Gilad Atzmon
Encyclopedia
Gilad Atzmon is an Israel
i-born British jazz
saxophonist
, novelist, political activist and writer.
Atzmon's album Exile was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003. Playing over 100 dates a year, he has been called "surely the hardest-gigging man in British jazz." His albums, of which he has recorded thirteen to date, often explore the music of the Middle East and political themes. He has described himself as a "devoted political artist."
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." 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
.
, and trained at the Rubin Academy of Music
in Jerusalem.
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." 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 – the way he basks in the strings but also fights against them." He worked with top bands as a musical producer.
In 1994, Atzmon emigrated from Israel to London, where he attended the University of Essex
and earned a Masters degree in Philosophy. He has lived there since, becoming a British citizen in 2002.
, he also plays soprano
, tenor
and baritone saxophone
s and clarinet
, sol, zurna
and flute
. 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
. Atzmon sometimes plays the alto and soprano sax simultaneously.
Atzmon's works have also explored the music of the Middle East, North Africa
, and Eastern Europe
. 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."
band Ian Dury and the Blockheads in 1998, and continued with The Blockheads after Dury's death. He also has recorded and performed with Shane McGowan, Robbie Williams
, Sinéad O'Connor
, Robert Wyatt
and Paul McCartney
. He has recorded two albums with Robert Wyatt, who describes him as "one of the few musical geniuses I've ever met".
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.
Atzmon founded the Orient House Ensemble band in London in 2000 with Asaf Sirkis on drums, Frank Harrison on piano and Oli Hayhurst on bass. In 2003 Yaron Stavi replaced Hayhurst. In 2009 Eddie Hick replaced Sirkis. The group was named after Orient House
, the former East Jerusalem
headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization
, later seized by the Israeli Defense Forces. The band has produced eight albums. Orient House celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2010, announcing a 40-date tour and a new album.
Robert Wyatt
, who has said that Atzmon combines "great artistry with a sense of the intrinsically non-racialist philosophy that's implicit in jazz," worked with Atzmon and others on his 2007 album Comercopia . Wyatt collaborated with Atzmon and Ros Stephens, as well as lyricist Alfreda Benge
, on the 2010 album For the Ghosts Within, released on Domino Records.
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. Atzmon tours extensively as part of Sarah Gillespie's band, playing saxophone, clarinet and accordion.
Atzmon is on the creative panel of the Global Music Foundation, a non-profit organization formed in December 2004 which runs residential educational and performance workshops and events in different countries around the world. and also offers personal workshops to students. A musical transcription of ten saxophone solos by Atzmon was released in 2010.
, The Scotsman
, Birmingham Post
, The Sunday Times
and The Independent
. Reviews of his 2007 album Refuge included:
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".
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."
Top Dog Award at the Birmingham International Jazz Festival in 1996–1998. Gilad Atzmon's Exile was BBC
jazz album of the year in 2003.
, published in 2001, is set in 2052 when Israel has been replaced by a Palestinian state. 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." 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." 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." Publisher's Weekly noted "Atzmon clearly wants to provoke, but his approach is so familiar that few readers will take the bait."
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. 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".
in the Israeli Defense Forces during the 1982 Lebanon War
caused him to conclude that "I was part of a colonial state, the result of plundering and ethnic cleansing
." 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.”
Atzmon supports the Palestinian right of return
and the one-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Atzmon's political writings have been published in CounterPunch
, Al-Arab
online, Uruknet, Middle East Online, The Palestine Telegraph
, Aljazeera Magazine and Aljazeerah.info. (Note neither is connected with the Al Jazeera
h 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." 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." Atzmon’s activism has included conducting musical fundraisers, contributing to activist publications, and speaking engagements. In 2010 he appeared on Russia Today
television network to speak about the Israeli raid on the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla"
.
Atzmon has defined himself variously as a "secular Jew", a "proud self-hating Jew", an "ex-Jew""a Jew who hates Judaism" and "a Hebrew-speaking Palestinian." 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.” 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." Regarding the one-state solution, Atzmon concedes that such a state probably would be controlled by Islamists, but says, "That's their business."
In articles he has compared the Jewish Ideology to that of the Nazis and has described Israel's policy toward the Palestinians as genocide
. 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.” 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
.
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." 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."
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"; Aaronovitch said Atzmon was "a silly boy advancing slightly dangerous arguments." 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: "the Holocaust like any other historical narrative is a dynamic process of realisation and interpretation." 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.” In a 2006 opinion piece in The Guardian
, David Hirsh
cited Atzmon's "On Anti-Semitism" essay, and particularly its Jewish deicide
claim that "the Jews were responsible for the killing of Jesus," as an example of Atzmon's "openly anti-Jewish rhetoric." In response to a question about this quote from Lenni Brenner
, Atzmon replied that he meant "I find it astonishing that people today happen to be offended by such accusations."
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. Nick Cohen
, in a 2009 opinion piece for The Observer
, criticised Atzmon's declaration that "Jewish ideology is driving our planet into a catastrophe" and "the Jewish tribal mindset – left, centre and right – sets Jews aside of humanity". In his blog for The Times
, Oliver Kamm
charges Atzmon with antisemitism for his article "Truth, History and Integrity", 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. . . . It took me years to accept that the Holocaust narrative, in its current form, doesn’t make any historical sense."
