|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Gilad Atzmon
Gilad Atzmon (Hebrew: גלעד עצ�žון–Ž; born June 9, 1963) is an Israeli-born British jazz saxophonist, novelist and anti-Zionist political activist and writer.[2][3][4][5] Atzmon's album Exile was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003.[6] Playing over 100 dates a year,[4] he has been called "surely the hardest-gigging man in British jazz."[7] His albums, of which he has recorded nine to date,[4] often explore the music of the Middle East and political themes. He has described himself as a "devoted political artist."[2] He supports the Palestinian right of return and the one-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[5] His criticisms of Zionism, Jewish identity, and Judaism have led to allegations of antisemitism from both Zionists and anti-Zionists. 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."[4]
[edit] Early lifeAtzmon was born a secular Jew in Tel Aviv, and trained at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem.[8] 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][4] He told an interviewer that it was there he first learned about Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, legislation to prevent their return, and the wiping out of Palestinian villages. 'We were indoctrinated into a denial of the Palestinian Cause. We were not aware of it.'[9] 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."[6] 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."[4] He worked with top bands as a musical producer.[10] In 1994,[11] Atzmon emigrated from Israel to London, where he attended the University of Essex[12] and earned a Masters degree in Philosophy.[2] He has lived there since,[3] becoming a British citizen in 2002.[1] [edit] MusicWhile Atzmon's main instrument is the alto saxophone, he also plays soprano, tenor and baritone saxophones and clarinet, sol, zurna and flute.[8] 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.[11] Atzmon sometimes plays the alto and soprano sax simultaneously.[11] Atzmon's works have also explored the music of the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe.[13] 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."[4] 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."[14] 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.[15][16] Other artists include vocalist Guillermo Rozenthuler, Koby Israelite on vocals and accordion, and Ovidiu Fratila on violin.[17] [edit] Collaborations and groupsAtzmon joined the veteran punk rock band Ian Dury and the Blockheads in 1998, and continued with The Blockheads after Dury's death.[18] He has also recorded and performed with Shane McGowan, Robbie Williams, Sinéad O'Connor, Robert Wyatt and Paul McCartney.[8][13] He has recorded two albums with Robert Wyatt, who describes him as "one of the few musical geniuses I've ever met".[4] 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.[11] Atzmon founded the Orient House Ensemble band in London in the 1990s and is currently touring with them.[13] The band includes Asaf Sirkis on drums, Yaron Stavi on bass and Frank Harrison on keyboard.[13] It has produced five albums in eight years.[19] Robert Wyatt, who has said that Atzmon combines "great artistry with a sense of the intrinsically non-racialist philosophy that's implicit in jazz,"[20] has collaborated with Atzmon and Ros Stephens on an album called '"For the Ghosts Within," to be released in October 2010 on Domino Records.[21][22] Atzmon is on the creative panel of the Global Music Foundation,[8] a non-profit organization formed in December 2004 which runs residential educational and performance workshops and events in different countries around the world.[23] and also offers personal workshops to students.[24] [edit] ReviewsAtzmon 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.[25] Reviews of his 2007 album Refuge included:
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".[28] 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."[4] [edit] AwardsAtzmon was the recipient of the HMV Top Dog Award at the Birmingham International Jazz Festival in 1996'1998.[11] Gilad Atzmon's Exile was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003.[29] [edit] NovelsAtzmon'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] [edit] Writings and activismAtzmon's political writings have been published in CounterPunch,[34] Al-Arab online ,[35] Uruknet,[36] Middle East Online,[37] The Palestine Telegraph,[38] Aljazeera Magazine[39] and Aljazeerah.info.[40] (Note neither is connected with the Al Jazeerah news network). He was a co-founder of and former contributor to the web site Palestine Think Tank.[4][41] Music journalists have commented on the link between Atzmon's jazz and radical politics. Peter Bacon has written that Atzmon reminds us of "the strong link between jazz and the radical politics that are sometimes the only way to ensure its ' and our ' freedom."[42] Chris Searles book entitled Forward Groove: Jazz and the Real World from Louis Armstrong to Gilad Atzmon, which chronicles the development of jazz alongside political protest movements, holds 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."[43][44] Atzmon's activism has included conducting musical fundraisers,[45] contributing to activist publications,[46] and making speaking engagements[47][48] and television appearances.[49][50] Atzmon has defined himself variously as a "secular Jew",[3] a "proud self-hating Jew",[9][51] an "ex-Jew"[52] and "a Hebrew-speaking Palestinian."[3] Atzmon told interviewer Theo Panayides 'I don't write about politics, I write about ethics. I write about Identity. I write a lot about the Jewish Question ' because I was born in the Jew-land, and my whole process in maturing into an adult was involved with the realisation that my people are living on stolen land.' Panayides writes 'Gilad Atzmon radiates a kind of forceful energy, and it's easy to see how it might turn explosive. Besides, he adds, it works both ways: he pushes people and expects ' indeed, wants ' people to push him back.'[9] Atzmon has said that his experience in the military of 'my people destroying other people left a big scar' and led to his decision that he was deluded about Zionism. He has condemned 'Jewishness' as "very much a supremacist, racist tendency". He states that "I don't have anything against Jews in particular and you won't find that in my writings."[3] In articles he has compared Israeli actions to that of the Nazis and has described Israel's policy toward the Palestinians as genocide.[51] David Hirst, in his 2003 book The Gun and the Olive Branch, quotes Atzmon as saying America was 'about to lose its sovereignty...becoming a remote colony of an apparently far greater state, the Jewish state.'[53] In 2009 Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoä�an cited Atzmon's written comment "Israeli barbarity is far beyond even ordinary cruelty" during a debate with Israeli president Shimon Peres.[4] In a 2010 opinion piece 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."[54] Atzmon has not toned down his statements, even though he admits it has lost him performance contracts, especially in the United States.[55] Atzmon has had conflicts with some anti-Zionists who have attempted to stop his performances.[5][56] And he has been defended by various writers and activists.[5][57][58] [edit] Criticisms
Several of Atzmon's statements regarding Jews and Judaism have led to allegations of antisemitism. 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."[59] 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."[60] 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."[56][61] Aaronovitch also criticized Atzmon for circulating an essay by Paul Eisen defending Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel and supporting many aspects of Zündel's Holocaust denial theories. Aaronovitch wrote that Atzmon said he had a "slightly different" view than Eisen, writing "the Holocaust like any other historical narrative is a dynamic process of realisation and interpretation."[56] Atzmon also has said he does not deny the Holocaust or the 'Nazi Judeocide' but insists 'that both the Holocaust and World War II should be treated as historical events rather than as religious myth. . . . But then, even if we accept the Holocaust as the new Anglo-American liberal-democratic religion, we must allow people to be atheists.'[62] In a 2006 opinion piece in The Guardian 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" as an example of Atzmon's "openly anti-Jewish rhetoric."[63][64] In response to a question about this quote from Lenni Brenner, Atzmon replied that he also had written "How is it that people living today feel accountable or chased for a crime committed by their great great ancestors almost 2,000 ago?" and that he meant "I find it astonishing that people today happen to be offended by such accusations."[65] 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.[66] In a 2009 opinion piece for The Guardian, Nick Cohen critizised Atzmon's declaring that "Jewish ideology is driving our planet into a catastrophe" and "the Jewish tribal mindset ' left, centre and right ' sets Jews aside of humanity".[67][68] In his blog for The Times, Oliver Kamm charges Atzmon with antisemitism for his article "Truth, History and Integrity"[69] 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."[70] Atzmon refers to charges of antisemitism as being a "common Zionist silencing apparatus.'[71] Noting that he is a secular Jew married to a Jewish woman and in a band with three Jews, he says: "I never attack Jews, I hardly criticise Judaism ' I never criticise people for their beliefs. But I can criticise conduct."[3] 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."[72] In 2009 Atzmon debated David Aaronovitch and Nick Cohen on the topic of 'Anti-Semitism ' Alive and Well in Europe?' at the 2009 Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival.[47][73][74][75] [edit] Discography
[edit] Books
[edit] References
[edit] External links
This article is based on one or more articles in Wikipedia, with modifications and
additional content by SOURCES editors. This article is covered by a Creative Commons
Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 License (CC-BY-SA) and the GNU Free Documentation License
(GFDL). The remainder of the content of this website, except where otherwise indicated,
is copyright SOURCES and may not be reproduced without written permission.
(For information use the
Contact form.)
SOURCES.COM is an online portal and directory for journalists, news media, researchers and anyone seeking experts, spokespersons, and reliable information resources. Use SOURCES.COM to find experts, media contacts, news releases, background information, scientists, officials, speakers, newsmakers, spokespeople, talk show guests, story ideas, research studies, databases, universities, associations and NGOs, businesses, government spokespeople. Indexing and search applications by Ulli Diemer and Chris DeFreitas. For information about being included in SOURCES as a expert or spokesperson see the FAQ . For partnerships, content and applications, and domain name opportunities contact us. |