Gilad Atzmon (born June 9, 1963) is a jazz musician, author and
anti-zionist activist, who was born in Israel and currently lives in
exile in London, regarding himself as a Hebrew-speaking Palestinian.
He
was born a secular Israeli Jew in Tel Aviv, and trained at the Rubin
Academy of Music in Jerusalem, where he learned to play soprano, alto,
tenor and baritone saxophones.
He also plays clarinet, sol, zurna and
flute. He studied philosophy in Germany and moved to London at age 32.
His album (Exile, 2003), which opens with the amazing voice of Reem Kelani, is both an album about exile, but also an album where a space for exiles, and for those in transit, is created. It is also disquieting, and will be especially disquieting to many given the current situation in Israel...
This is not a generic album about exile. Those who read the papers regularly know that the Orient House is the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) headquarters in Jerusalem.
Atzmon is explicitly anti-Zionist in his writing. The choice of words for the songs that have words, the choice of material, much of this is informed by explicitly championing the cause of Palestinians in exile as against that of his homeland, Israel. In being forced to come to terms with himself as an Israeli, Atzmon is, in other senses, in exile from his own people.
That the music is compelling, wonderful jazz, expertly, indivisably fused with Arabic modes and music at times, but still, great jazz.
Atzmon is an incredible saxophonist, and the ensemble is tight and expressive. The music is compelling.
But as I said till the beginning: in this case, only silence can teach us something worth hearing!
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