According to Irish academic David Landy, a former chair of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Atzmon's words, "if not actually anti-Semitic, certainly border on it". Ynetnews
has used Atzmon as an example of Jewish anti-Semitism: "Gilad Atzmon, an Israeli jazz musician, defines himself as anti-Jewish and sees the torching of synagogues as a rational move."
In a review of Howard Jacobson
's 2010 Man Booker Prize
-winning novel The Finkler Question
, 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."
In September 2011 trade unionist and blogger Andy Newman wrote in an opinion piece in The Guardian
characterized Atzmon's political writing as "a wild conspiracy argument, dripping with contempt for Jews.". In a letter to the editor printed by the Guardian Atzmon wrote that Newman had "misrepresented" his views and that "how to define a Jew is a loaded topic since Jews define themselves in many different ways, some contradictory, and use those definitions to try to achieve political aims."
Alan Dershowitz cited American White Supremacist David Duke
, who posts Atzmon's essays on his own site and praises Atzmon for “writ[ing] such fine articles exposing the evil of Zionism and Jewish supremacism.”
In November 2011, Hope not Hate
, a United Kingdom
anti-fascism
and anti-racism
campaign group issued a call to cancel a Gilad Atzmon performance at the "Raise Your Banners" festival of political song. Bradford Trades Union Council condemned the appearance and the Board of Deputies of British Jews asked the Arts Council, which had funded the festival, to stop the performance. The Arts Council refused the request. Gerry Sutcliffe, the Labour MP for Bradford South, and the Right Reverend David Ison of the Bradford Cathedral also called for the festival to rescind their invitation to Atzmon. The Raise Your Banners director said organisers did not believe the claims of anti-semitism. Atzmon said the Trade Union Council’s letter “stitched together” into one quote phrases from five separate paragraphs to make him look racist. He said he wanted an apology.
Atzmon refers to charges of antisemitism as being a "common Zionist silencing apparatus." 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." In 2009, Atzmon said "I've got nothing against the Semite people, I don't have anything against people — I'm anti-Jewish, not anti-Jews." He added that "Stupidly we interpreted the Nazi defeat as a vindication of the Jewish ideology and the Jewish people", however, "in fact Jewish ideology and Nazi ideology were very similar." 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.
Atzmon says his statements have lost him performance contracts, especially in the United States. Atzmon has had conflicts with some anti-Zionists who have attempted to stop his performances. He has been defended by several contributors to the CounterPunch
website, for which Atzmon has written.
s in the front of the book. John Mearsheimer
of the University of Chicago
wrote that "Gilad Atzmon has written a fascinating and provocative book on Jewish identity in the modern world" and that the book "should be widely read by Jews and non-Jews alike." Richard Falk wrote it was "absorbing and moving" book that everyone who "care[s] about real peace" should "not only read, but reflect upon and discuss widely." James Petras
wrote that the book is "a series of brilliant illuminations and critical reflections on Jewish ethnocentrism and the hypocrisy of those who speak in the name of universal values and act tribal" which "uncovers the links between Jewish identity politics in the Diaspora with their ardent support for the oppressive policies of the Israeli state." He also wrote that Atzmon “has the courage to...speak truth to the power of highly placed and affluent Zionists who shape the agendas of war and peace in the English-speaking world."
Ten anti-Zionist authors, including Laurie Penny
and Richard Seymour (writer)
, all of whom have also been published by Zero Books, publicly condemned the publisher in an open letter for releasing the book. They signed a statement arguing:
In The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg
quoted Atzmon on the Holocaust, Jewish “persecution of Hitler” and Jewish “trafficking in body parts” and took John Mearsheimer to task for “endorsing the writing of a man who espouses neo-Nazi views.” Mearsheimer replied via his co-author professor Stephen Walt
’s blog that “There is no question that the book is provocative, both in terms of its central argument and the overly hot language that Atzmon sometimes uses. But it is also filled with interesting insights that make the reader think long and hard about an important subject. Of course, I do not agree with everything that he says in the book -- what blurber does?”
Alan Dershowitz
wrote a critical article arguing that “some of Israel’s most vocal detractors are crossing a red line between acceptable criticism of Israel and legitimizing anti-Semitism.” Dershowitz uses numerous quotes from the book to support his position that Atzmon is an antisemite who states Jews seek to control the world, conflates “the Jew” and “the Zionist”, writes that Jews are evil and a menace to humanity, encourages readers to doubt the Holocaust and Jewish history, and holds that "Jews are corrupt and responsible for ‘why’ they are ‘hated’ and that Israel is worse than the Nazis." Dershowitz argues that “Even the most radical anti-Zionists in England have distanced themselves from Atzmon.” He writes that “hard-core neo-Nazis, racists, anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers” endorse Atzmon, including David Duke
, Kevin B. MacDonald
and Israel Shamir
.
He criticizes John Mearsheimer and Richard Falk for endorsing the book and encouraging colleagues, students, and others to read and “reflect upon” Atzmon’s views. He also criticizes others who have defended Atzmon, including Brian Leiter
, William A. Cook, Oren Ben-Dor, and Makram Khoury-Machool. Dershowitz then challenged professors Mearsheimer and Falk to a “public debate about why they have endorsed and said such positive things about so hateful and anti-Semitic a book by so bigoted and dishonest a writer.” In another article Dershowitz called the book “a conspiratorial screed.
