Misplaced Pages

Gilad Atzmon: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 00:29, 25 March 2009 view sourceCarolmooredc (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers31,944 edits fix ref;← Previous edit Revision as of 00:35, 25 March 2009 view source Carolmooredc (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers31,944 edits →Politics: proper NPOV, not vs. BLP use of sourcesNext edit →
Line 145: Line 145:
Allegations of antisemitism due to Atzmon's views have come from a variety of quarters in the UK, ranging from commentators such as ] (in a June 2005 '']'' opinion piece)<ref name="aaron628">{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/david_aaronovitch/article538076.ece|title=How did the far Left manage to slip into bed with the Jew-hating Right?|last=Aaronovitch|first=David|date=June 28, 2005|work=]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref> and ] (in a November 2006 blog on ''The Guardian'''s ] website,<ref name=hirsh301106>David Hirsh, , '']'', November 30, 2006.</ref> which allowed Atzmon a response<ref>''Gilad Atzmon'', ''The Guardian'' 12 December 2006, </ref>) to the ], which asked for the ] to withdraw an invitation to Atzmon to speak at the ''Marxism 2005'' conference.<ref name=Rizzo/> Atzmon responded in a letter to '']'' that he did not "justify any form of violence against Jews, Jewish interests or any innocent people." He explained the context of his comment as "debating the question of rationality of anti-semitism. I claimed that since Israel presents itself as the 'state of the Jewish people', and bearing in mind the atrocities committed by the Jewish state against the Palestinians, any form of anti-Jewish activity may be seen as political retaliation. This does not make it right."<ref>, '']'', April 24, 2005.</ref> The Socialist Workers Party has since distanced itself from Atzmon.<ref name=Lewis/> Allegations of antisemitism due to Atzmon's views have come from a variety of quarters in the UK, ranging from commentators such as ] (in a June 2005 '']'' opinion piece)<ref name="aaron628">{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/david_aaronovitch/article538076.ece|title=How did the far Left manage to slip into bed with the Jew-hating Right?|last=Aaronovitch|first=David|date=June 28, 2005|work=]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref> and ] (in a November 2006 blog on ''The Guardian'''s ] website,<ref name=hirsh301106>David Hirsh, , '']'', November 30, 2006.</ref> which allowed Atzmon a response<ref>''Gilad Atzmon'', ''The Guardian'' 12 December 2006, </ref>) to the ], which asked for the ] to withdraw an invitation to Atzmon to speak at the ''Marxism 2005'' conference.<ref name=Rizzo/> Atzmon responded in a letter to '']'' that he did not "justify any form of violence against Jews, Jewish interests or any innocent people." He explained the context of his comment as "debating the question of rationality of anti-semitism. I claimed that since Israel presents itself as the 'state of the Jewish people', and bearing in mind the atrocities committed by the Jewish state against the Palestinians, any form of anti-Jewish activity may be seen as political retaliation. This does not make it right."<ref>, '']'', April 24, 2005.</ref> The Socialist Workers Party has since distanced itself from Atzmon.<ref name=Lewis/>


The ] complained when Atzmon spoke at a 2007 seminar in Stockholm, at the invitation of the Christian Social Democrats: "It is of course legitimate to criticize Israel's politics, but democratic forces need to react when debate about the Middle East is used to legitimize the hatred of Jews." The CSD responded by saying: "Gilad Atzmon is himself a Jew, and when the Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism starts calling Jews anti-Semites there is a risk that they undermine the term anti-Semite and do the fight against anti-Semitism a disservice."<ref name=local327>, , March 23, 2007.</ref> Atzmon has also been criticized for saying that the Jews killed ].<ref name="paul1112"/><ref name=onanti>{{cite web|url=http://www.gilad.co.uk/html%20files/onanti.html|title=On Anti-Semitism|last=Atzmon|first=Gilad|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref> The ] complained when Atzmon spoke at a 2007 seminar in Stockholm, at the invitation of the Christian Social Democrats: "It is of course legitimate to criticize Israel's politics, but democratic forces need to react when debate about the Middle East is used to legitimize the hatred of Jews." The CSD responded by saying: "Gilad Atzmon is himself a Jew, and when the Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism starts calling Jews anti-Semites there is a risk that they undermine the term anti-Semite and do the fight against anti-Semitism a disservice."<ref name=local327>, , March 23, 2007.</ref> The ] has criticized Atzmon for saying that the Jews of 2000 years ago "were responsible for the killing of ]"<ref name="paul1112"/> in his article "On Anti-Semitism."<ref name=onanti>{{cite web|url=http://www.gilad.co.uk/html%20files/onanti.html|title=On Anti-Semitism|last=Atzmon|first=Gilad|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref>


