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In 2007 the [[Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism]] criticized the [[Swedish Social Democratic Party]] for inviting Atzmon to speak, saying he had worked to "legitimize the hatred of Jews.” The party defended its choice of speaker.<ref name=local327>[http://www.thelocal.se/6777/20070323/ Social Democrats invited known anti-Semite to seminar], [http://www.thelocal.se/ The Local], March 23, 2007</ref> In a 2009 opinion piece for [[The Guardian]], [[Nick Cohen]] critizised Atzmon's declaring that "Jewish ideology is driving our planet into a catastrophe" and "the Jewish tribal mindset – left, centre and right – sets Jews aside of humanity".<ref name="Cohen">Nick Cohen [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/14/james-von-brunn-far-right "The unlikely friends of the Holocaust memorial killer",] ''The Observer'', June 14, 2009</ref><ref>The first quote is contained in Martin Gibson, [http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=10102 No choice but to speak out – Israeli musician ‘a proud self-hating Jew’], originally published in Gisborn Herald, January 23, 2009 and the second in Gilad Atzmon, [http://peacepalestine.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/gilad-atzmon-anatomy-of-an-unresolved-conflict/ Anatomy of an Unresolved Conflict], published at PeacePalestine blog, May 8, 2008.</ref> In his blog for [[The Times]], [[Oliver Kamm]] charges Atzmon with antisemitism for his article "Truth, History and Integrity"<ref>Gilad Atzmon, [http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/truth-history-and-integrity-by-gilad-atzmon.html Truth, History, and Integrity], at his personal web site.</ref> in which Atzmon writes "As it happened, it took me many years to understand that the Holocaust, the core belief of the contemporary Jewish faith, was not at all an historical narrative for historical narratives do not need the protection of the law and politicians."<ref>Oliver Kamm, [http://timesonline.typepad.com/oliver_kamm/2010/03/an-antisemites-progress.html An antisemite's progress], ''[[The Times]]'', March 26, 2010.</ref>
In 2007 the [[Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism]] criticized the [[Swedish Social Democratic Party]] for inviting Atzmon to speak, saying he had worked to "legitimize the hatred of Jews.” The party defended its choice of speaker.<ref name=local327>[http://www.thelocal.se/6777/20070323/ Social Democrats invited known anti-Semite to seminar], [http://www.thelocal.se/ The Local], March 23, 2007</ref> In a 2009 opinion piece for [[The Guardian]], [[Nick Cohen]] critizised Atzmon's declaring that "Jewish ideology is driving our planet into a catastrophe" and "the Jewish tribal mindset – left, centre and right – sets Jews aside of humanity".<ref name="Cohen">Nick Cohen [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/14/james-von-brunn-far-right "The unlikely friends of the Holocaust memorial killer",] ''The Observer'', June 14, 2009</ref><ref>The first quote is contained in Martin Gibson, [http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=10102 No choice but to speak out – Israeli musician ‘a proud self-hating Jew’], originally published in Gisborn Herald, January 23, 2009 and the second in Gilad Atzmon, [http://peacepalestine.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/gilad-atzmon-anatomy-of-an-unresolved-conflict/ Anatomy of an Unresolved Conflict], published at PeacePalestine blog, May 8, 2008.</ref> In his blog for [[The Times]], [[Oliver Kamm]] charges Atzmon with antisemitism for his article "Truth, History and Integrity"<ref>Gilad Atzmon, [http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/truth-history-and-integrity-by-gilad-atzmon.html Truth, History, and Integrity], at his personal web site.</ref> in which Atzmon writes "As it happened, it took me many years to understand that the Holocaust, the core belief of the contemporary Jewish faith, was not at all an historical narrative for historical narratives do not need the protection of the law and politicians."<ref>Oliver Kamm, [http://timesonline.typepad.com/oliver_kamm/2010/03/an-antisemites-progress.html An antisemite's progress], ''[[The Times]]'', March 26, 2010.</ref>