Falk rejected Dershowitz' call to debate and wrote to The Daily Caller
“I have a limited taste for the sort of defamatory polemics that the Dershowitz attack mounts.” He wrote that "if the book is fairly read, and not denounced, it is concerned exclusively with ‘Jewish identity,’ not with Jews, and explores this reality in a highly personal, passionate, provocative, and honest manner.”
Gilad Atzmon criticized Dershowitz' analysis at his website and offered to debate Dershowitz "any time." He replied to the attacks writing “It seems as if the Zio-cons on both sides of the pond are now in a state of panic” and that critics “launched a typical Hasbara smear & intimidation campaign.”
Kevin B. MacDonald
, a professor at California State University, Long Beach
called Atzmon’s book “an invaluable account by someone who clearly understands the main symptoms of Jewish pathology." Alan Dershowitz criticized the comments from someone "whose colleagues formally disassociated themselves from his “anti-Semitic and white ethnocentric views,” called Atzmon’s book 'an invaluable account by someone who clearly understands the main symptoms of Jewish pathology.'"Atzmon replied to MacDonald's review stating that MacDonald "is actually frustrated with the lack of any biological determinist or racist reference in my work," noting his book "is a study of Jewish identity politics and Jewish culture, it is not concerned with Jewish ethnicity or racial origins."
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i-born British jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, novelist, political activist and writer.
Atzmon's album Exile was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003. Playing over 100 dates a year, he has been called "surely the hardest-gigging man in British jazz." His albums, of which he has recorded thirteen to date, often explore the music of the Middle East and political themes. He has described himself as a "devoted political artist."
A profile in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
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." His criticisms of Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
, Jewish identity
Jewish identity
Jewish identity is the objective or subjective state of perceiving oneself as a Jew and as relating to being Jewish. Under the broader definition, the Jewish identity does not depend on whether or not a person is regarded as a Jew by others, or by an external set of religious, or legal, or...
, and Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, as well as his controversial views on The Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
and Jewish history
Jewish history
Jewish history is the history of the Jews, their religion and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. Since Jewish history is over 4000 years long and includes hundreds of different populations, any treatment can only be provided in broad strokes...
have led to allegations of antisemitism from both Zionists and anti-Zionists
Anti-Zionism
Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionistic views or opposition to the state of Israel. The term is used to describe various religious, moral and political points of view in opposition to these, but their diversity of motivation and expression is sufficiently different that "anti-Zionism" cannot be...
.
Early life
Atzmon was born in a secular Jewish family in Tel AvivTel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, and trained at the Rubin Academy of Music
Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance
The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance , founded in 1958 as the Rubin Academy of Music, is located on the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.-History:...
in Jerusalem.
He first became interested in British jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
when he discovered some in a British record shop in Jerusalem in the 1970s. He initially was inspired by the work of Ronnie Scott
Ronnie Scott
Ronnie Scott was an English jazz tenor saxophonist and jazz club owner.-Life and career:Ronnie Scott was born in Aldgate, east London, into a family of Russian Jewish descent on his father's side, and Portuguese antecedents on his mother's. Scott began playing in small jazz clubs at the age of...
and Tubby Hayes
Tubby Hayes
Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his tenor saxophone playing in groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and with trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest British jazz instrumentalists.- Early life :Hayes was born...
and regarded London as "the Mecca of Jazz." He also was influenced to become a jazz musician by the work of Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
, in particular Charlie Parker with Strings
Charlie Parker with Strings
Charlie Parker with Strings is a compilation album by jazz musician Charlie Parker, released by Verve Records in January 1995. It is based on recording sessions originally issued as two albums released in 1950 on Mercury Records. The sessions place Parker in the context of a small classical string...
recorded in 1949. Atzmon said of the album that he "loved the way the music is both beautiful and subversive – the way he basks in the strings but also fights against them." He worked with top bands as a musical producer.
In 1994, Atzmon emigrated from Israel to London, where he attended the University of Essex
University of Essex
The University of Essex is a British campus university whose original and largest campus is near the town of Colchester, England. Established in 1963 and receiving its Royal Charter in 1965...
and earned a Masters degree in Philosophy. He has lived there since, becoming a British citizen in 2002.
Music
While Atzmon's main instrument is the alto saxophoneAlto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
, he also plays soprano
Soprano saxophone
The soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in 1840. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass and tubax.A transposing instrument pitched in...
, tenor
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
and baritone saxophone
Baritone saxophone
The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
s and clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, sol, zurna
Zurna
The zurna , is a multinational outdoor wind instrument, usually accompanied by a davul in Anatolian folk music. The name is from Turkish zurna, itself derived from Persian سرنای surnāy, composed of sūr “banquet, feast” and nāy “reed, pipe”...
and flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
. Atzmon's jazz style has been described as bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
/hard bop
Hard bop
Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...
, with forays into free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
and swing, and seemingly inspired by John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
and Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
. Atzmon sometimes plays the alto and soprano sax simultaneously.
Atzmon's works have also explored the music of the Middle East, North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. 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."
Collaborations and groups
Atzmon joined the veteran punk rockPunk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band Ian Dury and the Blockheads in 1998, and continued with The Blockheads after Dury's death. He also has recorded and performed with Shane McGowan, Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...
, Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
, Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...
and Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
. He has recorded two albums with Robert Wyatt, who describes him as "one of the few musical geniuses I've ever met".
