It's time to talk about one thing about Tel Aviv that has constantly caught my attention - its music scene.
So, what about it.
First of all, it's literally everywhere, all the time. Be it weekdays or weekends or holidays. Be it bars, clubs, cafes, streets or people's houses. Neither time nor location seems to bother its music scene. I haven't really made efforts to search for concerts, but the news about shows comes up all the time, and I've always ended up being at one of those every week. Also, music seems to be the most accessible culture here. The performances far outnumber art exhibitions, lectures, literature or political talks or any other kinds of events.
Second, there are surprisingly many of those who make or/and perform music. Even I, who has spent only six weeks in Tel Aviv and is not a crazy concert-goer, can easily name ten musicians that I've had conversations with. How? They are there and they are open and accessible people. Recently, I've even come to a question - whether this city is dominated by IT geeks, entrepreneurs, and musicians.
Third, I can hardly pinpoint dominant or popular genres of music here. Instead, many different genres of music seem to coexist, with each of them enjoying quite a fair amount of attention. It's hard to tell which genres are major and which are minor. This may have resulted from Israel being a country of people from all different corners of the world - European, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, North African, South and North American, etc - who brought different melodies and beats with them to this country. Naturally, music here crosses borders of genres all the time and constantly creating something mixed of several different ingredients.
First of all, it's literally everywhere, all the time. Be it weekdays or weekends or holidays. Be it bars, clubs, cafes, streets or people's houses. Neither time nor location seems to bother its music scene. I haven't really made efforts to search for concerts, but the news about shows comes up all the time, and I've always ended up being at one of those every week. Also, music seems to be the most accessible culture here. The performances far outnumber art exhibitions, lectures, literature or political talks or any other kinds of events.
Second, there are surprisingly many of those who make or/and perform music. Even I, who has spent only six weeks in Tel Aviv and is not a crazy concert-goer, can easily name ten musicians that I've had conversations with. How? They are there and they are open and accessible people. Recently, I've even come to a question - whether this city is dominated by IT geeks, entrepreneurs, and musicians.
Third, I can hardly pinpoint dominant or popular genres of music here. Instead, many different genres of music seem to coexist, with each of them enjoying quite a fair amount of attention. It's hard to tell which genres are major and which are minor. This may have resulted from Israel being a country of people from all different corners of the world - European, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, North African, South and North American, etc - who brought different melodies and beats with them to this country. Naturally, music here crosses borders of genres all the time and constantly creating something mixed of several different ingredients.
The video below was created in collaboration with musicians based in Tel Aviv. It shows an intersting glimpse of the range of music they cover, in the background of the city's urban landscape.
As much as I'm fascinated about the music scene here, I've been trying to figure out what has made it what it is now.
One day, I was walking to the beach with a friend. During the fifteen minutes of walking past shops, down the streets, and finally near the beach, there were already several kinds of music that whipped through our ears. We got to the pier, and again, there was some loud sound of music coming from a bar underneath our feet. I leaned against the rail and asked the friend.
"How come there is so much music in this city? I mean, music exists wherever there are people, of course. But there is something about the music scene here that one can't ignore but has to notice. There is this mood of singing, dancing, and being in music all the time."
My friend, who used to work for many years as a TV news editor, said,
"Perhaps it has something to do with Israel's general conditions. You know, here... people live with notions of insecurity and constant reminders of instability. When I used to work at the TV station, we edited and exported news every 30 minutes. If you think about it, that's a huge amount of news alerts and updates. Imagine what kind of tension it can create. Being conscious of such tension all the time, one will easily lose his mind."
"One needs to release himself."
"Yes."
"Not just through verbal expression, I guess."
"Words are too many, already."
I guess there are a number of explanations, including my friend's, for the unique music scene in Tel Aviv and Israel. Anyhow, his perspective was definitely something I haven't thought about myself.
Last week, I went to a special performance. It was not a usual show for audience, but an improvisation by four musicians for the special purpose of recording. When I arrived at the rooftop of a shabby building in Florentine, the four guys just started it, and several others were filming and recording it. The improvisation went on for hours, with one break in the middle, until it became dark. Here are some moments of the day I captured.