==Discography== ==Discography==

Revision as of 00:35, 25 March 2009

This article is actively undergoing a major edit for 90 minutes to go through sources. To help avoid edit conflicts, please do not edit this page while this message is displayed.
This page was last edited at 00:35, 25 March 2009 (UTC) (15 years ago) – this estimate is cached, update. Please remove this template if this page hasn't been edited for a significant time. If you are the editor who added this template, please be sure to remove it or replace it with {{Under construction}} between editing sessions.
This article may be unbalanced toward certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (March 2009)
The article's lead section may need to be rewritten. Please help improve the lead and read the lead layout guide. (March 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article's factual accuracy is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced. (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Gilad Atzmon
גלעד עצמון
Gilad Atzmon
BornGilad Atzmon
(1963-06-09) June 9, 1963 (age 61)
Tel Aviv, Israel
NationalityIsraeli and British
EducationRubin Academy of Music
OccupationMusician
Known forMusician, Israel-related political activism
Websitewww.gilad.co.uk

Gilad Atzmon (Template:Lang-he, born June 9, 1963, Israel) is an Israeli-born British jazz musician, and is known as an author and activist who is critical of both Zionism and Judaism for "supremacist, racist" tendencies. His album Exile was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003, and he has been described as "one of London's finest saxophonists". Playing over 100 dates a year, he has been called "surely the hardest-gigging man in British jazz". His albums, of which he has recorded nine to date, often explore political themes and the music of the Middle East. He has also written two novels, which have been translated into over 20 languages.

Early life

He was born a secular Israeli Jew in Tel Aviv, and trained at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem. His service as a paramedic in the Israeli military during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon caused him reach the conclusion that "I was part of a colonial state, the result of plundering and ethnic cleansing."

Atzmon 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.” He was inspired to become a jazz musician by the work of Charlie Parker, in particular Charlie Parker with Strings, recorded with a string section 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."

In 1994, Atzmon emigrated from Israel to London, where he studied philosophy, and has lived there since, becoming a British citizen in 2002.

Music

While Atzmon's main instrument is the alto saxophone, he also plays soprano, tenor and baritone saxophones and clarinet, sol, zurna and flute. 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. Atzmon sometimes plays the alto and soprano sax simultaneously.

Atzmon's works have also explored the music of the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. He draws on Arabic music (which unlike Western music needs to be internalised - "there is no way to write Arabic music") to emphasise "reverting to the primacy of the ear", encouraging students to sing jazz and bebop lines before picking up their instruments. "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 differ from his live shows. Atzom told The Guardian that this is "very deliberate. 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."

Atzmon has fused his roles as a critic of Judaism and musician by creating the character Artie Fishel, on the album Artie Fishel & the Promised Band. 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. Other artists include vocalist Guillermo Rozenthuler, Koby Israelite on vocals and accordion, and Ovidiu Fratila on violin.

Collaborations and groups

Atzmon is a member of the veteran punk rock band The Blockheads, having joined when Ian Dury was still performing with them. He has also recorded and performed with Shane McGowan, Robbie Williams, Sinéad O'Connor, Robert Wyatt and Paul McCartney. He has recorded two albums with Robert Wyatt, who describes him as "one of the few musical geniuses I've ever met".

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.

Atzmon founded the Orient House Ensemble band in London in the 1990s and is currently touring with them. The band includes Asaf Sirkis on drums, Yaron Stavi on bass and Frank Harrison on keyboard. It has produced five albums in eight years.

Atzmon is on the creative panel of the Global Music Foundation, a non-profit organization formed in December 2004 which runs residential educational and performance workshops and events in different countries around the world., and also offers personal workshops to students.

Reviews

Atzmon 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. Reviews of his 2007 album Refuge included:

Manchester Evening News: The individuality of the music is extraordinary. No one is more willing to serve his music with raw political passion, and that curious cantor-like tone on clarinet is immediately arresting, like Artie Shaw writhing in his death throes.
EjazzNews: "For sheer improvisational fireworks, quirky humour and genre-defying invention, one will be hard-pressed to find a bandleader as unique as Gilad Atzmon." ("EjazzNews," September 2008)
BBC: "...the OHE is finding its voice in an increasingly subtle blend of East and West, that’s brutal and beautiful."

In November 2008 Chris Searle launched his book Forward Groove: Jazz and the Real World from Louis Armstrong to Gilad Atzmon at the London Jazz Festival. It "chronicles the development of jazz and its great exponents" alongside social developments and political protest movements. The reviewer noted 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.”

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".

While John Lewis praises much of Atzmon's work, he notes that "trenchant politics often sit uneasily alongside music, particularly when that music is instrumental." "Only one of his albums has been truly bad—his 2006 comedy klezmer project, Artie Fishel and the Promised Band, a clumsy satire on what he regards as the artificial nature of Jewish identity politics—but even his best albums have a slightly tame, homogenous feel that shares little with his blistering live performances."

Awards

Atzmon was the recipient of the HMV Top Dog Award at the Birmingham International Jazz Festival in 1996–1998. Gilad Atzmon's Exile was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003.

Novels

Atzmon'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. The novel deals with the commercialization of the Holocaust - the central character's grandfather warns him "There no business like Shoah business." - 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." The central character's "bizarre escapades through the tangled nature of political and military bureaucracies" have been called "worthy of Joseph Heller", the book as a whole has been described as a "vividly written satire, infused with a ribald sense of humor and an unsparing critique of the incendiary political cauldron of the Mideast." Equally, it has been called "viciously black satire on Israeli life... grandiose, childish and nasty". The original Hebrew version was a candidate for Israel's 2003 Geffen Award for science fiction.

His 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. The book is a psychological and political commentary which explores the "personal conflict between being true to one’s heart and being loyal to 'The Jews.'" The book makes fun of leading Zionist historical figures and incidents.

Politics

John Lewis, writing in The Guardian, said "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." Whilst much of Atzmon's activism is directed specifically at the behaviour of Israel, some speaks more broadly to the role of Jews in the world and in supporting Israel, and he has often been accused of antisemitism and holocaust denial. Atzmon, noting that he is a secular Jew married to a Jewish woman and in a band with three Jews, rejects the charge. "Let's get some things very clear. I never attack Jews, I hardly criticise Judaism – I never criticise people for their beliefs. But I can criticise conduct."

Atzmon has made his political views known in a variety of ways, includng talks and publications, and his own website. Publications in which Atzmon's political writings have appeared include CounterPunch, Al Jazeera, Uruknet, Middle East On Line, Dissident Voice, and Atlantic Free Press. Many of his published papers are available on his personal website. He is a co-founder of and contributor to the web site Palestine Think Tank, established in May 2008, aiming "to educate those who don't know what Zionism is so that they are able to see how damaging it is and how it is a just cause to stop it".

Broadly, Atzmon is opposed to Zionism, and supports the Palestinian Right of Return as well as the establishment of a single state in Israel/Palestine.