In [[Howard Jacobson]]'s 2010 [[Man Booker Prize]]-winning novel ''[[The Finkler Question]]'', the title character Finkler has a discussion with his best friend's son, Alfredo, whom he learns has been persuaded to deny the holocaust by an Israeli expatriate jazz musician and Holocaust denier.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jacobson|first=Howard|title=The Finkler Question|publisher=Bloomsbury|page=219|isbn=978-1-60819-611-1|year=2010}}</ref> Reviewing the book for the [[Scholars for Peace in the Middle East]] web site, Edward Alexander writes, "the novel’s Holocaust-denying Israeli ''[[Yerida|yored]]'' drummer is in fact based upon one Gilad Atzmon, who is better known in England for endorsing the ideology of the ''Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' and describing the burning of British synagogues as a 'rational act' in retaliation for Israeli actions."<ref>Edward Alexander, [http://spme.net/cgi-bin/articles.cgi?ID=7444 Ashamed Jews: The Finkler Question], [http://spme.net Scholars For Peace in the Middle East Reviews and Recommendations], December, 2010.</ref>
In [[Howard Jacobson]]'s 2010 [[Man Booker Prize]]-winning novel ''[[The Finkler Question]]'', the title character Finkler has a discussion with his best friend's son, Alfredo, whom he learns has been persuaded to deny the Holocaust by an Israeli expatriate jazz musician and Holocaust denier.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jacobson|first=Howard|title=The Finkler Question|publisher=Bloomsbury|page=219|isbn=978-1-60819-611-1|year=2010}}</ref> Reviewing the book for the [[Scholars for Peace in the Middle East]] web site, Edward Alexander writes, "the novel’s Holocaust-denying Israeli ''[[Yerida|yored]]'' drummer is in fact based upon one Gilad Atzmon, who is better known in England for endorsing the ideology of the ''Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' and describing the burning of British synagogues as a 'rational act' in retaliation for Israeli actions."<ref>Edward Alexander, [http://spme.net/cgi-bin/articles.cgi?ID=7444 Ashamed Jews: The Finkler Question], [http://spme.net Scholars For Peace in the Middle East Reviews and Recommendations], December, 2010.</ref>


Atzmon refers to charges of antisemitism as being a "common Zionist silencing apparatus."<ref>Barnaby Smith, [http://www.tourdates.co.uk/LondonTourdates/issue-007/2007/10/05/222-Sax-With-An-Axe-To-Grind Sax With An Axe To Grind], Interview with Gilad Atzmon in ''London Tour Dates'' magazine, October 5, 2006</ref> He denies both that he is an antisemite and the very existence of antisemitism, stating that "'Anti-Semite' is an [[floating signifier|empty signifier]], no one actually can be an Anti-Semite and this includes me of course. In short, you are either a racist which I am not or have an ideological disagreement with Zionism, which I have."<ref name=1001Lies>Gilad Atzmon, [http://gilad.co.uk/html%20files/1001lies.html 1001 Lies About Gilad Atzmon], at his personal web site.</ref> In 2009 Atzmon debated [[David Aaronovitch]] and [[Nick Cohen]] on the topic of “Anti-Semitism – Alive and Well in Europe?” at the 2009 [[Sunday Times]] Oxford Literary Festival.<ref name=OxfordAnnounce/><ref>Dina Oma, [http://www.emiratestribune.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=227617 What did we learn about anti-Semitism?], ''Emirates Tribune'', April 13, 2009.</ref><ref>Gilad Atzmon, [http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/9110-gilad-atzmon-aaronovitchs-tantrum-and-the-demolition-of-jewish-power.html Aaronovitch's Tantrum and the Demolition of Jewish Power], reprinted in [[Atlantic Free Press]] with links to audio, April 9, 2009.</ref><ref>David Aaronovitch, [http://www.thejc.com/comment/columnists/gilad-atzmons-discordant-notes/ Gilad Atzmon's discordant notes], ''[[The Jewish Chronicle]]'', April 23, 2009.</ref>
Atzmon refers to charges of antisemitism as being a "common Zionist silencing apparatus."<ref>Barnaby Smith, [http://www.tourdates.co.uk/LondonTourdates/issue-007/2007/10/05/222-Sax-With-An-Axe-To-Grind Sax With An Axe To Grind], Interview with Gilad Atzmon in ''London Tour Dates'' magazine, October 5, 2006</ref> He denies both that he is an antisemite and the very existence of antisemitism, stating that "'Anti-Semite' is an [[floating signifier|empty signifier]], no one actually can be an Anti-Semite and this includes me of course. In short, you are either a racist which I am not or have an ideological disagreement with Zionism, which I have."<ref name=1001Lies>Gilad Atzmon, [http://gilad.co.uk/html%20files/1001lies.html 1001 Lies About Gilad Atzmon], at his personal web site.</ref> In 2009 Atzmon debated [[David Aaronovitch]] and [[Nick Cohen]] on the topic of “Anti-Semitism – Alive and Well in Europe?” at the 2009 [[Sunday Times]] Oxford Literary Festival.<ref name=OxfordAnnounce/><ref>Dina Oma, [http://www.emiratestribune.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=227617 What did we learn about anti-Semitism?], ''Emirates Tribune'', April 13, 2009.</ref><ref>Gilad Atzmon, [http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/9110-gilad-atzmon-aaronovitchs-tantrum-and-the-demolition-of-jewish-power.html Aaronovitch's Tantrum and the Demolition of Jewish Power], reprinted in [[Atlantic Free Press]] with links to audio, April 9, 2009.</ref><ref>David Aaronovitch, [http://www.thejc.com/comment/columnists/gilad-atzmons-discordant-notes/ Gilad Atzmon's discordant notes], ''[[The Jewish Chronicle]]'', April 23, 2009.</ref>

