From the desk of David Shasha: «Jewish Music in Yemen: Shalom Sana’a»

This is the weekly column of David Shasha in eSefarad.

Jewish Music in Yemen: Shalom Sana’a
By: The Economist

Listening to its lyrics, is it not surprising that residents of Sana’a, the Yemeni capital, are fond of Zion Golan’s song «Sana’a al-Yemen«. The catchy tribute to the city’s charms is frequently heard blaring from stereos and minibus speakers. «Come with me to Sana’a,» Mr Golan sings in Yemeni Arabic. «Sana’a, my home, you’ll like it.»

But although the lyrics refer to Sana’a as home, its singer has never set foot in the city. As an Israeli Jew, it would be impossible for him to do so without a second, non-Israeli, passport.

Mr Golan is one of more than 300,000 Israelis who trace their roots to Yemen, once home to a significant Jewish community dating back to at least the 2nd century. The bulk of Yemen’s Jews left when Israel carried out Operation Magic Carpet, an airlift in the wake of the state’s 1948 foundation. Some were keen to escape Yemen’s instability and poverty and instances of anti-Jewish violence. Others left more reluctantly, perhaps not wanting to be separated from family. Persecution continued; in 2007 many Jews in the north had to hole up in a hotel to escape Islamists.

Today barely a hundred Jews remain. But cultural ties have survived. Yemeni restaurants in Israel’s Tel Aviv serve traditional cuisine; some markets discreetly stock qat, a leafy mild narcotic popular in Yemen and the Horn of Africa. And Israelis of Yemeni descent such as Mr Golan and the late Ofra Haza, a pop star famed for her fusion of western and eastern sounds, have written music that has found an audience in Yemen, since it is grounded in the traditions of their ancestral home.

The artists’ bootleg albums have long been bought and sold underground (trade with Israel is illegal in Yemen). More recently, the internet has made the songs more accessible. Young Yemenis watch performances on YouTube, sharing them on social networking sites such as Facebook, where they often express astonishment at the resilience of Yemeni culture and lament the Jewish community’s near-extinction here.

The songs are controversial in some quarters. Yemen is defined as an “enemy state” under Israeli law. Most Yemenis are critical of the Israeli government and sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. But Mr Golan’s Yemeni fans cast such concerns as separate from the issue at hand. “Politics is politics,” remarks a university student in the capital. “Music is music.”

From The Economist, January 22, 2014

by David Shasha to eSefarad.
Copyright David Shasha & eSefarad all rights reserved
Copyright David Shasha & eSefarad todos los derechos reservados.

 

David Shasha is the founder and director of the Center for Sephardic Heritage in Brooklyn, New York designed to raise awareness of the history and culture of Arab Jews.  He publishes the Sephardic Heritage Update, a weekly e-mail newsletter available on Google Groups.  He has written for publications such as the Huffington Post, Tikkun magazine, The Progressive Christian, and The American Muslim.  You can contact him at david.shasha.shu@gmail.com