Jump to content

Gilad Atzmon: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→Allegations of antisemitism: break up overly long sentence that had a period in the middle of it already
RTLamp (talk | contribs)
238 edits
→Early life: removed coatrack
Line 39: Line 39:
|publisher=[[CounterPunch]]
|publisher=[[CounterPunch]]
}}
}}
</ref><ref name="Lewis">[http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/mar/06/gilad-atzmon-israel-jazz-interview#history-byline "Manic beat preacher" interview with John Lewis], [[The Guardian]], March 6, 2009.</ref> There he first learned about Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, legislation to prevent their return, and the wiping out of Palestinian villages. He told an interviewer “We were indoctrinated into a denial of the Palestinian Cause. We were not aware of it.”<ref name=Panayides>Theo Panayides, [http://www.cyprus-mail.com/living/wandering-jazz-player/20100221 Wandering jazz player], [[Cyprus Mail]], February 21, 2010.</ref> Atzmon has said "watching my people destroying other people left a big scar."<ref name="gilchrist222">{{cite news|url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/39I-thought-music-could-heal.3804991.jp?CommentPage=1&CommentPageLength=1000|title='I thought music could heal the wounds of the past. I may have got that wrong'|last=Gilchrist|first=Jim|date=22 February 2008|work=[[The Scotsman]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref>
</ref><ref name="Lewis">[http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/mar/06/gilad-atzmon-israel-jazz-interview#history-byline "Manic beat preacher" interview with John Lewis], [[The Guardian]], March 6, 2009.</ref> He told an interviewer “We were indoctrinated into a denial of the Palestinian Cause. We were not aware of it.”<ref name=Panayides>Theo Panayides, [http://www.cyprus-mail.com/living/wandering-jazz-player/20100221 Wandering jazz player], [[Cyprus Mail]], February 21, 2010.</ref> Atzmon has said "watching my people destroying other people left a big scar."<ref name="gilchrist222">{{cite news|url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/39I-thought-music-could-heal.3804991.jp?CommentPage=1&CommentPageLength=1000|title='I thought music could heal the wounds of the past. I may have got that wrong'|last=Gilchrist|first=Jim|date=22 February 2008|work=[[The Scotsman]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref>


He first became interested in British [[jazz]] when he discovered some in a British record shop in Jerusalem in the 1970s. He initially was inspired by the work of [[Ronnie Scott]] and [[Tubby Hayes]] and regarded London as "the Mecca of Jazz."<ref name="JazzHot"/> He also was influenced to become a jazz musician by the work of [[Charlie Parker]], in particular ''[[Charlie Parker with Strings]]'' recorded in 1949. Atzmon said of the album that he "loved the way the music is both beautiful and subversive – they way he basks in the strings but also fights against them."<ref name=Lewis/> He worked with top bands as a musical producer.<ref>Barnaby Smith, [http://www.tourdates.co.uk/LondonTourdates/issue-007/2007/10/05/222-Sax-With-An-Axe-To-Grind Sax With An Axe To Grind], [http://www.tourdates.co.uk/ London Tour Dates], October 5, 2007.</ref>
He first became interested in British [[jazz]] when he discovered some in a British record shop in Jerusalem in the 1970s. He initially was inspired by the work of [[Ronnie Scott]] and [[Tubby Hayes]] and regarded London as "the Mecca of Jazz."<ref name="JazzHot"/> He also was influenced to become a jazz musician by the work of [[Charlie Parker]], in particular ''[[Charlie Parker with Strings]]'' recorded in 1949. Atzmon said of the album that he "loved the way the music is both beautiful and subversive – they way he basks in the strings but also fights against them."<ref name=Lewis/> He worked with top bands as a musical producer.<ref>Barnaby Smith, [http://www.tourdates.co.uk/LondonTourdates/issue-007/2007/10/05/222-Sax-With-An-Axe-To-Grind Sax With An Axe To Grind], [http://www.tourdates.co.uk/ London Tour Dates], October 5, 2007.</ref>