Revision as of 14:42, 19 July 2011

Gilad Atzmon
גלעד עצמון
Atzmon in concert, February 2007
Born
Gilad Atzmon

(1963-06-09) June 9, 1963 (age 61)
Tel Aviv, Israel
NationalityIsraeli and British[1]
EducationRubin Academy of Music, University of Essex
OccupationMusician
Known forMusic, political activism
Websitewww.gilad.co.uk

Gilad Atzmon (Template:Lang-he; born June 9, 1963) is an Israeli-born British jazz saxophonist, novelist, political activist and writer.[2][3][4][5]

Atzmon's album Exile was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003.[6] Playing over 100 dates a year,[4] he has been called "surely the hardest-gigging man in British jazz."[7] His albums, of which he has recorded nine to date,[4] often explore the music of the Middle East and political themes. He has described himself as a "devoted political artist."[2] He supports the Palestinian right of return and the one-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[5]

His criticisms of Zionism, Jewish identity, and Judaism, as well as his controversial views on The Holocaust and Jewish history have led to allegations of antisemitism from both Zionists and anti-Zionists. A profile in The Guardian in 2009 which described Atzmon as "one of London's finest saxophonists" stated: "It is Atzmon's blunt anti-Zionism rather than his music that has given him an international profile, particularly in the Arab world, where his essays are widely read."[4]

Early life

Atzmon was born a secular Jew in Tel Aviv, and trained at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem.[8] His service as a paramedic in the Israeli Defense Forces during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon caused him to reach the conclusion that "I was part of a colonial state, the result of plundering and ethnic cleansing."[1][4] He told an interviewer that it was there he first learned about Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, legislation to prevent their return, and the wiping out of Palestinian villages. “We were indoctrinated into a denial of the Palestinian Cause. We were not aware of it.”[9]

He first became interested in British jazz when he discovered some in a British record shop in Jerusalem in the 1970s. He initially was inspired by the work of Ronnie Scott and Tubby Hayes and regarded London as "the Mecca of Jazz."[6] He also was influenced to become a jazz musician by the work of Charlie Parker, in particular Charlie Parker with Strings recorded in 1949. Atzmon said of the album that he "loved the way the music is both beautiful and subversive – they way he basks in the strings but also fights against them."[4] He worked with top bands as a musical producer.[10]

In 1994,[11] Atzmon emigrated from Israel to London, where he attended the University of Essex[12] and earned a Masters degree in Philosophy.[2] He has lived there since,[3] becoming a British citizen in 2002.[1]

Music

While Atzmon's main instrument is the alto saxophone, he also plays soprano, tenor and baritone saxophones and clarinet, sol, zurna and flute.[8] Atzmon's jazz style has been described as bebop/hard bop, with forays into free jazz and swing, and seemingly inspired by John Coltrane and Miles Davis.[11] Atzmon sometimes plays the alto and soprano sax simultaneously.[11]

Atzmon's works have also explored the music of the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe.[13] Atzmon told The Guardian that he draws on Arabic music which he says cannot be notated like western music but must be internalised, which he calls "reverting to the primacy of the ear." Atzmon's musical method has been to play with notions of cultural identity, flirting with genres such as tango and klezmer as well as various Arabic, Balkan, Gypsy and Ladino folk forms. Atzmon's recordings deliberately differ from his live shows. "I don't think that anyone can sit in a house, at home, and listen to me play a full-on bebop solo. It's too intense. My albums need to be less manic."[4]

Atzmon has created the "Benny Hill-like alter ego – a fanatical Zionist" Artie Fishel, on the album Artie Fishel & the Promised Band, which has been described as "musical anarchy."[14] With traditional klezmer music, dialogue, and jokes, the album features Atzmon on saxophone, John Turville on keys and electronics, Yaron Stavi on bass, and Asaf Sirkis on drums.[15][16] Other artists include vocalist Guillermo Rozenthuler, Koby Israelite on vocals and accordion, and Ovidiu Fratila on violin.[17]

Collaborations and groups

Atzmon joined the veteran punk rock band Ian Dury and the Blockheads in 1998, and continued with The Blockheads after Dury's death.[18] He has also recorded and performed with Shane McGowan, Robbie Williams, Sinéad O'Connor, Robert Wyatt and Paul McCartney.[8][13] He has recorded two albums with Robert Wyatt, who describes him as "one of the few musical geniuses I've ever met".[4]