Atzmon has collaborated, recorded and performed with musicians from all around the world, including the Palestinian singer, Reem Kelani
Reem Kelani
Reem Kelani is a Palestinian musician, born in Manchester, England, and brought up in Kuwait. Initially influenced by the jazz music her father played on his record player, a family wedding Reem attended in her maternal home in Galilee in the seventies sparked her interest in Palestinian...
, Tunisian singer and oud
Oud
The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
player Dhafer Youssef
Dhafer Youssef
Dhafer Youssef is a composer, singer and oud player. He developed an interest in jazz at an early age and clandestinely listened to it during his education at a Qur'anic school. He later left Tunisia to start a jazz career and has lived in Europe since 1990, usually in Paris or Vienna. He also...
, violinist Marcel Mamaliga, accordion player Romano Viazzani, bassist Yaron Stavi, violinist and trumpet-violin player, Dumitru Ovidiu Fratila, and Guillermo Rozenthuler on vocals.
Atzmon founded the Orient House Ensemble band in London in 2000 with Asaf Sirkis on drums, Frank Harrison on piano and Oli Hayhurst on bass. In 2003 Yaron Stavi replaced Hayhurst. In 2009 Eddie Hick replaced Sirkis. The group was named after Orient House
Orient House
Orient House is a building located in East Jerusalem that served as the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1980s and 1990s. Built in 1897 by Ismail Musa al-Husseini, it has been owned by the Al-Husayni family since...
, the former East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War...
headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization which was created in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed...
, later seized by the Israeli Defense Forces. The band has produced eight albums. Orient House celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2010, announcing a 40-date tour and a new album.
Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...
, who has said that Atzmon combines "great artistry with a sense of the intrinsically non-racialist philosophy that's implicit in jazz," worked with Atzmon and others on his 2007 album Comercopia . Wyatt collaborated with Atzmon and Ros Stephens, as well as lyricist Alfreda Benge
Alfreda Benge
Alfreda Benge is a lyricist and illustrator. She has been married to musician Robert Wyatt since 1974. She has contributed lyrics to many of his compositions, and has written lyrics for French musician/producer Bertrand Burgalat, and for Brazilian singer Monica Vasconcelos.Benge studied and worked...
, on the 2010 album For the Ghosts Within, released on Domino Records.
Atzmon produced and arranged 2 albums for British-American singer songwriter Sarah Gillespie
Sarah Gillespie
Sarah Gillespie is a British-American singer songwriter based in London. She is known for combining beat poetry lyrics with folk, blues and jazz and for her collaborations with writer and saxophonist Gilad Atzmon.- Biography :...
Stalking Juliet (2009) and In The Current Climate (2011). Both albums were critically acclaimed. Atzmon tours extensively as part of Sarah Gillespie's band, playing saxophone, clarinet and accordion.
Atzmon is on the creative panel of the Global Music Foundation, a non-profit organization formed in December 2004 which runs residential educational and performance workshops and events in different countries around the world. and also offers personal workshops to students. A musical transcription of ten saxophone solos by Atzmon was released in 2010.
Reviews
Atzmon and his ensemble have received favorable reviews from Hi-Fi World, Financial TimesFinancial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
, The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
, Birmingham Post
Birmingham Post
The Birmingham Post newspaper was originally published under the name Daily Post in Birmingham, England, in 1857 by John Frederick Feeney. It was the largest selling broadsheet in the West Midlands, though it faced little if any competition in this category. It changed to tabloid size in 2008...
, The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
and The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
. Reviews of his 2007 album Refuge included:
- Manchester Evening NewsManchester Evening NewsThe Manchester Evening News is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. It is published every day except Sunday and is owned by Trinity Mirror plc following its sale by Guardian Media Group in early 2010. It has an average daily circulation of 90,973 copies...
: "The individuality of the music is extraordinary. No one is more willing to serve his music with raw political passion, and that curious cantorCantorCantor is surname of:* Andrés Cantor , Spanish-language soccer announcer* Anthony Cantor , British diplomat* Arthur Cantor , American theatrical producer* Aviva Cantor , American journalist, lecturer and author...
-like tone on clarinet is immediately arresting, like Artie ShawArtie ShawArthur Jacob Arshawsky , better known as Artie Shaw, was an American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He was also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writings....
writhing in his death throes." - 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)
- BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
: "...the OHE is finding its voice in an increasingly subtle blend of East and West, that’s brutal and beautiful."
In February 2009 The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
music critic John Fordham
John Fordham
John Fordham was Bishop of Durham and Bishop of Ely.Fordham was keeper of the privy seal of Prince Richard from 1376 to 1377 and Dean of Wells before being named Lord Privy Seal in June of 1377. He held that office until December of 1381....
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
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
's late-40s recordings with classical strings".
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."
Awards
Atzmon was the recipient of the HMVHMV
His Master's Voice is a trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone...
Top Dog Award at the Birmingham International Jazz Festival in 1996–1998. Gilad Atzmon's Exile was BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
jazz album of the year in 2003.
Novels
Atzmon's A Guide to the PerplexedA Guide to the Perplexed
A Guide to the Perplexed is a novel written by Israeli-born British musician and Anti-Zionist political activist Gilad Atzmon in 2001.-Synopsis:...
, published in 2001, is set in 2052 when Israel has been replaced by a Palestinian state. 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." A reviewer for The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
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." The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
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." Publisher's Weekly noted "Atzmon clearly wants to provoke, but his approach is so familiar that few readers will take the bait."
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. 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".
