Israel

Musical Melting Pot


Like many countries, Israel views music as a prominent national identifier--the different sounds from different cultures blend together, creating a distinct Israeli sound.

Solely Hebrew songs created a foundation for Israeli music. Jewish immigrants who traveled to Israel brought sounds from Russia, Asian countries and Middle Eastern countries.

Russian immigrants brought with them folksy sounds with instruments like the accordion and string guitar. Eastern European countries like Poland brought over more sounds, and Israelis would keep the folk sounds but translate the words to Hebrew.

Middle Eastern countries introduced oriental sounds with the oud and kanun instruments, while combining them with existing Israeli instruments. This created a whole new hybrid of European, Middle Eastern and traditional Israeli sounds.

It wasn't until the late 1960s that Israeli music began to integrate with other countries. Israeli rock and underground bands gained popularity in the country and started playing over the radio. Israeli musicians began touring Europe and musicians from other countries came to tour in Israel.

This further influenced Israeli music, and a sense of national identity was lost in the country's newest mixtures of sound.

During this time, rock became the staple musical style of Israel. One of the most recognized Israeli rockers is Shalom Hanoch.

The other popular musical style of Israel is dance music, which didn't gain popularity until the 1980s. Dance music of Israel is basically a combination of pop (influenced by American and European musicians) and rock.

Rita


One of the most famous singers in Israel, Rita was born in Iran and sings the majority of her songs in Persian.

After gaining musical popularity in the 1980s, Rita helped propel the pop music movement in Israel. In her first years as a musician, Rita released both Persian language albums and even an English language album titled Breaking Those Walls.

By 1988 and 1989, Rita was awarded Singer of the Year and became known as Israel's most popular singer.

In addition to being a singer, Rita is also known in Israel as a talented actress. She got her start performing in theatre productions of My Fair Lady and Chicago.

In 2006, the singer put on a musical show that ran for a month. The show, called One, was an exuberant production that including many special effects, dancers and acrobats.

In many of her more recent albums, Rita abandons some of her pop/dance sounds and has incorporated more folk and other traditional sounds, gaining her popularity in Iran where pop music is prohibited.

Recently, Rita released an album called All My Joys, which is sung in Persian and is widely popular in both Israel and Iran. This past year, the singer performed at the U.N. General Assembly.