Atzmon has collaborated, recorded and performed with musicians from all around the world, including the Palestinian singer, Reem Kelani, Tunisian singer and oud player Dhafer Youssef, violinist Marcel Mamaliga, accordion player Romano Viazzani, bassist Yaron Stavi, violinist and trumpet-violin player, Dumitru Ovidiu Fratila, and Guillermo Rozenthuler on vocals.[11]

Atzmon founded the Orient House Ensemble band in London in the 1990s and toured with them in 2007.[13] The band includes Asaf Sirkis on drums, Yaron Stavi on bass and Frank Harrison on keyboard.[13] It has produced five albums in eight years.[19]

Robert Wyatt, who has said that Atzmon combines "great artistry with a sense of the intrinsically non-racialist philosophy that's implicit in jazz,"[20] has collaborated with Atzmon and Ros Stephens on an album called '"For the Ghosts Within", released in October 2010 on Domino Records.[21][22]

Atzmon produced and arranged 2 albums for British-American singer songwriter Sarah Gillespie Stalking Juliet (2009) and In The Current Climate (2011). Both albums were critically acclaimed. [23][24] Atzmon tours extensively as part of Sarah Gillespie's band, playing saxophone, clarinet and accordion. [25]

Atzmon is on the creative panel of the Global Music Foundation,[8] a non-profit organization formed in December 2004 which runs residential educational and performance workshops and events in different countries around the world.[26] and also offers personal workshops to students.[27]

Reviews

Atzmon and his ensemble have received favorable reviews from Hi-Fi World, Financial Times, The Scotsman, The Guardian, Birmingham Post, The Sunday Times and The Independent.[28] Reviews of his 2007 album Refuge included:

Manchester Evening News: "The individuality of the music is extraordinary. No one is more willing to serve his music with raw political passion, and that curious cantor-like tone on clarinet is immediately arresting, like Artie Shaw writhing in his death throes."[29]
EjazzNews: "For sheer improvisational fireworks, quirky humour and genre-defying invention, one will be hard-pressed to find a bandleader as unique as Gilad Atzmon." ("EjazzNews," September 2008)[30]
BBC: "...the OHE is finding its voice in an increasingly subtle blend of East and West, that’s brutal and beautiful."[19]

In February 2009 The Guardian music critic John Fordham reviewed Atzmon's newest album In loving memory of America which Atzmon describes as "a memory of America I had cherished in my mind for many years". It includes five standards and six originals "inspired by the sumptuous harmonies and impassioned sax-playing of (Charlie) Parker's late-40s recordings with classical strings".[31]

While the music journalist John Lewis praises much of Atzmon's work, he notes that "trenchant politics often sit uneasily alongside music, particularly when that music is instrumental." Lewis criticized his 2006 comedy klezmer project, Artie Fishel and the Promised Band, as "a clumsy satire on what he regards as the artificial nature of Jewish identity politics."[4]

Awards

Atzmon was the recipient of the HMV Top Dog Award at the Birmingham International Jazz Festival in 1996–1998.[11] Gilad Atzmon's Exile was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003.[32]

Novels

Atzmon's novels have been published in 22 languages. His first novel A Guide to the Perplexed, published in 2001, is set in a future where by 2052 Israel has been replaced by a Palestinian state for 40 years. It largely reviews memoirs of the alienated Israeli Gunther Wunker’s rise to fame as a "peepologist," or voyeur. The perplexed are defined as "the unthinking Chosen" who "cling to clods of earth that don't belong to them." The novel excoriates what it describes as the commercialization of the Holocaust and "argues that the Holocaust is invoked as a kind of reflexive propaganda designed to shield the Zionist state from responsibility for any transgression against Palestinians."[1] A reviewer for The Independent wrote that "Those who still thrill to the pages of Sixties underground "comix" may find some of this amusing, however laboured. Yet even those semi-sympathetic to its politics will find it cheap and "provocative" in the worst possible sense." He also wrote that the book has "just enough connection with reality to give it a certain unsettling power" but concludes "His writing, alas, represents a completely false start."[33] The Guardian observed it is "odd to mix knob gags with highly serious assertions" but thought it works because "Atzmon writes with so much style and his gags are so hilarious."[34]

Atzmon's second novel, My One and Only Love was published in 2005, and features as a protagonist a trumpeter who chooses to play only one note (extremely well) as well as a spy who uncovers Nazi war criminals and locks them inside double bass cases which then tour permanently in the protagonist's orchestra's luggage.[35] The book also is comedic take on "Zionist espionage and intrigue" which explores "the personal conflict between being true to one’s heart and being loyal to The Jews".[36]

Writings and activism

Atzmon's political writings have been published in CounterPunch,[37] Al-Arab online,[38] Uruknet,[39] Middle East Online,[40] The Palestine Telegraph,[41] Aljazeera Magazine[42] and Aljazeerah.info.[43] (Note neither is connected with the Al Jazeerah news network).

