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Folk Dance Federation of California, South, Inc.
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In 1948 the United Nations voted the State of Israel into existence. However, this was not the birth of Israeli music and dance because it is older than the United Nations vote.
The origins of Israeli music and dance are rooted in many widely divergent traditions spanning the entire Earth. From Palestine we have the Jews who were never part of the Diaspora such as the Samaritans. Their music has absorbed a great deal of Arabic influence since the 7th century conquest. From Eastern Europe, Orthodox Jews started arriving form Russian-held lands so they could pray for other Jews and not have to burrow under ground to Zion on Judgement Day. The burrowing was a belief widely held by Eastern European Orthodox Jews. They thought that the dead would be resurrected in their coffins and then burrow all the way to the Holy Land on the Day of Judgement. Later on, Jews started arriving from Europe and the Middle East. In this century, Jews have come from Iran, Arab countries, Turkey, India, Central Asia, Yemen, Mexico, China, Greece, the Balkans, and other lands. Each group of immigrants brought its own traditions of music and dance. Each of these groups has had a notable influence on Israeli music and dance.
The earliest music we can definitely identify as being "Israeli" rather than being just foreign tunes in a new place are the songs of the Chalutzim (Pioneers). Most of the Chalutzim came from Central and Eastern Europe and often included some of the Orthodox who wanted more than simply praying for pay. The result was mostly music with a strong Russian flavor with some Arabic spice mixed into it. Sometimes a tune was a modified Russian tune or was from the Hassidic tradition (which often has a vague Oriental overtone). Such a tune is the well-known Hava Nagila. It is in the Arab Maqam Hijaz and the Turco-Arabic rhythm of duyek – Turkish from Persian do-yek (two-one) but with a melody pattern that is distinctly Eastern European Jewish. It is thought to be 16th century Polish Jewish from the early Hassidic tradition.
Old Sephardic tunes are part of the current tradition and have been incorporated into Israeli music. Such tunes are Los Biblicos (the nightingale) and Cuando El Rey Nimrod (whence came the King). Both are Medieval Spanish tunes from about the 14th century with Ladino words. Los Bibilicos has been appropriated and the words replaced, reappearing as Tsur Mishelo, a song in Hebrew as one example of assimilation.
The Yemenite influences are strong, mostly in the exotic Southern Arabian Peninsular rhythm and the dance styles. Arabic and Persian influence shows for the simple reason that over half of Israel's population is of Arabic origin (primarily Egypt, Iraq, and Syria). They were driven out by anti-Jewish Arab governments who simply deported them without citizenship papers. Many came to Israel for refuge, bringing their Arab-based music with them.
Other influence often came from simply stealing tunes and claiming them as original. This tradition of plagiarism is a well-respected tradition in the Eastern Mediterranean countries and so is not a strictly Israeli characteristic. Once a well-known Israeli dance teacher came to The Intersection folk dance coffeehouse in Los Angeles with a record of the latest popular Israeli dance tunes. He put it on the turntable and Athan Karras and I heard some interesting renditions of old Greek hasapikos and hasaposervikos from the 1930 era, The teacher was somewhat shocked to discover we knew the tunes and could sing along with these "new" songs. In fact, once I found an old American cowboy tune from the 1930s parading as an Israeli tune by the name of Zemer Badrachim. And then there is almost universal habit of imitating popular French music.
Israel is a land so new that the many influences shaping its song and dance are only now beginning to show a distinctive form of its own and the separate influences can still be seen, although they are beginning to meld together. It is not often that the different influences on a culture cn be so clearly seen, and this is a great opportunity to watch the process of becoming a form different from the others. It can be seen as an afterimage in Balkan or Greek music, but still fresh as an on-going process in Israel. 5
Printed in Folk Dance Scene, April 1985