Playing across a Divide
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In the last decade of the twentieth century and on into the twenty-first, Israelis and Palestinians saw the signing of the Oslo Peace Accords, the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and the escalation of suicide bombings and retaliations in the region. During this tumultuous time, numerous collaborations between Israeli and Palestinian musicians coalesced into a significant musical scene informed by these extremes of hope and despair on both national and personal levels.Following the bands Bustan Abraham and Alei Hazayit from their creation and throughout their careers, as well as the collaborative projects of Israeli artist Yair Dalal, Playing Across a Divide demonstrates the possibility of musical alternatives to violent conflict and hatred in an intensely contested, multicultural environment. These artists' music drew from Western, Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Afro-diasporic musical practices, bridging differences and finding innovative solutions to the problems inherent in combining disparate musical styles and sources. Creating this new music brought to the forefront the musicians' contrasting assumptions about sound production, melody, rhythm, hybridity, ensemble interaction, and improvisation.
Author Benjamin Brinner traces the tightly interconnected field of musicians and the people and institutions that supported them as they and their music circulated within the region and along international circuits. Brinner argues that the linking of Jewish and Arab musicians' networks, the creation of new musical means of expression, and the repeated enactment of culturally productive musical alliances provide a unique model for mutually respectful and beneficial coexistence in a chronically disputed land.
Features
- First book to address musical collaborations between Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs
- Uniquely applies network theory to analysis of musicians' connections to each other and recording institutions
- Lasting relevance in the context of conflict: proposes that networking between Jewish and Arab musicians together with creation of new musical forms offers the public models for mutually respectful and beneficial coexistence
Reviews
"[A] thoroughly researched, insightful examination of Israeli-Palestinian musical interactions throughout the past two decades...The innovative use of the Internet--users are directed to audio tracks online--enlarges the usefulness of the book, and photos help to personalize the musicians discussed...An important account of the initial impetus for the cross-fertilization of music in the Israeli-Palestinian present." --Choice
"A pioneering study...Brinner's book marks an important shift in scholarship on Israel generally: perhaps its most important contribution, in fact, lies in furthering recognition of Israeli popular and ethnic music as a significant focus for research, and an important lens into key questions in the development of Israeli society, culture and politics." --Musica Judaica Online Reviews
Product Details
368 pages; 20 halftones; 15 musical examples; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-539594-5ISBN10: 0-19-539594-8About the Author(s)
Benjamin Brinner is Professor in the Department of Music, U.C. Berkeley, and winner of ASCAP's Deems Taylor Award for Knowing Music, Making Music. He has studied and taught music in the U.S. and Israel, and conducted research in Indonesia and Israel.
