Culture  Music
Yehoram Gaon: Mizrahi music is 'garbage'
Ynet
Published: 10.03.11, 07:52
Comment Comment
Print comment Print comment
Back to article
22 Talkbacks for this article
1. music for the arseem
Avi ,   Israel   (03.10.11)
2. Yoram Gaon
Moise Dupond ,   Marseilles,France   (03.10.11)
Another Sepharade ashame of his origin who would give his ass to be an Ashkenaze. Sorry Gaon even though you can wash yourself your entire life you'll only be a Sepharade. Better accept it this way and love the Sepharade music because even the Ashkenaze don't have an equivalent of couscous. Proud to be a Sepharade .
3. Rap Music
Chaya ,   Tel Aviv   (03.10.11)
Like the rap music put out by some guy who thinks he has 'the gift,' some of these Mizrachi singers do put out garbage. And radio stations are afraid to turn them down for fear of being called 'racist.'
4. Mizrachi Music is Garbage !
Miriam oelke ,   Tel Aviv   (03.10.11)
I couldn't agree more: The music is garbage when you listen to the words which are basically the same in almost every song anyway. But some listeners don't like to think and prefer a primitve music style !
5. and he is right!
Krzysztof ,   Warsaw, Poland   (03.10.11)
6. Yoram gaon
ester ,   melba   (03.10.11)
Gaon..... this is the absolutely truth, rubish of music
7. he is correct-and i still love it and listen to it
svietka from shomron   (03.10.11)
i m not safardik, nor do i have to be pc -but i do love it-the happy kind, not naggi(she-left me-i want to die-kind). It is called yam-tihoni-and most of us-ashkenazim included listen to it all the time-on radio, in cars, we demand to have it at weddings cause it is perfect for dancing. The words r usually same and very very simple-who cares-the beat is right and most ppl think rap and hip-hop is garbage(and again it is true) but still lots of whites love it and if they dont-they r not called racist. Music has nothing to do with opinion-or u love it or u dont, or u connect to it or u dont...u can be from mars!
8. #2: Moise Dupont from France
Israeli 2   (03.10.11)
How demeaning it is for YOU to be a Sepharde. You wrote: "Sorry Gaon even though you can wash yourself your entire life you'll ONLY be a Sepharade." You have a very big inferiority complex as do the rest of you with all the garbage Mizrahi music. Gaon is Gaon! You will never be Gaon.
9. Gaon has past his sell-by date
Talula ,   Israel   (03.10.11)
It's the only way he can get any attention - after all, even negative press is still press. If he doesn't like Mizrahi music, then he doesn't have to listen to it - but don't knock what half the population loves to listen to. Personally, I wouldn't buy it, but I love hearing it when I'm out and about in Tel Aviv - it adds atmosphere.
10. ???? what is the big noise, wait until you
ghostq   (03.10.11)
will hear the "sound" of turbo Folk, than only than you will discover the true horor of bad music.
11. Mizrachi Music= Dicaon Musik
Avram Goldsmith ,   Torronto, Canada   (03.10.11)
This formula is very old, even Yossi Banai which was very much influenced by French Chansson decleare 25 years ago the same but in allusion, look like music in Israel was stuck in some medieval era, and the most shocking in unablilty to develope in this " culture " enviorenment ( if not Russian Influence ) realy good music.
12. Gaon means genius
Wade ,   NYC USA   (03.10.11)
and he was a musical genius, the best Israeli male vocalist of his era. Of course it's my subjective opinion, but it was shared by many. I think he was giving a sincere critique and I respect his reaction. He is a very proud Sephardi Jew, having recorded songs in Judeo-Espanol (Ladino). He just appreciates Avihu Medina more than the newer stuff. It's his right to express his preferences.
13. Hate going to wedding because of garbage music
Mark ,   Maale Adumim, Israel   (03.10.11)
Meaningless, stupid words. Repeating melodies. Singers with no voices with exaggerated sweetness and "silsulim" cause nausea. Funny, but I would rather go to a weddings of religious families (being secular myself) - they usually do not allow this filth.
14. Dude wouldn't last a minute in the US
EZ ,   US   (03.11.11)
Who is this fool? Charlie Sheens clone!? All Israelis should permenantly boycott this arrogant putz and be done with it/him. What a knuckle dragged talking like this about fellow Israelis. Shame on him. His career should TANK! Pathetic!
