The making of an Israeli soundtrack
Op-ed: Artistic detachment from Judaic roots diminishes authenticity of Israel’s arts and inhibits country's cultural development.
Such invocation of Judaic rites – which can clearly be heard in the liturgical harmonies and biblical references and imagery that resonate throughout much of Cohen’s repertoire – is one of the main characteristics that distinguishes the Canadian Jewish bard’s music from not only that of other popular Western singer/songwriters but of, ironically, many of today’s young Israeli songsters.
Because the State of Israel was only established after World War II, when commercialism and consumerism gained its strongest momentum, most of its authentic culture – including its singing, ceremonies, holidays, customs, ethics, social and spiritual ideologies, dress codes and dietary rules – can still only be found in the practice of Judaism. Yet most of the arts and entertainment in Israel have not emerged from its most religious cities, such as Jerusalem or Safed, but from Tel Aviv, its most metropolitan and secular municipality. And while it is very common for the artistic center of a country to coincide with its business center, the existence of a thriving metropolis in a country whose regional culture is still in a fundamental stage of development is highly unusual.
Although globalization has led to a more rapid exchange of ideas and practices, and the spread of American pop culture has to some degree homogenized and de-culturated the arts and entertainment throughout the world, the arts in most countries have retained distinguished aspects of their regional cultures, as these countries are old enough to have developed their distinctive cultures for many centuries.
For the young State of Israel, however, globalization and American pop culture have played a much more prominent role in the development of regional culture. Moreover, the influence of the current version of Western "liberalism," which of late has conveyed an almost obsessive aversion to Zionism, has further distanced many of the artists (and other residents) of Tel Aviv from the notion of reflecting in their works the history and spirituality of their people.
Spirituality, beauty and originality
While the Jewish state is new, the beliefs and customs of the Jewish people, which have been preserved throughout the Diaspora, are ancient. And if one traces the arts back to their origins – be it modern architecture to the pagan temples of the ancient Egyptians; contemporary illustration to the biblical paintings that arose within the Byzantine Empire; cinema to the Greek dramas honoring Dionysus, the medieval passion plays portraying the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, or the kabuki theater of Japan employing the sacred dances performed in reverence of the Buddha; or today’s music to the divination of orated Arabic poetry, the chants and hymns of the Roman Catholic Church, the Psalms of King David, or the ring shouts of African slaves during Voodoo worship that together with the American Negro spirituals formed the foundation of so many genres of popular music during the 20th century – one finds that most, if not all, of the arts, which have functioned in part to try to restore some of the spirituality that has been lost to secularization, are rooted in religious rites. Thus, within Judaism lie the seeds of an artistic culture indigenous to the State of Israel.In another musical documentary, "Jericho’s Echo: Punk Rock in the Holy Land" (Dir. Liz Nord, 2005), which covers the punk rock scene that emerged in Tel Aviv, one of the several interviewed musicians vehemently opposed to the culture of Judaism explains that all of his music is in English, because "in Hebrew it’s ugly, so it’s funny."
While this may be a legitimate argument, it is in no way the full picture; for one can just as legitimately argue that English sounds incredibly awkward when forced into the prayers of the Jewish cantors, or for that matter, into any kind of vocalized music that was not developed in an English-speaking country.
Moreover, there have already existed Israeli songsters, such as the legendary Arik Einstein, whose songs not only evoke the melodic spirit of Jewish liturgy but reinvent popular forms of Western music in ways that allow it to be in perfect harmony with the Hebrew language.
Unlike the many conveyers of pseudo-American pop and rock music, whose already-forgotten songs have rarely provided little more than second-rate imitations of what’s already been done, the artistic repertoires of Leonard Cohen and Arik Einstein – whose recent passing turned the usually festive Hanukkah into a period of national mourning – continue to gain widespread respect and admiration for the spirituality, beauty and originality attained through great pride in the Jewish identity.
In today’s globalized world, anyone with a healthy curiosity and an open mind cannot help but learn from other cultures. But if Israeli artists are to contribute something authentic and admirable to the soundtrack of their country, they need to also incorporate into their work the sounds of their people, whose history is too long and extraordinary to not be heard.
