Palestine Think Tank

In the Guardian, musicans from across the popular music spectrum were asked this question:
So who is top of the pops?
Name the best working band or singer in the world today.
That was the simple question they put to scores of musicians. Some chose legends, cult heroes, and Robert Wyatt (looking a bit Vermeerian in the picture!) chose Gilad Atzmon.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jun/26/best-band-rock-pop
Robert Wyatt [...]

The world famous violinist Nigel Kennedy mentioned on stage last Thursday night that jazz is a universal consciousness. Jazz is also a call for freedom and as much as we are very happy to support MAP in our most successful fundraiser so far, it was also very cheering to receive such vast support from the artistic [...]

Conversation with Gilad Atzmon, world-renowned Jazzist:
Bring justice to the Israeli criminals, today!

Interview by: Kourosh Ziabari, MMN

Gilad Atzmon is unique in his stance, unprecedented in his voice and unequivocal in his statements. As an Israel-born jazz musician and anti-Zionist activist, he propagates and chants his anti-Israeli contemplations explicitly and once he finds the opportunity.

As a [...]

Matoula Kousteni: What will you present to us in Megaron?
 
Gilad Atzmon: Hello Matoula, I will be playing material from my latest album Refuge. It is basically a mixture of jazz and ethnic music furnished with electronics. In the last few years I am largely interested in what I tend to define as ‘Urban Folk’.
Matoula: What [...]

Atzmon dedicates his album Musik/Re-arranging the 20th Century with this pregnant sentence: ‘Sooner rather than later musik will free itself and so will the Palestinian people.’ Musik: even the word is a hybrid; emblematic of Atzmon’s art, and his wit, beauty, virtuosity. He weaves poetry into the album, the words of a veteran jazz-rocker, Robert [...]

"I was born in Kufr-Ein, a village in the Governorate of Ramallah. My wife and I currently live in the USA where I work as a chemical engineer. I built the folklore website to express my connection to our rich folklore and help create a place for the seekers of Palestinian Folklore to find and [...]

 
I met a teacher on the train during one of my trips from Bristol to London; she was very kind and she encouraged me to start a conversation. This I can assure you does not happen much. We started to talk about different issues to break the silence and the dull and cold atmosphere that [...]

Jazz musician Gilad Atzmon reflects upon his roots and his inspiration and how his activities as a supporter of the Palestinian cause and his art influence one another.

The Road from Music to Ethics by Gilad Atzmon
An alternative take on the Israeli Palestinian conflict and peace activism
(Postscript by Manuel Talens)Rather often I face the same question when interviewed by Arab media outlets: “Gilad, how is it that you observe that which so many Israelis fail to see?” Indeed, not many Israelis interpret the [...]