Music Beyond The Front Lines

Unexpectedly, thousands of brave fans in Arab countries love this Israeli band.

By KSENIA SVETLOVA
Religions 521 (photo credit: PR)
Religions 521
(photo credit: PR)
Thousands of mouths whisper the words in Hebrew along with the band on stage. The lead singer takes a dramatic pause, and the crowd begins chanting It’s a bit surreal; the concert takes place in Ankara, the fans come from Turkey, Bahrain, Iran and Dubai, and the band is the Israeli Orphaned Land. The sounds of ethnic metal – the unlikely mix of heavy metal and Middle Eastern rhythms, Jewish hymns, and Arabic vocals – seem to be the “it” thing in the Middle East today. Many loyal fans came to Ankara from all across the region, from Tehran to Egypt, and the tickets quickly sold out.
While hundreds of young Egyptians have called to boycott Shakira for visiting the Jewish state, thousands of others – Turks, Bahrainis, Tunisians, Iranians and Egyptians – are daring to defy suspicion, fear and hatred.
As it turns out, Israeli-made music often attracts unexpected fans.
Not many can actually show up for a concert in Turkey or in Europe, but watching a YouTube video of Idan Raichel, Sarit Haddad or Bezalel Raviv is easy even if you live in Kuwait or Tunisia. The recent wave of Facebook- and Twitter- inspired revolutions in the Arab world has proven that it’s impossible to control the flow of information. Apparently it’s impossible to control the music stream, too.
IT’S NOT a secret that Israel and everything that has to do with it is considered taboo in Arab countries, even those that signed peace treaties with it decades ago. In Egypt, major trade unions and many civil society organizations maintain a severe boycott of Israel, its goods, and its performers.
Naturally, Israeli singers are not invited to most prestigious musical festivals in the region. Haddad, who has performed in Jordan, and Zahava Ben, one of the most popular singers among the Palestinians, have expressed their wish to sing in Beirut, Gaza or Cairo on many occasions. However, the shaky political situation has not permitted such occurrences.
“I wish that Orphaned Land could come and perform in Iran,” says Meni, a long-bearded Iranian fan of the heavy metal band. Yes, he knows that Kobi Farhi and his pals are Israeli, and he doesn’t have a problem with that. “Iranian people don’t hate Israel; it’s only the official line. Anyway, music is always music. We don’t have to mix it with politics,” he says.
Maybe so, but being a fan of an Israeli metal band in Iran or Egypt still demands an outstanding measure of courage, and audacity.
“Our fans are amazing. They were taught to hate Jews and Israelis all their lives. They are very brave people, obviously. They are my hope for a better tomorrow, my hope that my children and their children will not have to serve in the army when their time comes,” says Farhi, the force behind Orphaned Land.
During the first weekend of the Cairo revolution, I met Ahmad, a fan of the band, at Tahrir Square while covering the mass demonstrations there. This student of Cairo University had every possible heavy metal accessory on him, and I just had to ask. The young man told me he was very fond of Orphaned Land, which he’d first encountered on a popular Egyptian heavy metal discussion forum. He was fully aware that the group was from Israel and didn’t mind at all; however, he was reluctant to be interviewed by Israeli media.
“Who knows what will happen next in Egypt? I fear for my family, not for myself,” he explained.
Thousands of Middle Eastern fans continue to follow their idols to concerts in Ankara and Germany.
Why are they drawn so much to this particular group? The fans from Bahrain, Egypt and Dubai have the answer ready.
“This band is like no other. They speak about our problems here in the region: wars and death and bombings. That’s something that is common to all of us,” says Nabeel from Bahrain. Just a quick glance at the Orphaned Land page shows that in times of the worst crisis between Israel and Turkey, the fans from the two countries exchanged their different impressions about songs and sounds.
The Jaffa-born Farhi says that’s just the magic of the music. “Music is much more powerful than politics.
You and your worst enemy might like the same song without even knowing it, and when you find out that you do – there is a place for dialogue and understanding. We are just musicians, but it seems to me that our political achievements on the ground are more significant than those of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he smiles.
DESPITE increasing Arab fans, Karam Khuri, music and art editor for the Arab Israeli newspaper Panorama, believes there is a long way to go before Israeli music can achieve major popularity in the Arab world and vice versa.
“Sarit Haddad and Zahava Ben are really popular among Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, mostly among young Hebrew speakers. As for other Arab countries, not many are familiar with Israeli music, nor do they wish to get to know it.”
Might Haddad, Ben, Golan or Farhi be able to travel one day to Cairo, Amman or Ramallah to meet fans and perform on Arab stages as they wish to? What are the chances that Israeli performers will participate in Lebanese, Tunisian and Egyptian music festivals? Today, when the word “Israel” is mostly associated with war, rather than with arts, this scenario seems as likely as finding a well in the Sahara sands.
For now, a computer and a pair of headphones will have to do the trick for loyal fans of Israeli music on the other side of the front lines.