Israel has experienced, and endured, a lot during its 57-year history, but the latest emerging musical trend is one of the more surprising developments in this anything-but-boring part of the world.
In the past four or five years, and particularly in the last 12 months, the number of Israeli rock and pop bands and musicians who perform songs in English has taken a giant incremental leap.
Back in the ’60s, when Israel was still young and fervently idealistic, the mere suggestion of performing popular music in English would have been enough to have you ostracized by the establishment. True, there were so-called rhythm bands, such as the Churchills, and Uzzy and Styles, who did cover versions of American and English pop and rock numbers, but their circuit was generally restricted to venues in cultural backwaters like Lod and Ramla.
However, increasing numbers of Israeli pop and rock artists have begun to play and record original material in English and a couple of labels have emerged to promote them.
“I think interest in songs in English is definitely on the up,” says Gili Rosenberg, bassist and one of the guiding lights behind MISC, an organization created by Israeli musicians and dedicated to promoting local musical activity in the English language.
MISC is a nonprofit umbrella body that represents groups, such as Sidefields, Dugag and the Marching Band, that play anything from psychedelia to alternative rock, acoustic music, prog-rock, grunge and Brit-rock.
“But we’re not really starting a revolution here; we’re not embittered,” Rosenberg continues. “It’s all a matter of supply and demand. Just like the decision by [radio station] Reshet Gimmel to play only Hebrew songs, because the public evidently wants that.”
Singer-songwriter Hadara Levin Areddy is in a better position than most to appraise the progress made by the English-language sector of the Israeli music market. Areddy recently put out her fourth album, “The Move,” on Cloudia, the English offshoot label of local record giant Hed Artzi, and is one of the pioneers of the subgenre in Israel.
Possibly even more surprisingly, she and fellow English-language Israeli artist Shay Nobleman have made it into the playlist of trendsetting radio station Galgalatz. “It’s only the nighttime playlist but we’re definitely in there. It’s gaining momentum and the changes are happening right now,” says Areddy, adding that Channel 24, Israel’s version of MTV, originally played Hebrew music only and now has an increasing number of English-language clips in its lineup.
“My audiences are growing and they are incredibly varied,” Areddy observes.
“I have people of all ages, nationalities and sexual preferences coming to my gigs,” she said. “We are gradually making it into the mainstream of Israeli cultural consciousness.”
Naturally, artists like Areddy have at least one eye on the global market beyond Israel’s narrow borders. Areddy regularly performs in Scotland, and bands like RockFour, Useless ID and The Genders tour in the United Kingdom and the United States with increasing frequency.
For The Genders soloist Amir Neubach, the lingual move is simply the way to go. “English is the language of rock,” he states. “There’s no two ways about it. You get a band from Sweden or Germany who play rock and they’ll sing in English. So it’s perfectly natural for an Israeli rock group to sing in English too.”
Neubach will soon be packing his bags to join his three colleagues in The Genders for a grueling three-month tour of the United States. It is their second foray across the Atlantic and Neubach feels they are making progress. “We played small venues the first time around but we’ll have bigger gigs on the new tour.”
Jerusalem-based singer Tamar Eisenman is also looking to make her mark outside the country but, at least for now, is happy with the way things are going on her home turf. With her debut album, “5 Feet 4,” just out, she too is beginning to make inroads on the Israeli airwaves. Eisenman says it was just a matter of time before the English-language music scene in Israel took off. “It’s not like back in the ’60s here. People understand English much better now.”
There are some who rue the increasing influence of English in this young country in general, and in the cultural milieu. Forty years ago an idea to bring the Beatles to Israel was summarily blocked by the political establishment because it feared the detrimental impact the Fab Four would have on Israeli youth.
Eisenman does not think the same applies today. “I don’t think there is a fear of English encroaching on the Hebrew patch. If you’re talking about standards, I hear a lot of Hebrew songs with terrible grammar and syntax. I don’t call that quality or respect for language.”