15. Yoram Gaon
Lou ,   Rishon le-Zion   (03.11.11)
Why do the Mizrahi people get so angry. I'm English speaking and I think that the English songs today are awful, not like the 50's and 60's. I think the words sung in English songs today are terrible. They don't make sense, so please Mizrahi people, try to understand Yoram Gaon. He knows what he is speaking about. Don't have a chip on your sholder. Remember, appreciate him, he has sung some very beautiful Hebrew songs.
16. Mizrachi Music is a matter of Taste
Shimon Z. Klein ,   Israel   (03.11.11)
Yoraml Gaon is right. The fact that Mizrachi has not made it beyond the borders of Israel speaks for itself. There is no accounting for taste. The trouble is that it is expected that one must love this music in Israel otherwise one may be viewed as unpatriotic. Many of us feel that we are suffering from an overdose of it. Much of this noisy electronic garbage is of a pathetic standard and the product of performers with an inferiority complex because of their roots.
17. Holy Sephardi Music
Susan ,   Tel Aviv, Israel   (03.11.11)
When I came to Israel in the 1960's I was awed by the beauty of Gaon's music. The beautiful melodies of Sfarad were the songs of Jews who were steeped in Torah. The music of today is steeped in Tumah. Just listen to the words of both genre. Listen for yourselves and hear the melodies of Gaon's songs for Shabbat and compare with the others. The songs of Jews never were about a man crying "you left me". We were a holy nation.
18. Clarification from all tbers
Mizrahi   (03.11.11)
Is Gaon criticizing musicians like Eyal Golan, Zohar Argov, Sarit Haddad, etc...? If yes, then I beg to differ. If he is criticizing what the genre is today, fine. However, to state that Mizrahi music (all of it) is garbage is wrong. When you state Gaon has a right to criticize Mizrahim you are wrong. If Gaon identifies as a Sephardic but denigrates Mizrahim then he demonstrates the complex. Mizrahi means easterner. Is Gaon a Yemenite Jew? A Persian? A Babylonian Jew? A Masri Jew? A North African Jew who did not come from Spain (therefore not Sephardic)? If not, then his criticism is edgy as he is not a Mizrahi if he narrowly defines Sephardics as Jews who have history in Spain. Today, all Sephardics are identified as Mizrahim, however, all Mizrahim are NOT Sephardics. Glad to see that Gaon picks on the weakest of our population. Historically and to some extent today the Yemenites and inferior "Arab" speaking Jews are no comparison to the Ladinos and Yidds. Then again, Moses himself never spoke Yiddish or Ladino, neither King David for that matter. As a part Mizrahi part Ashkenazi I see any person who divides Jews, as a waste to the community. We are all Jews, no matter what peoples we mixed with over the generations. Like I stated, if Gaon is criticizing a subgroup of the Mizrahi genre, that is fine, but to place the whole as garbage is racist, and him being non-Ashkenazi does not make it unracist. Those who identify as exclusively Sephardic and see themselves as different from Persian Jews, Yemenite Jews, Ethnic North African Jews, etc... Are the real traitors to Judaism, and it was this behaviour of assimilation that led to the apathy within our own community during the holocaust. G-d praise all the Eastern (Mizrahi) prophets and kings of the Jewish nation, to which all Mizrahim, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi venerate and owe their existence to.
19. #2 Moise
Yossef   (03.11.11)
Not all sephardic music is good, and there is a lot of garbage, yeap. It is especially clear when it invades you, coming from a car passing at high speed in front of your open windows, with the CD reader at full volume. May be it is better sometimes to live windows closed, even in Israel. BTW there are good sephardic, or more generally good ethnic music.
20. #18 You got my vote :)
Yossef   (03.11.11)
21. this yehudi ashkenazi enjoys mizrachi music
al-kafir al-yahudi ,   usa   (03.11.11)
22. Mizrahi music
Joe Charlap ,   Mevasseret Zion   (03.12.11)
I am Ashkenazi and no lover of Mizrahi music but how dare Yoram Gaon come out and judge Mizrahi music in those terms. It may not be his taste but a lot of people like it and he has no right to call it garbage. He owes an apology to the sector of the population that does like that music.
Back to article