Music journalists have commented on the link between Atzmon’s jazz and radical politics. Peter Bacon has written that Atzmon reminds us of "the strong link between jazz and the radical politics that are sometimes the only way to ensure its – and our – freedom."[44] Chris Searle's book entitled Forward Groove: Jazz and the Real World from Louis Armstrong to Gilad Atzmon, which chronicles the development of jazz alongside political protest movements, holds that "the torch continues to be carried by contemporary musicians such as Israeli-born alto saxman Gilad Atzmon who dreams of a free and united Palestine."[45][46] Atzmon’s activism has included conducting musical fundraisers,[47] contributing to activist publications,[48] and making speaking engagements[49][50] and television appearances.[51][52]

Atzmon has defined himself variously as a "secular Jew",[3] a "proud self-hating Jew",[9][53] an "ex-Jew"[54] and "a Hebrew-speaking Palestinian."[3] Atzmon told interviewer Theo Panayides “I don’t write about politics, I write about ethics. I write about Identity. I write a lot about the Jewish Question – because I was born in the Jew-land, and my whole process in maturing into an adult was involved with the realisation that my people are living on stolen land.”[9] Atzmon has said that his experience in the military of “my people destroying other people left a big scar” and led to his decision that he was deluded about Zionism. He has condemned “Jewishness” as "very much a supremacist, racist tendency". He states that "I don't have anything against Jews in particular and you won't find that in my writings."[3]

In articles he has compared Israeli actions to that of the Nazis and has described Israel's policy toward the Palestinians as genocide.[53] David Hirst, in his 2003 book The Gun and the Olive Branch, quotes Atzmon as saying America was “about to lose its sovereignty...becoming a remote colony of an apparently far greater state, the Jewish state.”[55] In 2009 Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan cited Atzmon's written comment "Israeli barbarity is far beyond even ordinary cruelty" during a debate with Israeli president Shimon Peres.[4] In a 2010 opinion piece about the "moral courage of Israeli dissidents," John Pilger quoted Atzmon on justice for the Palestinians being "at the heart of the battle for a better world."[56]

Several of Atzmon's statements regarding Jews and Judaism have led to allegations of antisemitism. In 2004 the Board of Deputies of British Jews criticized Atzmon for saying, "I'm not going to say whether it is right or not to burn down a synagogue, I can see that it is a rational act."[57] Atzmon responded in a letter to The Observer that "since Israel presents itself as the 'state of the Jewish people’ ... any form of anti-Jewish activity may be seen as political retaliation. This does not make it right."[58]

In a 2005 opinion piece David Aaronovitch criticized Atzmon for writing in his essay "On Anti-Semitism" that "We must begin to take the accusation that the Jewish people are trying to control the world very seriously." and "American Jewry makes any debate on whether the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' are an authentic document or rather a forged irrelevant. American Jews do control the world, by proxy. So far they are doing pretty well for themselves at least", saying Atzmon was "a silly boy advancing slightly dangerous arguments."[59][60] Aaronovitch also criticized Atzmon for circulating an essay by Paul Eisen defending Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel and supporting many aspects of Zündel's Holocaust denial theories. Aaronovitch wrote that Atzmon said he had a "slightly different" view than Eisen, writing "the Holocaust like any other historical narrative is a dynamic process of realisation and interpretation."[59] Atzmon has said he does not deny the Holocaust or the “Nazi Judeocide” but insists “that both the Holocaust and World War II should be treated as historical events rather than as religious myth. . . . But then, even if we accept the Holocaust as the new Anglo-American liberal-democratic religion, we must allow people to be atheists.”[61]

In a 2006 opinion piece in The Guardian, David Hirsh cites Atzmon's statement that, "I would suggest that perhaps we should face it once and for all: the Jews were responsible for the killing of Jesus" as an example of Atzmon's "openly anti-Jewish rhetoric."[62][63] In response to a question about this quote from Lenni Brenner, Atzmon replied that he also had written "How is it that people living today feel accountable or chased for a crime committed by their great great ancestors almost 2,000 ago?" and that he meant "I find it astonishing that people today happen to be offended by such accusations."[64]

In 2007 the Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism criticized the Swedish Social Democratic Party for inviting Atzmon to speak, saying he had worked to "legitimize the hatred of Jews.” The party defended its choice of speaker.[65] In a 2009 opinion piece for The Guardian, Nick Cohen critizised Atzmon's declaring that "Jewish ideology is driving our planet into a catastrophe" and "the Jewish tribal mindset – left, centre and right – sets Jews aside of humanity".[66][67] In his blog for The Times, Oliver Kamm charges Atzmon with antisemitism for his article "Truth, History and Integrity"[68] in which Atzmon writes "As it happened, it took me many years to understand that the Holocaust, the core belief of the contemporary Jewish faith, was not at all an historical narrative for historical narratives do not need the protection of the law and politicians."[69]