Writings and activism
Gilad Atzmon's service as a paramedicParamedic
A paramedic is a healthcare professional that works in emergency medical situations. Paramedics provide advanced levels of care for medical emergencies and trauma. The majority of paramedics are based in the field in ambulances, emergency response vehicles, or in specialist mobile units such as...
in the Israeli Defense Forces during the 1982 Lebanon War
1982 Lebanon War
The 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later known in Israel as the Lebanon War and First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...
caused him to conclude that "I was part of a colonial state, the result of plundering and ethnic cleansing
1948 Palestinian exodus
The 1948 Palestinian exodus , also known as the Nakba , occurred when approximately 711,000 to 725,000 Palestinian Arabs left, fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Civil War that preceded it. The exact number of refugees is a matter of dispute...
." 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.”
Atzmon supports the Palestinian right of return
Palestinian right of return
The Palestinian right of return is a political position or principle asserting that Palestinian refugees, both first-generation refugees and their descendants, have a right to return, and a right to the property they or their forebears left or which they were forced to leave in what is now Israel...
and the one-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Atzmon's political writings have been published in CounterPunch
Counterpunch
Counterpunch can refer to:* Counterpunch , a punch in boxing* CounterPunch, a bi-weekly political newsletter* Counterpunch , a type of punch used in traditional typography* Punch-Counterpunch, a Transformers character...
, Al-Arab
Al-Arab
al-Arab or Alarab is a pan-Arab newspaper published from London, UK, and sold in a number of countries.-External links:* - official webpage, Arabic* - official webpage, English...
online, Uruknet, Middle East Online, The Palestine Telegraph
The Palestine Telegraph
The Palestine Telegraph is the first online newspaper based in the Gaza Strip. Its staff is composed of Palestinians and international volunteers, both professional journalists and, "citizen journalists who do not take assignments from editors or paychecks from corporate controlled media."Sameh...
, Aljazeera Magazine and Aljazeerah.info. (Note neither is connected with the Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
h 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." 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." Atzmon’s activism has included conducting musical fundraisers, contributing to activist publications, and speaking engagements. In 2010 he appeared on Russia Today
RT (TV network)
RT, previously known as Russia Today, is a global multilingual television news network based in the Russian Federation run by the state-owned state-run RIA Novosti....
television network to speak about the Israeli raid on the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla"
Gaza flotilla raid
The Gaza flotilla raid was a military operation by Israel against six ships of the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" on 31 May 2010 in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
Atzmon has defined himself variously as a "secular Jew", a "proud self-hating Jew", an "ex-Jew""a Jew who hates Judaism" and "a Hebrew-speaking Palestinian." 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
Jewish Question
The Jewish question encompasses the issues and resolutions surrounding the historically unequal civil, legal and national statuses between minority Ashkenazi Jews and non-Jews, particularly in Europe. The first issues discussed and debated by societies, politicians and writers in western and...
– 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.” 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." Regarding the one-state solution, Atzmon concedes that such a state probably would be controlled by Islamists, but says, "That's their business."
In articles he has compared the Jewish Ideology to that of the Nazis and has described Israel's policy toward the Palestinians as genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
. David Hirst
David Hirst (journalist)
David Hirst is a veteran Middle East correspondent based in Beirut. He attended Rugby School from 1949 to 1954 and performed his national service in Egypt and Cyprus from 1954 to 1956. From 1956 to 1963 he studied at Oxford University and the American University of Beirut...
, 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.” In 2009 Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara...
cited Atzmon's written comment "Israeli barbarity is far beyond even ordinary cruelty" during a debate with Israeli president Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
.
Allegations of antisemitism
John Lewis writes that Atzmon's anti-Jewish rhetoric has created many foes for Atzmon, even among people once associates. Some Palestinian activists see his statements as discrediting their cause, while the British Socialist Workers Party, which at one time regularly invited him to their annual Marxism event, now distances itself from Atzmon.Several of Atzmon's statements regarding Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
and Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
have led to allegations of antisemitism. In 2004 the Board of Deputies of British Jews
Board of Deputies of British Jews
The Board of Deputies of British Jews is the main representative body of British Jews. Founded in 1760 as a joint committee of the Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jewish communities in London, it has since become a widely recognised forum for the views of the different sectors of the UK Jewish...
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." Atzmon responded in a letter to The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
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."
In a 2005 opinion piece David Aaronovitch
David Aaronovitch
David Aaronovitch is a British author, broadcaster, and journalist. He is a regular columnist for The Times, and author of Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country and Voodoo Histories: the role of Conspiracy Theory in Modern History...
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"; Aaronovitch said Atzmon was "a silly boy advancing slightly dangerous arguments." Aaronovitch also criticized Atzmon for circulating an essay by Paul Eisen defending Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel
Ernst Zündel
Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel is a German Holocaust denier and pamphleteer who was jailed several times in Canada for publishing literature which "is likely to incite hatred against an identifiable group" and for being a threat to national security, in the United States for overstaying his visa,...
and supporting many aspects of Zündel's Holocaust denial theories. Aaronovitch wrote that Atzmon said he had a "slightly different" view than Eisen: "the Holocaust like any other historical narrative is a dynamic process of realisation and interpretation." 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.” In a 2006 opinion piece in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, David Hirsh
David Hirsh
David Hirsh is a Lecturer in Sociology at Goldsmiths College, University of London and the founder of Engage, a campaign against academic boycotts of Israel....
cited Atzmon's "On Anti-Semitism" essay, and particularly its Jewish deicide
Jewish deicide
Jewish deicide is a belief that places the responsibility for the death of Jesus on the Jewish people as a whole.This deicide accusation is expressed in the ethnoreligious slur "Christ-killer." As a part of Second Vatican Council , the Roman Catholic Church under Pope Paul VI issued a declaration...
claim that "the Jews were responsible for the killing of Jesus," as an example of Atzmon's "openly anti-Jewish rhetoric." In response to a question about this quote from Lenni Brenner
Lenni Brenner
Lenni Brenner is an American Marxist Trotskyist writer. In the 1960s, Brenner was a prominent civil rights activist and a prominent opponent of the Vietnam War....
