UNITED KINGDOM: Controversial Israeli-born jazz star Gilad Atzmon expresses his support for the people of Gaza and calls on Israel's government to permanently end conflict in the region

Record ID: 703973

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Controversial Israeli-born jazz star Gilad Atzmon expresses his support for the people of Gaza and calls on Israel's government to permanently end conflict in the region
  • Date: 4th August 2014
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (AUGUST 2, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF PASSING CLOUDS LIVE MUSIC VENUE
  • Embargoed: 19th August 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Conflict,Entertainment,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9ZXZZY7C26OJCPV2Z4TQJAG64
  • Story Text: Internationally renowned jazz musician, composer and writer Gilad Atzmon is as well known for his controversial written attacks on his Israeli birthplace and former homeland as he is for his virtuoso saxophone playing.
    Embarking on the latest leg of a world tour to promote his album 'Songs of the Metropolis' with the Orient House Ensemble, Atzmon - who has previously described himself as a "Hebrew-speaking Palestinian" - expressed his support for the people of Gaza on Saturday (August 2).
    "Their next door neighbour is the Jewish state. It is a racist, supremacist state with a racially driven legal system that welcomes every Jew on this planet to come to a land that they allegedly left two thousand years ago, while banning the people of the land to return to their homes, land, orchards, and so on," Atzmon said.
    In a recent blog post on his website entitled 'The End of Israel', Atzmon wrote Hamas had lured Israel into Gaza and dictated the terms of the conflict, now in its fourth week, which meant Israel could never succeed.
    On Saturday, the 51-year-old said far from Israel having achieved its military objectives, reports in Israeli media that troops were pulling out of Gaza indicated its defeat.
    "In spite of the serious casualties for civilians, the Israeli army as a military force, was defeated in Gaza. It didn't achieve any of its military objectives and it made the tunnels into an objective because it knew that it cannot achieve any military objectives" he said.
    During Saturday's concert at the Passing Clouds live music venue in Dalston in East London, Atzmon dedicated a new song to "our brothers and sisters in Gaza" adding that "they gave the Israelis a good fight and bless them, and inshallah (God Willing), they'll win very soon".
    Atzmon's publications on his website, in newspaper columns and in books, are frequently controversial and have led to allegations of anti-Semitism.
    When asked about incidents of anti-Semitism in other countries, Atzmon said the actions of Israel itself were to blame.
    "It is the rise, or the exposure, of genocidal intent in Israel that brings along anti Jewish feeling," he said.
    The musician, who lives in London and became a British citizen in 2002 having renounced his Israeli citizenship, said he believed a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinian Occupied Territories was unworkable. But he said Israel could bring about peace unilaterally by welcoming Palestinians and sharing the land.
    "If Israel wants to settle, to fulfill the Zionist dream to become civilised Jews, all they have to do is to say: 'We stop. We understand this land belongs to two people. We welcome the Palestinians to come back,'" Atzmon said.
    Regularly playing more than 100 shows a year, both with the Orient House Ensemble and long-standing British rock band The Blockheads, Atzmon was called "the hardest-gigging man in British jazz" by The Times newspaper. He has also recorded and performed with the likes of Paul McCartney and Robbie Williams.
    Atzmon said he draws on Arabic music for inspiration and his style of playing changed when he learnt how to channel anger into his work, something which he believes the majority of jazz musicians fail to do.
    "Jazz music has become too, what we call in England, muso-ish, it's very muso, very intellectual, very clever, very dry and very boring. I think that music should have passion in it, it should express anger," he said.
    In addition to various saxophones, Atzmon plays clarinet, sol, zurna and flute, while his musical style has been described as a fusion between bebop and hard bop, dipping into free jazz and swing.
    Atzmon, who is about to start recording his 14th solo album, said he had no plans to either slow down or mellow out.
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