BBC Radio 3 to celebrate TA centenary

Show to focus on the "heady mix of sin and serious" that Israel's cultural center has on offer.

By MEL BEZALEL
bbc 224.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
bbc 224.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
A program dedicated to Tel Aviv's 100th birthday will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 next Sunday, hosted by Tel Aviv-born music expert and presenter Moshe Morad. Focusing on the "heady mix of sin and serious" that Israel's cultural center has on offer, The State of Tel Aviv episode, part of the "Sunday Feature" slot, follows Morad on a stroll along Tel Aviv's beach as he meets some of the city's local characters, examining their different takes on the city. Morad's journey includes interviews with Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Israel Lau, who views the area as a religious Hebrew city; artist Danny Karavan, who played an instrumental role in getting Tel Aviv recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site; hip hop sensation Subliminal; peace activist Yael Dayan, who celebrates the secular aspect of the city over the religious "extremism" of Jerusalem; and coffee shop owner Sara Stern, who fought in the British army in the 1930s and '40s. Morad also turns to Arab residents of Tel Aviv and Jaffa, looking at the early history of the now bustling cultural hub, and explores some of the city's diverse neighborhoods, such as the White City Bauhaus quarter, the refugee ghetto surrounding the central bus station and the neighboring orthodox and gay areas. The State of Tel Aviv airs at midnight (Israel time) on Sunday, July 12 and can be accessed through BBC iplayer at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer.