So for me I feel that there should be government support of the fact that this music needs be cultivated."
Author: Meredith Mandell (gw)
Editor:Anke Rasper