Revision as of 05:24, 27 May 2010

Gilad Atzmon
גלעד עצמון
Atzmon in concert, February 2007
Born
Gilad Atzmon

(1963-06-09) June 9, 1963 (age 61)
Tel Aviv, Israel
NationalityIsraeli and British[1]
EducationRubin Academy of Music, University of Essex
OccupationMusician
Known forMusic, political activism
Websitewww.gilad.co.uk

Gilad Atzmon (Template:Lang-he; born June 9, 1963) is an Israeli-born British jazz saxophonist. He is also known as an author and political activist whose criticism of Jewish identity, Judaism, and Zionism has led to allegations of antisemitism.

Atzmon's album Exile was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003.[2] Playing over 100 dates a year,[3] he has been called "surely the hardest-gigging man in British jazz."[4] His albums, of which he has recorded nine to date,[3] often explore the music of the Middle East and political themes. He has described himself as a "devoted political artist."[5] Atzmon has been described as an anti-Zionist.[5][6][3][7] He supports the Palestinian right of return and the one-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[7]

In an opinion piece for The Times, David Aaronvitch wrote that Atzmon has been criticized by the Jewish community and anti-Zionists because of his embrace of "the idea of a global Jewish plot" and "tirades against Zionism" which "have got him into trouble with more than just the Jewish community."[8][verification needed] A profile in The Guardian in 2009 which described Atzmon as "one of London's finest saxophonists" stated: "It is Atzmon's blunt anti-Zionism rather than his music that has given him an international profile, particularly in the Arab world, where his essays are widely read."[3]

Early life

Atzmon was born a secular Jew in Tel Aviv, and trained at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem.[9] His service as a paramedic in the Israeli Defense Forces during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon caused him to reach the conclusion that "I was part of a colonial state, the result of plundering and ethnic cleansing."[1][3] He told an interviewer “We were indoctrinated into a denial of the Palestinian Cause. We were not aware of it.”[10] Atzmon has said "watching my people destroying other people left a big scar."[6]

He first became interested in British jazz when he discovered some in a British record shop in Jerusalem in the 1970s. He initially was inspired by the work of Ronnie Scott and Tubby Hayes and regarded London as "the Mecca of Jazz."[2] He also was influenced to become a jazz musician by the work of Charlie Parker, in particular Charlie Parker with Strings recorded in 1949. Atzmon said of the album that he "loved the way the music is both beautiful and subversive – they way he basks in the strings but also fights against them."[3] He worked with top bands as a musical producer.[11]

In 1994,[12] Atzmon emigrated from Israel to London, where he attended the University of Essex[13] and earned a Masters degree in Philosophy.[5] He has lived there since,[6] becoming a British citizen in 2002.[1]

Music

While Atzmon's main instrument is the alto saxophone, he also plays soprano, tenor and baritone saxophones and clarinet, sol, zurna and flute.[9] Atzmon's jazz style has been described as bebop/hard bop, with forays into free jazz and swing, and seemingly inspired by John Coltrane and Miles Davis.[12] Atzmon sometimes plays the alto and soprano sax simultaneously.[12]

Atzmon's works have also explored the music of the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe.[14] Atzmon told The Guardian that he draws on Arabic music which he says cannot be notated like western music but must be internalised, which he calls "reverting to the primacy of the ear." Atzmon's musical method has been to play with notions of cultural identity, flirting with genres such as tango and klezmer as well as various Arabic, Balkan, Gypsy and Ladino folk forms. Atzmon's recordings deliberately differ from his live shows. "I don't think that anyone can sit in a house, at home, and listen to me play a full-on bebop solo. It's too intense. My albums need to be less manic."[3]