, Atzmon replied that he meant "I find it astonishing that people today happen to be offended by such accusations."
In 2007 the Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism criticized the Swedish Social Democratic Party
Swedish Social Democratic Party
The Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party, , contesting elections as 'the Workers' Party – the Social Democrats' , or sometimes referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' and most commonly as Sossarna ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889...
for inviting Atzmon to speak, saying he had worked to "legitimize the hatred of Jews.” The party defended its choice of speaker. Nick Cohen
Nick Cohen
Nick Cohen is a British journalist, author and political commentator. He is currently a columnist for The Observer, a blogger for The Spectator and TV critic for Standpoint magazine. He formerly wrote for the London Evening Standard and the New Statesman...
, in a 2009 opinion piece for The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, criticised Atzmon's declaration that "Jewish ideology is driving our planet into a catastrophe" and "the Jewish tribal mindset – left, centre and right – sets Jews aside of humanity". In his blog for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, Oliver Kamm
Oliver Kamm
Oliver Kamm is a British writer and journalist. He wrote Anti-Totalitarianism: The Left-wing Case for a Neoconservative Foreign Policy , an advocacy of interventionism in foreign policy....
charges Atzmon with antisemitism for his article "Truth, History and Integrity", 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. . . . It took me years to accept that the Holocaust narrative, in its current form, doesn’t make any historical sense."
According to Irish academic David Landy, a former chair of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Atzmon's words, "if not actually anti-Semitic, certainly border on it". Ynetnews
Ynetnews
Ynetnews is the online English language Israeli news website of Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s most-read newspaper, and the Hebrew Israel news portal, Ynet...
has used Atzmon as an example of Jewish anti-Semitism: "Gilad Atzmon, an Israeli jazz musician, defines himself as anti-Jewish and sees the torching of synagogues as a rational move."
In a review of Howard Jacobson
Howard Jacobson
Howard Jacobson is a Man Booker Prize-winning British Jewish author and journalist. He is best known for writing comic novels that often revolve around the dilemmas of British Jewish characters.-Background:...
's 2010 Man Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
-winning novel The Finkler Question
The Finkler Question
The Finkler Question is a 2010 novel written by British author Howard Jacobson. The novel won the Man Booker Prize in 2010 and was the first comic novel to win the prize since Kingsley Amis's The Old Devils in 1986....
, Edward Alexander writes, "the novel’s Holocaust-denying Israeli yored
Yerida
Yerida is a Hebrew term referring to emigration by Israeli Jews from the State of Israel. Yerida is the opposite of Aliyah , which is immigration to Israel...
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."
In September 2011 trade unionist and blogger Andy Newman wrote in an opinion piece in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
characterized Atzmon's political writing as "a wild conspiracy argument, dripping with contempt for Jews.". In a letter to the editor printed by the Guardian Atzmon wrote that Newman had "misrepresented" his views and that "how to define a Jew is a loaded topic since Jews define themselves in many different ways, some contradictory, and use those definitions to try to achieve political aims."
Alan Dershowitz cited American White Supremacist David Duke
David Duke
David Ernest Duke is a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan an American activist and writer, and former Republican Louisiana State Representative. He was also a former candidate in the Republican presidential primaries in 1992, and in the Democratic presidential primaries in...
, who posts Atzmon's essays on his own site and praises Atzmon for “writ[ing] such fine articles exposing the evil of Zionism and Jewish supremacism.”
In November 2011, Hope not Hate
Hope not Hate
Hope not Hate is an anti-fascism and anti-racism campaign in the United Kingdom organised by Searchlight. It has campaigned against the nationalist and far-right British National Party. and have presented a 90,000 person petition to the European Parliament protesting against the election of Nick...
, a United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
anti-fascism
Anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...
and anti-racism
Anti-racism
Anti-racism includes beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism. In general, anti-racism is intended to promote an egalitarian society in which people do not face discrimination on the basis of their race, however defined...
campaign group issued a call to cancel a Gilad Atzmon performance at the "Raise Your Banners" festival of political song. Bradford Trades Union Council condemned the appearance and the Board of Deputies of British Jews asked the Arts Council, which had funded the festival, to stop the performance. The Arts Council refused the request. Gerry Sutcliffe, the Labour MP for Bradford South, and the Right Reverend David Ison of the Bradford Cathedral also called for the festival to rescind their invitation to Atzmon. The Raise Your Banners director said organisers did not believe the claims of anti-semitism. Atzmon said the Trade Union Council’s letter “stitched together” into one quote phrases from five separate paragraphs to make him look racist. He said he wanted an apology.