In Howard Jacobson's 2010 Man Booker Prize-winning novel The Finkler Question, the title character Finkler has a discussion with his best friend's son, Alfredo, whom he learns has been persuaded to deny the Holocaust by an Israeli expatriate jazz musician and Holocaust denier.[70] Reviewing the book for the Scholars for Peace in the Middle East web site, Edward Alexander writes, "the novel’s Holocaust-denying Israeli yored drummer is in fact based upon one Gilad Atzmon, who is better known in England for endorsing the ideology of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and describing the burning of British synagogues as a 'rational act' in retaliation for Israeli actions."[71]

Atzmon refers to charges of antisemitism as being a "common Zionist silencing apparatus."[72] He denies both that he is an antisemite and the very existence of antisemitism, stating that "'Anti-Semite' is an empty signifier, no one actually can be an Anti-Semite and this includes me of course. In short, you are either a racist which I am not or have an ideological disagreement with Zionism, which I have."[73] In 2009 Atzmon debated David Aaronovitch and Nick Cohen on the topic of “Anti-Semitism – Alive and Well in Europe?” at the 2009 Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival.[49][74][75][76]

Atzmon has not toned down his statements, even though he admits it has lost him performance contracts, especially in the United States.[77] Atzmon has had conflicts with some anti-Zionists who have attempted to stop his performances.[5][59][78] And he has been defended by various writers and activists.[5][79][80]

Discography

  • The Tide Has Changed - Label: World Village - September 2010
  • "In loving memory of America" – Label: Enja – January 2009
  • Refuge – Label: Enja – October 2007
  • Artie Fishel and the Promised Band – Label: WMD – September 2006
  • MusiK – Label: Enja – October 2004
  • Exile – Label: Enja – March 2004
  • Nostalgico – Label: Enja – January 2001
  • Gilad Atzmon &The Orient House Ensemble – Label: Enja – 2000
  • Juizz Muzic- Label: FruitBeard – 1999
  • Take it or Leave It – Label: Face Jazz – 1999
  • Spiel- Both Sides – Label: MCI – 1995
  • Spiel Acid Jazz Band- Label: MCI – 1995
  • Spiel- Label: In Acoustic&H.M. Acoustica – 1993

Books

  • A Guide to the Perplexed, English translation by Philip Simpson. London : Serpent's Tail, 2002. ISBN 1-85242-826-0
  • My one and only love. London : Saqi Books, 2005. ISBN 0-86356-507-7 (pbk.). ISBN 978-0-86356-507-6 (pbk.)