Atzmon has created the "Benny Hill-like alter ego – a fanatical Zionist" Artie Fishel, on the album Artie Fishel & the Promised Band, which has been described as "musical anarchy."[15] With traditional klezmer music, dialogue, and jokes, the album features Atzmon on saxophone, John Turville on keys and electronics, Yaron Stavi on bass, and Asaf Sirkis on drums.[16][17] Other artists include vocalist Guillermo Rozenthuler, Koby Israelite on vocals and accordion, and Ovidiu Fratila on violin.[18]

Collaborations and groups

Atzmon joined the veteran punk rock band Ian Dury and the Blockheads in 1998, and continued with The Blockheads after Dury's death.[19] He has also recorded and performed with Shane McGowan, Robbie Williams, Sinéad O'Connor, Robert Wyatt and Paul McCartney.[9][14] He has recorded two albums with Robert Wyatt, who describes him as "one of the few musical geniuses I've ever met".[3]

Atzmon has collaborated, recorded and performed with musicians from all around the world, including the Palestinian singer, Reem Kelani, Tunisian singer and oud player Dhafer Youssef, violinist Marcel Mamaliga, accordion player Romano Viazzani, bassist Yaron Stavi, violinist and trumpet-violin player, Dumitru Ovidiu Fratila, and Guillermo Rozenthuler on vocals.[12]

Atzmon founded the Orient House Ensemble band in London in the 1990s and is currently touring with them.[14] The band includes Asaf Sirkis on drums, Yaron Stavi on bass and Frank Harrison on keyboard.[14] It has produced five albums in eight years.[20]

Atzmon is on the creative panel of the Global Music Foundation,[9] a non-profit organization formed in December 2004 which runs residential educational and performance workshops and events in different countries around the world.[21] and also offers personal workshops to students.[22]

Reviews

Atzmon and his ensemble have received favorable reviews from Hi-Fi World, Financial Times, The Scotsman, The Guardian, Birmingham Post, The Sunday Times and The Independent.[23] Reviews of his 2007 album Refuge included:

Manchester Evening News: The individuality of the music is extraordinary. No one is more willing to serve his music with raw political passion, and that curious cantor-like tone on clarinet is immediately arresting, like Artie Shaw writhing in his death throes.[24]
EjazzNews: "For sheer improvisational fireworks, quirky humour and genre-defying invention, one will be hard-pressed to find a bandleader as unique as Gilad Atzmon." ("EjazzNews," September 2008)[25]
BBC: "...the OHE is finding its voice in an increasingly subtle blend of East and West, that’s brutal and beautiful."[20]

In November 2008 Chris Searle launched his book Forward Groove: Jazz and the Real World from Louis Armstrong to Gilad Atzmon at the London Jazz Festival. It "chronicles the development of jazz and its great exponents" alongside social developments and political protest movements. The reviewer noted that "the torch continues to be carried by contemporary musicians such as Israeli-born alto saxman Gilad Atzmon who dreams of a free and united Palestine."[26]

In February 2009 The Guardian music critic John Fordham reviewed Atzmon's newest album In loving memory of America which Atzmon describes as "a memory of America I had cherished in my mind for many years". It includes five standards and six originals "inspired by the sumptuous harmonies and impassioned sax-playing of (Charlie) Parker's late-40s recordings with classical strings".[27]

While the music journalist John Lewis praises much of Atzmon's work, he notes that "trenchant politics often sit uneasily alongside music, particularly when that music is instrumental." Lewis criticized his 2006 comedy klezmer project, "Artie Fishel and the Promised Band," as "a clumsy satire on what he regards as the artificial nature of Jewish identity politics."[3]

Awards

Atzmon was the recipient of the HMV Top Dog Award at the Birmingham International Jazz Festival in 1996–1998.[12] Gilad Atzmon's Exile was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003.[28]

Writing

Gilad Atzmon is a prolific writer, the author of two novels and many published papers and regular blog entries which he makes available on his personal website.[29]