In early 2009 Atzmon explained that during his time in the Israeli military he saw the "scale of the atrocities that are committed on my behalf by the Israelis in the name of the Israeli state, with the support of the Jewish people around the world." He criticized Israel "threatening the entire region with their idiotic nuclear bombs" and said "I think Jewish ideology is driving our planet into a catastrophe." He added "I'm anti-Jewish, not anti-Jews." He also called himself a "proud self-hating Jew", comparing himself with Spinoza, Marx and Jesus: "Why? Because of growing up in this kind of racist, nationalist, tribalist, chauvinist, supremacist society - and this is exactly what they stood up against." He quotes a Jewish philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas as saying: "Now we must be at the forefront of the fight against racism. We must make sure this never happens again." He has said that the state of Israel "should be dismantled immediately before they turn our planet into a fireball." Perhaps most controversially, Atzmon has argued that Israel is more evil than Hitler's Germany, because Hitler sought, according to Atzmon, rational objectives (conquering other countries for Lebensraum), while Atzmon alleges that Israel seeks to destroy its neighbors. he also states that he believes "Jewish ideology and Nazi ideology were very similar." In Atzmon's view, Neoconservatism is a "Jewish political strategy" and "Bush behaved Jewishly - he is a supremacist, he was a tribalist, but he is not a Jew as far as I'm aware." Regarding the credit crisis Atzmon stated "I don't think it was a credit crunch, I think it was a Zionist punch."

Allegations of antisemitism due to Atzmon's views have come from a variety of quarters in the UK, ranging from commentators such as David Aaronovitch (in a June 2005 The Times opinion piece) and David Hirsh (in a November 2006 blog on The Guardian's Comment is Free website, which allowed Atzmon a response) to the Jews Against Zionism, which asked for the Socialist Workers Party to withdraw an invitation to Atzmon to speak at the Marxism 2005 conference. Atzmon responded in a letter to The Observer that he did not "justify any form of violence against Jews, Jewish interests or any innocent people." He explained the context of his comment as "debating the question of rationality of anti-semitism. I claimed that since Israel presents itself as the 'state of the Jewish people', and bearing in mind the atrocities committed by the Jewish state against the Palestinians, any form of anti-Jewish activity may be seen as political retaliation. This does not make it right." The Socialist Workers Party has since distanced itself from Atzmon.

The Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism complained when Atzmon spoke at a 2007 seminar in Stockholm, at the invitation of the Christian Social Democrats: "It is of course legitimate to criticize Israel's politics, but democratic forces need to react when debate about the Middle East is used to legitimize the hatred of Jews." The CSD responded by saying: "Gilad Atzmon is himself a Jew, and when the Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism starts calling Jews anti-Semites there is a risk that they undermine the term anti-Semite and do the fight against anti-Semitism a disservice." The Jerusalem Post has criticized Atzmon for saying that the Jews of 2000 years ago "were responsible for the killing of Jesus" in his article "On Anti-Semitism."

Discography

  • "In loving memory of America" - Label: Enja - January 2009
  • Refuge - Label: Enja - October 2007
  • Artie Fishel and the Promised Band - Label: WMD - September 2006
  • MusiK - Label: Enja - October 2004
  • Exile - Label: Enja - March 2004
  • Nostalgico - Label: Enja - January 2001
  • Gilad Atzmon &The Orient House Ensemble - Label: Enja - 2000
  • Juizz Muzic- Label: FruitBeard - 1999
  • Take it or Leave It - Label: Face Jazz - 1999
  • Spiel- Both Sides - Label: MCI - 1995
  • Spiel Acid Jazz Band- Label: MCI - 1995
  • Spiel- Label: In Acoustic&H.M. Acoustica - 1993

Books

  • A guide to the perplexed, English translation by Philip Simpson. London : Serpent's Tail, 2002. ISBN 1852428260
  • My one and only love. London : Saqi, 2005. ISBN 0863565077 (pbk.). ISBN 9780863565076 (pbk.)