References

  1. ^ a b c d St. Clair, Jeffery (July 19, 2003). "You Must Leave Home, Again: Gilad Atzmon's "A Guide to the Perplexed"". CounterPunch. Retrieved October 28, 2008.
  2. ^ a b c Stuart Nicholson,Cry freedom, The Spectator August 9, 2003.
  3. ^ a b c d e Gilchrist, Jim (February 22, 2008). "'I thought music could heal the wounds of the past. I may have got that wrong'". The Scotsman. Retrieved March 21, 2009.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Manic beat preacher" interview with John Lewis, The Guardian, March 6, 2009. Cite error: The named reference "Lewis" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b c d Mary Rizzo, "Who's Afraid of Gilad Atzmon?", CounterPunch, June 17, 2005.
  6. ^ a b Gilad Atzmon,How jazz got hot again, The Daily Telegraph, October 13, 2005
  7. ^ John Bungey "Gilad Atzmon: In Loving Memory of America", The Times, March 6, 2009
  8. ^ a b c d "Gilad Atzmon". People. Global Music Foundation. Retrieved October 28, 2008.
  9. ^ a b c Theo Panayides, Wandering jazz player, Cyprus Mail, February 21, 2010.
  10. ^ Barnaby Smith, Sax With An Axe To Grind, London Tour Dates, October 5, 2007.
  11. ^ a b c d e "Profile – Gilad Atzmon". Rainlore's World of Music. March 21, 2003. Retrieved October 28, 2008.
  12. ^ University of Essex news release, Dec 14, 2007 notes Atzmon is a "graduate."
  13. ^ a b c d Atzmon, Gilad (2007). "GILAD ATZMON – MUSICIAN, COMPOSER, PRODUCER, EDUCATOR, WRITER". Gilad Atzmon. Retrieved October 28, 2008.
  14. ^ Shackleton, Kathryn (October 16, 2006). "Gilad Atzmon: Artie Fishel And The Promised Band". BBC. Retrieved October 28, 2008.
  15. ^ Atzmon, Gilad (2007). "ARTIE FISHEL & THE PROMISED BAND". Gilad Atzmon. Archived from the original on May 13, 2008. Retrieved October 28, 2008.
  16. ^ Gilad Atzmon, Not Strictly Kosher, Jazzwise, January 17, 2007.
  17. ^ Mixing it feature, BBC Radio, October 6, 2006.
  18. ^ Stephen Robb, The old Blockheads shows go on, BBC News, January 25, 2007.
  19. ^ a b Kathryn Shackleton, Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble, Refuge, BBC, October 1, 2007.
  20. ^ Lester Paul, So who is top of the pops, The Guardian, June 26, 2010.
  21. ^ News at the MusicFix, July 7, 2010.
  22. ^ Alex Hudson, Robert Wyatt Unveils New Collaborative Album, Exclaim!, July 8, 2010.
  23. ^ John Fordham, Stalking Juliet review, The Guardian - 10 April 2009
  24. ^ Mail on Sunday, In The Current Climate review - January 2011
  25. ^ Robert Shaw, Guitarist Keeps Her Finger on the Pulse - 6 January 2011
  26. ^ "About GMF". Global Music Foundation. Retrieved October 28, 2008.
  27. ^ Atzmon, Gilad (2007). "MUSIC EDUCATION". Gilad Atzmon. Retrieved October 28, 2008. [dead link‍]
  28. ^ Gilad Atzmon web site.
  29. ^ Alan Brownlee, Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble – Refuge (Enja), Manchester Evening News, August 30, 2007.
  30. ^ John Stevenson, Gilad Atzmon liberates the Americans: Orient House Ensemble, Ronnie Scott’s London, August 30, 2008, EJazzNews.com, September 1, 2008.
  31. ^ John Fordham, Gilad Atzmon: In Loving Memory of America, The Guardian, February 27, 2009.
  32. ^ Jazz winners span generations, BBC, July 30, 2003.
  33. ^ Matthew Reisz A crude – and rude – assault on Israel misfires, The Independent, December 7, 2002
  34. ^ Darren King Mr. Peepology, The Guardian, January 25, 2003.
  35. ^ Sholto Byrnes "Talking Jazz", The Independent, March 25, 2005,
  36. ^ BBC book launch announcement, BBC, June 3, 2005.
  37. ^ Examples of Gilad Atzmon in CounterPunch: Collective Self-Deception: The Most Common Mistakes of Israelis, August 28, 2003; The Left and Islam: Thinking Outside of the Secular Box, July 10–12, 2009.
  38. ^ Atzmon articles published by Al-Arab online include Welcome to the Jewish Comedy Club, April 28, 2010 and Not Much Time Remains for Israel- A Film Review, May 5, 2010.
  39. ^ Gilad Atzmon, Purim Special, From Esther to AIPAC, Uruknet, March 3, 2007.
  40. ^ Examples of Gilad Atzmon in Middle East Online: Vengeance, Barbarism and Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, September 22, 2009; Autumn in Shanghai, October 20, 2009.
  41. ^ Example of Gilad Atzmon in The Palestine Telegraph: Israeli Ideology and World Peace, June 7, 2010.
  42. ^ Examples of Gilad Atzmon in Aljazeera Magazine: Caught between sobbing and war chants, July 30, 2008; Deception, spin and lies, October 22, 2009.
  43. ^ Examples of Gilad Atzmon in Aljazeerah.info include Beyond Comparison, August 12, 2006; Planet Chomsky Vs. Dershowitz's Orbit, May 24, 2010.
  44. ^ Peter Bacon, Arts reviews: Activist with quotes and plenty to say; Gilad Atzmon CBSO Centre, Birmingham Post & Mail Ltd, 2005.
  45. ^ Ian Soutar, Former head chronicles a passion for jazz and justice, Sheffield Telegraph, November 14, 2008.
  46. ^ Chris Searle, Forward Groove: Jazz and the Real World from Louis Armstrong to Gilad Atzmon Northway Publications, 2009, ISBN 0-9550908-7-3, 978-0-9550908-7-5
  47. ^ Socialist Worker fundraising event announcements here and here.
  48. ^ See Gilad Atzmon#Writing and Gilad Atzmon, "Gilad Atzmon: 'Zionism is my enemy'", in the Socialist Worker (UK), June 5, 2004.
  49. ^ a b Anti-Semitism to be debated in Oxford, Middle East on Line, March 27, 2009.
  50. ^ Atzmon and Siegel in Rochester and Geneva, report by Dan McGowan on Gilad Atzmon web site, July 4, 2010.
  51. ^ Gilad Atzmon on Israeli Collective Madness, Russia Today, June 10, 2010.
  52. ^ Aspen Grassroots TV appearance linked on Salem-News.com, July, 2010.
  53. ^ a b Martin Gibson, No choice but to speak out – Israeli musician ‘a proud self-hating Jew’, originally published in Gisborne Herald, January 23, 2009.
  54. ^ Gilad Atzmon, A New Jewish Goal, at his personal web site.
  55. ^ David Hirst, The Gun and the Olive Branch: the roots of violence in the Middle East, Nation Books, 2003, p. 49
  56. ^ John Pilger, Listen to the heroes of Israel, New Statesman, February 25, 2010.
  57. ^ Curtis, Polly. Soas faces action over alleged anti-semitism, The Guardian, May 12, 2004.
  58. ^ Gilad Atzmon, Letters to the Editor, The Observer, April 4, 2005
  59. ^ a b c David Aaronovitch "How did the far Left manage to slip into bed with the Jew-hating Right?" The Times, June 28, 2005
  60. ^ Gilad Atzmon, On Anti-Semitism, originally at his personal web site, December 20, 2003.
  61. ^ Manuel Talens, Beauty as a political weapon; Three in one: jazzman, writer and activist – A conversation with Gilad Atzmon, originally published in the Mexican monthly magazine Memoria, No. 202, December 2005.
  62. ^ Hirsh, David. Openly embracing prejudice, The Guardian, November 30, 2006. Hirsh also refers to the statement in What charge?, "The Guardian", April 3, 2006.
  63. ^ Atzmon, Gilad. The Politics of Antisemitism, at his personal web site.
  64. ^ "Are You a Christian?" "Do I Look Like the Pope?" – An Exchange Between Lenni Brenner & Gilad Atzmon, CounterPunch, February 15, 2007.
  65. ^ Social Democrats invited known anti-Semite to seminar, The Local, March 23, 2007
  66. ^ Nick Cohen "The unlikely friends of the Holocaust memorial killer", The Observer, June 14, 2009
  67. ^ The first quote is contained in Martin Gibson, No choice but to speak out – Israeli musician ‘a proud self-hating Jew’, originally published in Gisborn Herald, January 23, 2009 and the second in Gilad Atzmon, Anatomy of an Unresolved Conflict, published at PeacePalestine blog, May 8, 2008.
  68. ^ Gilad Atzmon, Truth, History, and Integrity, at his personal web site.
  69. ^ Oliver Kamm, An antisemite's progress, The Times, March 26, 2010.
  70. ^ Jacobson, Howard (2010). The Finkler Question. Bloomsbury. p. 219. ISBN 978-1-60819-611-1.
  71. ^ Edward Alexander, Ashamed Jews: The Finkler Question, Scholars For Peace in the Middle East Reviews and Recommendations, December, 2010.
  72. ^ Barnaby Smith, Sax With An Axe To Grind, Interview with Gilad Atzmon in London Tour Dates magazine, October 5, 2006
  73. ^ Gilad Atzmon, 1001 Lies About Gilad Atzmon, at his personal web site.
  74. ^ Dina Oma, What did we learn about anti-Semitism?, Emirates Tribune, April 13, 2009.
  75. ^ Gilad Atzmon, Aaronovitch's Tantrum and the Demolition of Jewish Power, reprinted in Atlantic Free Press with links to audio, April 9, 2009.
  76. ^ David Aaronovitch, Gilad Atzmon's discordant notes, The Jewish Chronicle, April 23, 2009.
  77. ^ Karen Abi-Ezzi “Music as a Discourse of Resistance: The Case of Gilad Atzmon,” Chapter 7 of Olivier Urbain, Editor, Music and conflict transformation: harmonies and dissonances in geopolitics, I.B.Tauris, 2008 p. 101.
  78. ^ Gilad Atzmon, Gilad Atzmon: Lieberman and the Jewish Political Continuum, at Gilad Atzmon's web site, October 10, 2010: "whilst we understand that Zionists insist on operating within a ‘Jews only’ club -- the Jewish anti Zionists are apparently not much different. For some reason, the Jewish opponents of Israel also insist on operating in what seem to be just more Judeo-centric tribal dissident political cells."
  79. ^ Oren Ben-Dor, 'The Silencing of Gilad Atzmon', CounterPunch, March 15, 2008. Ben-Dor wrote “I am firmly convinced that these vulgar attempts at silencing of Gilad and other courageous voices offends against supremely thoughtful, compassionate and egalitarian intellectual endeavours."
  80. ^ Chris Searle, Review of the book Jazz Jews by Mike Gerber, Morning Star (UK newspaper), February 2010. Searle defended accusations against Atzmon’s "crude anti-zionist rhetoric,” writing “No jazz musicians have done more to honour, publicise and spread solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinians than Atzmon and the Orient House Ensemble.”

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