Expert discusses Middle East music

Israeli Mediterranean music serves as a form of ethnic and political expression, combining the traditional music of the Middle East with Western rock 'n roll, according to Amy Horowitz, a professor in the Jerusalem Program at the Smithsonian Institute. And yesterday, Horowitz discussed this "Mizrahi" music with an audience of more than 15 students and faculty. Horowitz said Mizrahi music is performed by Israeli musicians of Sephardic background, connecting them to their Middle Eastern origins. She quoted the Israeli singer Avihu Medina, when she sang, "I sing the songs with which I was raised." "Medina is a Yemenite who composes with an Israeli soundtrack," she explained. Horowitz spoke about how the singers combined the music brought from Arab lands with European and American forms of composition. She also said the Mizrahi music provided a way of expressing both Israeli and Middle Eastern identities. Horowitz added that Mizrahi music reshapes the definition of Israeli identity and helps to make Israel a more heterogeneous society. She said the music also has an important political impact -- describing the discrimination which Mizrahi musicians were subjected to by the Israeli radio stations and record companies. Horowitz added that often, artists were allotted very little radio air time. She said these musicians and their distributors set up their own networks as an alternative means of producing Mizrahi songs. Like much in the Middle East, creating independent networks is also a political act. "The Mizrahi music and entrepreneurs, by setting up their own alternative network were essentially making a political statement through music," Horowitz explained. She also described how Mizrahi music -- until the 1980's -- had been listened to exclusively by Middle Eastern Jews. She said this form of music's emergence into the mainstream began in 1986 with Israeli singer Haim Moshe's Arabic song "Linda, Linda." Horowitz added that this music is also becoming accepted by Israeli folk dancers, signaling its acceptance by the larger Israeli population. Wharton senior David Eline said he learned a great deal from this lecture. "I never knew this music existed," he said. "Now I want to go out and buy some Mizrahi CDs."