Novels

Atzmon's novels have been published in 22 languages. His first novel A Guide to the Perplexed, published in 2001, is set in a future where by 2052 Israel has been replaced by a Palestinian state for 40 years. It largely reviews memoirs of the alienated Israeli Gunther Wunker’s rise to fame as a "peepologist," or voyeur. The perplexed are defined as "the unthinking Chosen" who "cling to clods of earth that don't belong to them." The novel excoriates what it describes as the commercialization of the Holocaust and "argues that the Holocaust is invoked as a kind of reflexive propaganda designed to shield the Zionist state from responsibility for any transgression against Palestinians."[1] A reviewer for The Independent wrote that "Those who still thrill to the pages of Sixties underground "comix" may find some of this amusing, however laboured. Yet even those semi-sympathetic to its politics will find it cheap and "provocative" in the worst possible sense." He also wrote that the book has "just enough connection with reality to give it a certain unsettling power" but concludes "His writing, alas, represents a completely false start."[30] The Guardian observed it is "odd to mix knob gags with highly serious assertions" but thought it works because "Atzmon writes with so much style and his gags are so hilarious."[31]

Atzmon's second novel, My One and Only Love was published in 2005, and features as a protagonist a trumpeter who chooses to play only one note (extremely well) as well as a spy who uncovers Nazi war criminals and locks them inside double bass cases which then tour permanently in the protagonist's orchestra's luggage.[32] The book also is comedic take on "Zionist espionage and intrigue" which explores "the personal conflict between being true to one’s heart and being loyal to The Jews'.[33]

Political writings

Atzmon's writings have been published in CounterPunch,[34] Al Jazeera,[35] Uruknet,[36] and Middle East Online.[37] He was a co-founder of and former contributor to the web site Palestine Think Tank[3].

In 2009 Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan cited Atzmon's written comment "Israeli barbarity is far beyond even ordinary cruelty" during a debate with Israeli president Shimon Peres.[3] In a 2010 article about the "moral courage of Israeli dissidents," John Pilger quoted Atzmon on justice for the Palestinians being "at the heart of the battle for a better world."[38]

Allegations of antisemitism

Several of Atzmon's statements regarding Jews and Judaism have led to allegations of antisemitism.[8][39] In an opinion piece David Hirsh cites Atzmon's statement that, "I would suggest that perhaps we should face it once and for all: the Jews were responsible for the killing of Jesus."[40][41] as an example of Atzmon's "openly anti-Jewish rhetoric."[42] and names Atzmon as an exemplar of "a contemporary current of anti-Zionism which toys openly with antisemitic rhetoric."[43]

In 2004 the Board of Deputies of British Jews criticized Atzmon for saying, "I'm not going to say whether it is right or not to burn down a synagogue, I can see that it is a rational act."[39] Atzmon responded in a letter to The Observer that "since Israel presents itself as the 'state of the Jewish people’ ... any form of anti-Jewish activity may be seen as political retaliation. This does not make it right."[44] In a 2005 opinion piece David Aaronovitch criticized Atzmon for writing in his essay "On Anti-Semitism" that "We must begin to take the accusation that the Jewish people are trying to control the world very seriously."[8][45] Aaronovitch also criticized Atzmon for circulating a Holocaust-denying essay by Paul Eisen, although Atzmon said his views were "slightly different" from Eisen's.[8] In 2007 the Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism criticized the Swedish Social Democratic Party for inviting Atzmon to speak, saying he had worked to "legitimize the hatred of Jews.” The party defended its choice of speaker.[46] In a 2009 The Guardian opinion piece Nick Cohen compared Atzmon to members of the far-right with a paranoid mentality, for his statements that, "Jewish ideology is driving our planet into a catastrophe" and "the Jewish tribal mindset—left, centre and right—sets Jews aside of humanity."[47] In his blog for The Times, Oliver Kamm charges Atzmon with antisemitism for his article "Truth, History and Integrity[48] in which Atzmon writes "As it happened, it took me many years to understand that the Holocaust, the core belief of the contemporary Jewish faith, was not at all an historical narrative for historical narratives do not need the protection of the law and politicians."[49]

