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Soundtrack of Arab revolution

One of hottest DJs in Tel Aviv, Muhammad Jabali, brings new modish twist to Arab music, attracting hipsters, young Arabs. 'There is a connection between changes in Arab music to global riots,' he says

In the heart of Jaffa there is a special place. If you happen to be there on a Friday night you can smell the rare odor of joyful coexistence.

 

Every Friday night, DJ Muhammad Jabali plays a new bar at the edge of the old city of Jaffa, exciting an eclectic group of young Jaffa residents, Tel Aviv hipsters, tourists and foreign workers. Just last week they celebrated the downfall of Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president, till the sun came up.

 

"The energy was crazy here," said Jabali. "The only thing missing was that the bar should have been in Cairo."

 

According to Jabali, Cairo and Tel Aviv have grown a little closer this past week.

 

This past year Jabali, 31, became one of the most well known DJs in the Tel Aviv music scene. He DJs regularly at the trendiest musical hotspots in the city – from the Levontin club to the Prozdor. He brings with him a new, modish and sexy sounding Arab music, which also acts as the soundtrack of the revolution.

 

"It reflects the spirit of the time," he explains. "There is a fundamental connection between the progression of Arab music in the past few years to what's going on now in Tunisia and Egypt. Take Ziad Hamdan for example. An amazing guy from Beirut and the most important musical producer of our time.

 

"They filmed his last music video in Alexandria. The lyrics talk about the difficulties of getting food, the need to deal drugs in order to live, the educated people who can't get a job. There is new music and young people who want to fight for a better world. This is the 1968 revolution of the Arab world. A young rock n' roll revolution."

 

As a young liberal and secular man can you understand those who fear this revolution will be exploited by radical Islamists?

 

"For 20 years now they've been feeding us with fear of fundamental Islam, only to discover that young liberals, leftist parties and worker unions are the ones behind the big revolution. Enough already with this fear. It completely ignores this new development," said Jabali.

 

If Jabali sounds less like a DJ and more like an ideological warrior it's not coincidental. During the day he spends his time as the Arab studies manager at Café Yafa, a center for Arab culture in Jaffa. There Jabali also tries to bring the two nations closer together.

 

"Tel Aviv wants to be Berlin or New York, but as of now it's the only western city in the world without an Arab community. In every western city not only is there is an Arab culture center, but there are also Arabs. Tel Aviv specifically and Israel in general are not exposed to what's really going on in the western world," he explains.

 

How do you explain the fact that hipsters, who are considered very closed off, connect to a DJ such as yourself? Do you think you might just be a passing political trend in their eyes?

 

"It's not free of that, but I'm no one's Arab pet and I don't hide my opinions. I would like to see hipsters not only listening to Arab music but actually joining the Jaffa housing conflict, where over 600 families are threatened with evacuation orders and take to the streets to protest the extinction of their culture. It's a dialogue. Tel Aviv must understand that it's a Middle Easten city. Without speaking Arabic, hearing Arabic, with no Arab community – it can't exist."

 

On Thursday night Jabali was the DJ at a party organized by the Lo Nistom (We Won't Shut Up) organization at the Comfort Club in Florentin. The organization is fighting for free speech and against Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's "aggression."

 

"What I've been going through since the beginning of the century is only now reaching the doors of my leftist friends in Israel," he said. "Now they can truly understand my fear. This Liebermanism is really scary, but our mutual activities make him look ridiculous. The connection begins with music, and from there is has to grow."

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.22.11, 14:31
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