Israel’s Sidelined Mizrahi Artists Reclaim Center Stage

This article from 2017 descries the modern resurgence of Jewish Mizrahi music and literature in the Israeli cultural scene, once dominated by Ashkenazim. Among the artists featured in the article are Ecoute, a husband and wife musical group that aims to bring the Middle Eastern music their grandparents listened to into the Israeli mainstream. The above music video is from their album of Mizrahi-style children’s songs, a genre that does not exist in Israeli society, where the songs taught in kindergarten are all inspired by Western, European musical styles. Other artists quoted in the article are Almog Behar, a novelist and poet who incorporates Arabic language and culture into his work, and the Firgat Alnoor Orchestra, which aims to reintroduce Eastern sounds and the Arabic language into the Israeli cultural scene.