References

  1. ^ St. Clair, Jeffery (July 19, 2003). "You Must Leave Home, Again: Gilad Atzmon's "A Guide to the Perplexed"". CounterPunch. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  2. ^ Gilchrist, Jim (22 February 2008). "'I thought music could heal the wounds of the past. I may have got that wrong'". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
  3. ^ Gilad Atzmon, How jazz got hot again, The Telegraph, October 13, 2005.
  4. ^ "Manic beat preacher" interview with John Lewis, The Guardian, March 6, 2009.
  5. The Times, 6 March 2009, Gilad Atzmon: In Loving Memory of America
  6. ^ Gibson, Martin (23 January 2009). "No choice but to speak out - Israeli musician 'a proud self-hating Jew'". Gisborne Herald. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
  7. ^ "Gilad Atzmon". People. Global Music Foundation. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  8. ^ "Profile - Gilad Atzmon". Rainlore's World of Music. March 21, 2003. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  9. ^ Atzmon, Gilad (2007). "GILAD ATZMON - MUSICIAN, COMPOSER, PRODUCER, EDUCATOR, WRITER". Gilad Atzmon. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  10. Shackleton, Kathryn (October 16, 2006). "Gilad Atzmon: Artie Fishel And The Promised Band". BBC. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  11. Atzmon, Gilad (2007). "ARTIE FISHEL & THE PROMISED BAND". Gilad Atzmon. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  12. Gilad Atzmon, Not Strictly Kosher, Jazzwise, January 17, 2007.
  13. Mixing it feature, BBC Radio, October 6, 2006.
  14. ^ Kathryn Shackleton, Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble, Refuge, BBC, October 1, 2007.
  15. "About GMF". Global Music Foundation. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  16. Atzmon, Gilad (2007). "MUSIC EDUCATION". Gilad Atzmon. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  17. Gilad Atzmon web site.
  18. Alan Brownlee, Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble - Refuge (Enja), Manchester Evening News, August 30, 2007.
  19. John Stevenson, Gilad Atzmon liberates the Americans: Orient House Ensemble, Ronnie Scott’s London, August 30th 2008, EJazzNews.com, September 01, 2008.
  20. Ian Soutar, Former head chronicles a passion for jazz and justice, Sheffield Telegraph, November 14, 2008.
  21. John Fordham, Gilad Atzmon: In Loving Memory of America, The Guardian, February 27, 2009.
  22. Matthew Reisz, The Independent, 7 Decmber 2002, A crude - and rude - assault on Israel misfires
  23. "Locus online;The Geffen Awards". Retrieved 2007-01-24.
  24. Sholto Byrnes,, The Independent, 25 March 2005, Talking Jazz
  25. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/nov/30/anewmenacingcurrentisappe The Guardian: David Hirsh, Openly embracing prejudice]
  26. Gilad Atzmon, 28 August 2003, Collective Self-Deception: The Most Common Mistakes of Israelis
  27. Politiks at Gilad Atzmon web site.
  28. About PalestineThinkTank.com page.
  29. ^ Mary Rizzo, The Gag Artists, Who's Afraid of Gilad Atzmon?, CounterPunch, June 17, 2005
  30. ^ Paul, Jonny (November 12, 2008). "Israeli ambassador speaks at UK university despite pressure to cancel". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
  31. Atzmon in Al Jazeera
  32. Aaronovitch, David (June 28, 2005). "How did the far Left manage to slip into bed with the Jew-hating Right?". The Times. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
  33. David Hirsh, Openly embracing prejudice, The Guardian, November 30, 2006.
  34. Gilad Atzmon, The Guardian 12 December 2006, A response to David Hirsh
  35. Observer Letters to the Editor, The Guardian, April 24, 2005.
  36. Social Democrats invited known anti-Semite to seminar, The Local, March 23, 2007.
  37. Atzmon, Gilad. "On Anti-Semitism". Retrieved 2009-03-21.

External links


Template:Persondata {{subst:#if:Atzmon, Gilad|}} [[Category:{{subst:#switch:{{subst:uc:1963}} 

|| UNKNOWN | MISSING = Year of birth missing {{subst:#switch:{{subst:uc:LIVING}}||LIVING=(living people)}}
| #default = 1963 births

}}]] {{subst:#switch:{{subst:uc:LIVING}} 

|| LIVING  = 
| MISSING  = 
| UNKNOWN  = 
| #default =

}}

Categories: