by Gary D. Keenan (1) Friday, Dec. 08, 2006 at 2:00 PM
Gilad Atzmon is a truly remarkable and unique individual.Gilad Atzmon is a truly remarkable and unique individual. As well as being a gifted and multi-award winning jazz saxophonist/clarinetist, composer and arranger, he is also a fearless, relentless and very effective opponent of Zionism and Israel, his country of birth.As well as being a gifted and multi-award winning jazz saxophonist/clarinetist, composer and arranger, he is also a fearless, relentless and very effective opponent of Zionism and Israel, his country of birth.
Those with an avid interest in Middle East affairs will be familiar with Gilad's many thoughtful articles in various publications and on the Internet in which he eloquently and forthrightly expresses his unequivocal support for Palestinians in their near sixty year struggle against ethnic-cleansing, dispossession, oppression, occupation and humiliation. He has also written two novels, A Guide to the Perplexed and My One and Only Love .
Born in Jerusalem a few years before Israel launched the pivotal 1967 war and raised as a secular Jew, Gilad studied jazz and composition at the Rubin Academy of Music, performed extensively and served his obligatory time in the military.
Enraged and deeply depressed by the horrors he witnessed Israeli occupation forces perpetrate against Palestinians and Lebanese, Gilad could no longer bear living in Israel and decided to go into exile. He immigrated to Britain to study philosophy and continue his career in music.
Not surprisingly, Gilad has enjoyed great success as a musician in Britain.
He also had the good fortune to meet Asaf Sirkis, a fellow Israeli exile and a brilliant drummer/ percussionist. Inspired by Asaf, Gilad's music took a new turn. Expanding upon his love of American bebop, he fulfilled a long held desire and incorporated into his playing the music of the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe.
Ever mindful of why he had left Israel and constantly aware of the ongoing suffering it was inflicting on Palestinians and other Arabs, Gilad felt compelled to do something meaningful in protest. Accordingly, he chose to devote a great portion of his life as a musician to the struggle against Zionism.
Gilad went on to found the Orient House Ensemble (named after the Palestinian Authority headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem/the Old City ransacked by Israel) in London and recorded a number of critically claimed albums that testify to the group's solidarity with Palestinians.
As a result, Gilad has established himself not only as one of the world's most adventurous and creative jazz musicians but also an uncompromising and heralded champion of human rights.
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