Atzmon refers to charges of antisemitism as being a "common Zionist silencing apparatus." 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." In 2009, Atzmon said "I've got nothing against the Semite people, I don't have anything against people — I'm anti-Jewish, not anti-Jews." He added that "Stupidly we interpreted the Nazi defeat as a vindication of the Jewish ideology and the Jewish people", however, "in fact Jewish ideology and Nazi ideology were very similar." In 2009 Atzmon debated David Aaronovitch
David Aaronovitch
David Aaronovitch is a British author, broadcaster, and journalist. He is a regular columnist for The Times, and author of Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country and Voodoo Histories: the role of Conspiracy Theory in Modern History...
and Nick Cohen
Nick Cohen
Nick Cohen is a British journalist, author and political commentator. He is currently a columnist for The Observer, a blogger for The Spectator and TV critic for Standpoint magazine. He formerly wrote for the London Evening Standard and the New Statesman...
on the topic of “Anti-Semitism – Alive and Well in Europe?” at the 2009 Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival.
Atzmon says his statements have lost him performance contracts, especially in the United States. Atzmon has had conflicts with some anti-Zionists who have attempted to stop his performances. He has been defended by several contributors to the CounterPunch
Counterpunch
Counterpunch can refer to:* Counterpunch , a punch in boxing* CounterPunch, a bi-weekly political newsletter* Counterpunch , a type of punch used in traditional typography* Punch-Counterpunch, a Transformers character...
website, for which Atzmon has written.
The Wandering Who?
In 2011, Zero Books published Atzmon's book The Wandering Who? A Study of Jewish Identity Politics whose publisher states the book "examines Jewish identity politics and Jewish contemporary ideology using both popular culture and scholarly texts." Five academics, a journalist and an author were quoted in blurbBlurb
A blurb is a short summary or some words of praise accompanying a creative work, usually used on books without giving away any details, that is usually referring to the words on the back of the book jacket but also commonly seen on DVD and video cases, web portals, and news websites.- History :The...
s in the front of the book. John Mearsheimer
John Mearsheimer
John J. Mearsheimer is an American professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He is an international relations theorist. Known for his book on offensive realism, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, more recently Mearsheimer has attracted attention for co-authoring and publishing...
of the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
wrote that "Gilad Atzmon has written a fascinating and provocative book on Jewish identity in the modern world" and that the book "should be widely read by Jews and non-Jews alike." Richard Falk wrote it was "absorbing and moving" book that everyone who "care[s] about real peace" should "not only read, but reflect upon and discuss widely." James Petras
James Petras
James Petras is a retired Bartle Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York and adjunct professor at Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada who has published prolifically on Latin American and Middle Eastern political issues.-Academic and...
wrote that the book is "a series of brilliant illuminations and critical reflections on Jewish ethnocentrism and the hypocrisy of those who speak in the name of universal values and act tribal" which "uncovers the links between Jewish identity politics in the Diaspora with their ardent support for the oppressive policies of the Israeli state." He also wrote that Atzmon “has the courage to...speak truth to the power of highly placed and affluent Zionists who shape the agendas of war and peace in the English-speaking world."
Ten anti-Zionist authors, including Laurie Penny
Laurie Penny
Laurie Penny is a British columnist, blogger and author.-Early life and education:Penny was born in London and grew up in Brighton. She attended Brighton College. She has written about her hospitalisation at seventeen for anorexia and subsequent recovery.She studied English at Wadham College,...
and Richard Seymour (writer)
Richard Seymour (writer)
Richard Seymour is a British writer, activist and owner of the blog Lenin's Tomb. The author of The Liberal Defence of Murder and other books, Seymour was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland to a Protestant family, and currently lives in London. He is a member of the Socialist Workers Party...
, all of whom have also been published by Zero Books, publicly condemned the publisher in an open letter for releasing the book. They signed a statement arguing:
"The thrust of Atzmon’s work is to normalise and legitimise anti-Semitism. We do not believe that Zero’s decision to publish this book is malicious. Atzmon’s ability to solicit endorsements from respectable figures such as Richard Falk and John Mearsheimer shows that he is adept at muddying the waters both on his own views and on the question of anti-Semitism. But at a time when dangerous forces are attempting to racialise political antagonisms, we think the decision is grossly mistaken."
In The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg
Jeffrey Goldberg
Jeffrey Mark Goldberg is an American journalist. He is an author and a staff writer for The Atlantic, having previously worked for The New Yorker. Goldberg writes principally on foreign affairs, with a focus on the Middle East and Africa...
quoted Atzmon on the Holocaust, Jewish “persecution of Hitler” and Jewish “trafficking in body parts” and took John Mearsheimer to task for “endorsing the writing of a man who espouses neo-Nazi views.” Mearsheimer replied via his co-author professor Stephen Walt
Stephen Walt
Stephen Martin Walt is a professor of international affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Among his most prominent works are and . He coauthored The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy with John Mearsheimer.-Education and career:In 1983, he received a Ph.D. in...
’s blog that “There is no question that the book is provocative, both in terms of its central argument and the overly hot language that Atzmon sometimes uses. But it is also filled with interesting insights that make the reader think long and hard about an important subject. Of course, I do not agree with everything that he says in the book -- what blurber does?”