Atzmon refers to charges of antisemitism as being a "common Zionist silencing apparatus.”[50] He denies both that he is an antisemite and the very existence of antisemitism, stating that "'Anti-Semite' is an empty signifier, no one actually can be an Anti-Semite and this includes me of course. In short, you are either a racist which I am not or have an ideological disagreement with Zionism, which I have."[51] Atzmon defines himself as an "ex-Jew"[52] and a "proud self-hating Jew"[10] and questions "the ties between a Jewish world view and Zionism."[51] He states that he does not attack Jews or Judaism but Zionism and what he calls “Jewishness,” which he describes as "very much a supremacist, racist tendency."[6]

Discography

  • "In loving memory of America" – Label: Enja – January 2009
  • Refuge – Label: Enja – October 2007
  • Artie Fishel and the Promised Band – Label: WMD – September 2006
  • MusiK – Label: Enja – October 2004
  • Exile – Label: Enja – March 2004
  • Nostalgico – Label: Enja – January 2001
  • Gilad Atzmon &The Orient House Ensemble – Label: Enja – 2000
  • Juizz Muzic- Label: FruitBeard – 1999
  • Take it or Leave It – Label: Face Jazz – 1999
  • Spiel- Both Sides – Label: MCI – 1995
  • Spiel Acid Jazz Band- Label: MCI – 1995
  • Spiel- Label: In Acoustic&H.M. Acoustica – 1993

Books

  • A guide to the perplexed, English translation by Philip Simpson. London : Serpent's Tail, 2002. ISBN 1852428260
  • My one and only love. London : Saqi Books, 2005. ISBN 0863565077 (pbk.). ISBN 9780863565076 (pbk.)