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history...
wrote a critical article arguing that “some of Israel’s most vocal detractors are crossing a red line between acceptable criticism of Israel and legitimizing anti-Semitism.” Dershowitz uses numerous quotes from the book to support his position that Atzmon is an antisemite who states Jews seek to control the world, conflates “the Jew” and “the Zionist”, writes that Jews are evil and a menace to humanity, encourages readers to doubt the Holocaust and Jewish history, and holds that "Jews are corrupt and responsible for ‘why’ they are ‘hated’ and that Israel is worse than the Nazis." Dershowitz argues that “Even the most radical anti-Zionists in England have distanced themselves from Atzmon.” He writes that “hard-core neo-Nazis, racists, anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers” endorse Atzmon, including David Duke
David Duke
David Ernest Duke is a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan an American activist and writer, and former Republican Louisiana State Representative. He was also a former candidate in the Republican presidential primaries in 1992, and in the Democratic presidential primaries in...
, Kevin B. MacDonald
Kevin B. MacDonald
Kevin B. MacDonald is a professor of psychology at California State University, Long Beach, best known for his use of evolutionary psychology to inform his study of Judaism as being a "group evolutionary strategy."...
and Israel Shamir
Israel Shamir
Israel Shamir is a writer and journalist. He is a commentator on Arab - Israeli relations and Jewish culture. Originally from Novosibirsk, Siberia, Shamir says he moved to Israel in 1969, serving in the 1973 war, after which he took up journalism and writing...
.
He criticizes John Mearsheimer and Richard Falk for endorsing the book and encouraging colleagues, students, and others to read and “reflect upon” Atzmon’s views. He also criticizes others who have defended Atzmon, including Brian Leiter
Brian Leiter
Brian Leiter is an American philosopher and legal scholar who is currently John Wilson Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School, and founder and Director of Chicago's new Center for Law, Philosophy, and Human Values and the editor of the Philosophical Gourmet Report. He taught from...
, William A. Cook, Oren Ben-Dor, and Makram Khoury-Machool. Dershowitz then challenged professors Mearsheimer and Falk to a “public debate about why they have endorsed and said such positive things about so hateful and anti-Semitic a book by so bigoted and dishonest a writer.” In another article Dershowitz called the book “a conspiratorial screed.
Falk rejected Dershowitz' call to debate and wrote to The Daily Caller
The Daily Caller
The Daily Caller is a news website based in Washington, D.C., United States, with a focus on politics, original reporting and breaking news, founded by journalist and political pundit Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel, former adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney...
“I have a limited taste for the sort of defamatory polemics that the Dershowitz attack mounts.” He wrote that "if the book is fairly read, and not denounced, it is concerned exclusively with ‘Jewish identity,’ not with Jews, and explores this reality in a highly personal, passionate, provocative, and honest manner.”
Gilad Atzmon criticized Dershowitz' analysis at his website and offered to debate Dershowitz "any time." He replied to the attacks writing “It seems as if the Zio-cons on both sides of the pond are now in a state of panic” and that critics “launched a typical Hasbara smear & intimidation campaign.”
Kevin B. MacDonald
Kevin B. MacDonald
Kevin B. MacDonald is a professor of psychology at California State University, Long Beach, best known for his use of evolutionary psychology to inform his study of Judaism as being a "group evolutionary strategy."...
, a professor at California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach is the second largest campus of the California State University system and the third largest university in the state of California by enrollment...
called Atzmon’s book “an invaluable account by someone who clearly understands the main symptoms of Jewish pathology." Alan Dershowitz criticized the comments from someone "whose colleagues formally disassociated themselves from his “anti-Semitic and white ethnocentric views,” called Atzmon’s book 'an invaluable account by someone who clearly understands the main symptoms of Jewish pathology.'"Atzmon replied to MacDonald's review stating that MacDonald "is actually frustrated with the lack of any biological determinist or racist reference in my work," noting his book "is a study of Jewish identity politics and Jewish culture, it is not concerned with Jewish ethnicity or racial origins."
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 – 1997
- 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 PerplexedA Guide to the PerplexedA Guide to the Perplexed is a novel written by Israeli-born British musician and Anti-Zionist political activist Gilad Atzmon in 2001.-Synopsis:...
, English translation by Philip Simpson. London: Serpent's Tail, 2002. ISBN 1-85242-826-0 - My one and only love. London: Saqi BooksSaqi BooksSaqi Books is an independent UK publisher co-founded in 1984 by author and feminist Mai Ghoussoub to "print quality academic and general interest books on the Middle East". It now claims to be "the UK's largest publisher of Middle Eastern and Arabic titles"...
, 2005. ISBN 0-86356-507-7 (pbk.). ISBN 978-0-86356-507-6 (pbk.) - The Wandering Who: A Study of Jewish Identity Politics, Zero Books, 2011. ISBN 978-1-84694-875-6
External links
- Gilad Atzmon web site
- Brain Lenzo, Gilad Atzmon Interviewed: Each Village is a Reminder, Eurasia Review, 2010-07-13.
- Interview: Gilad Atzmon by Rob Garratt, Evening News 24, November 11, 2009.
- Gilad Atzmon interview on ArabVoices.net, KPFTKPFTKPFT is a listener-sponsored community radio station in Houston, Texas, which went on the air on March 1, 1970 as the fourth station in the Pacifica radio family. Larry Lee sold the idea to Pacifica to establish listener-supported radio in Houston as an alternative to main-stream broadcasting. The...
, June 2009 during visit to Houston, Texas. - Ivan Hewett, Gilad Altzmon: High-flown ecstasies from an angry man, The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, September 17, 2007. - Gilad Atzmon Interviewed by Mary Rizzo, Middle East Online, July, 2007.