References

  1. ^ a b c d St. Clair, Jeffery (July 19, 2003). "You Must Leave Home, Again: Gilad Atzmon's "A Guide to the Perplexed"". CounterPunch. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  2. ^ a b Gilad Atzmon,How jazz got hot again, The Daily Telegraph, 13 October 2005
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Manic beat preacher" interview with John Lewis, The Guardian, March 6, 2009. Cite error: The named reference "Lewis" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ John Bungey "Gilad Atzmon: In Loving Memory of America", The Times, 6 March 2009
  5. ^ a b c Stuart Nicholson,Cry freedom, The Spectator August 9, 2003.
  6. ^ a b c d Gilchrist, Jim (22 February 2008). "'I thought music could heal the wounds of the past. I may have got that wrong'". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
  7. ^ a b Mary Rizzo, "Who's Afraid of Gilad Atzmon?", CounterPunch, 17 June 2005.
  8. ^ a b c d Aaronovitch, David. How did the far Left manage to slip into bed with the Jew-hating Right? The Times, June 28, 2005. Cite error: The named reference "Aaronovitch" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b c d "Gilad Atzmon". People. Global Music Foundation. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  10. ^ a b Theo Panayides, Wandering jazz player, Cyprus Mail, February 21, 2010.
  11. ^ Barnaby Smith, Sax With An Axe To Grind, London Tour Dates, October 5, 2007.
  12. ^ a b c d e "Profile – Gilad Atzmon". Rainlore's World of Music. March 21, 2003. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  13. ^ University of Essex news release, Dec 14, 2007 notes Atzmon is a "graduate."
  14. ^ a b c d Atzmon, Gilad (2007). "GILAD ATZMON – MUSICIAN, COMPOSER, PRODUCER, EDUCATOR, WRITER". Gilad Atzmon. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  15. ^ Shackleton, Kathryn (October 16, 2006). "Gilad Atzmon: Artie Fishel And The Promised Band". BBC. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  16. ^ Atzmon, Gilad (2007). "ARTIE FISHEL & THE PROMISED BAND". Gilad Atzmon. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  17. ^ Gilad Atzmon, Not Strictly Kosher, Jazzwise, January 17, 2007.
  18. ^ Mixing it feature, BBC Radio, October 6, 2006.
  19. ^ Stephen Robb, The old Blockheads shows go on, BBC News, January 25, 2007.
  20. ^ a b Kathryn Shackleton, Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble, Refuge, BBC, October 1, 2007.
  21. ^ "About GMF". Global Music Foundation. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  22. ^ Atzmon, Gilad (2007). "MUSIC EDUCATION". Gilad Atzmon. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  23. ^ Gilad Atzmon web site.
  24. ^ Alan Brownlee, Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble – Refuge (Enja), Manchester Evening News, August 30, 2007.
  25. ^ John Stevenson, Gilad Atzmon liberates the Americans: Orient House Ensemble, Ronnie Scott’s London, August 30th 2008, EJazzNews.com, September 01, 2008.
  26. ^ Ian Soutar, Former head chronicles a passion for jazz and justice, Sheffield Telegraph, November 14, 2008.
  27. ^ John Fordham, Gilad Atzmon: In Loving Memory of America, The Guardian, February 27, 2009.
  28. ^ Jazz winners span generations, BBC, July 30, 2003.
  29. ^ Writings section at Gilad Atzmon web site.
  30. ^ Matthew Reisz A crude – and rude – assault on Israel misfires, The Independent, 7 December 2002
  31. ^ Darren King Mr. Peepology, The Guardian, 25 January 2003.
  32. ^ Sholto Byrnes "Talking Jazz", The Independent, 25 March 2005,
  33. ^ BBC book launch announcement, BBC, 3 June 2005.
  34. ^ Examples of Gilad Atzmon in Counterpunch: Collective Self-Deception: The Most Common Mistakes of Israelis, 28 August 2003; The Left and Islam: Thinking Outside of the Secular Box, July 10–12, 2009.
  35. ^ Examples of Gilad Atzmon in Al Jazeera: Caught between sobbing and war chants, July 30, 2008;Deception, spin and lies, October 22, 2009.
  36. ^ Gilad Atzmon, Purim Special, From Esther to AIPAC, Uruknet, March 3, 2007.
  37. ^ Examples of Gilad Atzmon in Middle East Online: Vengeance, Barbarism and Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, September 22, 2009; Autumn in Shanghai, October 20, 2009.
  38. ^ John Pilger, Listen to the heroes of Israel, New Statesman, 25 February 2010.
  39. ^ a b Curtis, Polly. Soas faces action over alleged anti-semitism, The Guardian, May 12, 2004.
  40. ^ Hirsh, David. What charge?, "The Guardian", April 3, 2006.
  41. ^ Atzmon, Gilad. The Politics of Antisemitism, at his personal web site.
  42. ^ Hirsh, David. Openly embracing prejudice, "The Guardian", November 30, 2006.
  43. ^ Hirsh, David (n.d.). "Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism: Cosmopolitan Reflections" (pdf). Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism Working Paper Series. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
  44. ^ Gilad Atzmon, Letters to the Editor, The Observer, 4 April 2005
  45. ^ Gilad Atzmon, On Anti-Semitism, originally at his personal web site, 20 December 2003.
  46. ^ Social Democrats invited known anti-Semite to seminar, The Local, March 23, 2007
  47. ^ Nick Cohen "The unlikely friends of the Holocaust memorial killer", The Observer, 14 June 2009
  48. ^ Gilad Atzmon, Truth, History, and Integrity, at his personal web site.
  49. ^ Oliver Kamm, An antisemite's progress, The Times, March 26, 2010.
  50. ^ Barnaby Smith, Sax With An Axe To Grind, Interview with Gilad Atzmon in London Tour Dates magazine, October 5, 2006
  51. ^ a b Gilad Atzmon, 1001 Lies About Gilad Atzmon, at his personal web site.
  52. ^ Gilad Atzmon, A New Jewish Goal, at his personal web site.

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gilad_Atzmon&oldid=364433039"