Revision 283207702 of "Gilad Atzmon" on enwiki

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{{Infobox Person
|name=Gilad Atzmon<br />{{lang|he|גלעד עצמון}}
|image         = Gilad Atzmon.jpg
|image_size    = 180px
|caption       = Gilad Atzmon
|birth_name=Gilad Atzmon
|birth_date    = {{Birth date and age|mf=yes|1963|6|9}}
|birth_place   = [[Tel Aviv]], [[Israel]]
|residence     = London
|nationality   = [[Israel]]i and British<ref name=%26quot%3BSt%2E Clair"/>
|known_for     = Musician, political activist
|education     = [[Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance|Rubin Academy of Music]], [[University of Essex]]
|occupation    = Musician
|website       = [http://www.gilad.co.uk/ www.gilad.co.uk]
}}

'''Gilad Atzmon''' ({{lang-he|גלעד עצמון}}, born June 9, 1963, [[Israel]]) is an Israeli-born British [[jazz musician]], and is known as an author and activist who is critical of both [[Zionism]] and [[Judaism]].<ref name=%26quot%3Bgilchrist222%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%7B%7Bcite news|url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/39I-thought-music-could-heal.3804991.jp?CommentPage=1&CommentPageLength=1000|title='I thought music could heal the wounds of the past. I may have got that wrong'|last=Gilchrist|first=Jim|date=22 February 2008|work=[[The Scotsman]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref> His album ''Exile'' was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003,<ref name=%26quot%3BJazzHot%26quot%3B%26gt%3BGilad Atzmon, [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3647173/How-jazz-got-hot-again.html How jazz got hot again], [[The Telegraph]], October 13, 2005.</ref> and he has been described as "one of London's finest saxophonists".<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B Playing over 100 dates a year,<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B he has been called "surely the hardest-gigging man in British jazz".<ref>''The Times'', 6 March 2009, [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/cd_reviews/article5852689.ece Gilad Atzmon: In Loving Memory of America]</ref> His albums, of which he has recorded nine to date,<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B often explore political themes and the music of the Middle East. He has also written two novels, which have been translated into over 20 languages.<ref name=%26quot%3Bgibson%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%7B%7Bcite news|url=http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/Default.aspx?s=3&s1=2&id=8879|title=No choice but to speak out - Israeli musician ‘a proud self-hating Jew’|last=Gibson|first=Martin|date=23 January 2009|work=[[Gisborne Herald]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref> 


    Dear friends, it is with great regret that I must announce a sad tragedy.  
   It seems that Tony Greenstein was performing a cornhold on Roland Rance, when Roland had a sudden bout of violent flatulence.  
   Alas, both comrades were blown to smithereens and are now in the great Gulag of the Sky.

   ---  Mark Elf, Agagite 



==Early life==

He was born a [[secular]] [[Israel]]i [[Jew]] in [[Tel Aviv]], and trained at the [[Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance|Rubin Academy of Music]] in [[Jerusalem]].<ref name=%26quot%3BGMF-GA%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%7B%7Bcite web
| url         = http://www.globalmusicfoundation.org/people.html#GA
| title       = Gilad Atzmon
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| work        = People
| publisher   = Global Music Foundation
}}
</ref> His service as a [[paramedic]] in the [[Israeli Defense Forces]] during [[1982 Lebanon War|the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon]] caused him reach the conclusion that "I was part of a colonial state, the result of plundering and ethnic cleansing."<ref name=%26quot%3BSt%2E Clair">{{cite web
| url         = http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair07192003.html
| title       = You Must Leave Home, Again: Gilad Atzmon's "A Guide to the Perplexed"
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| last        = St. Clair
| first       = Jeffery
| authorlink  = Jeffrey St. Clair
| date        = July 19, 2003
| publisher   = [[CounterPunch]]
}}
</ref><ref name=%26quot%3BLewis%26quot%3B%26gt%3B[http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eguardian%2Eco%2Euk%2Fmusic%2F2009%2Fmar%2F06%2Fgilad-atzmon-israel-jazz-interview%23history-byline "Manic beat preacher" interview with John Lewis], [[The Guardian]], March 6, 2009.</ref>

Atzmon studied jazz and composition at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem.<ref name=%26quot%3BCryFreedom%26quot%3B%26gt%3B[http%3A%2F%2Ffindarticles%2Ecom%2Fp%2Farticles%2Fmi_qa3724%2Fis_200308%2Fai_n9275160 Cry freedom], [[The Spectator]] August 9, 2003.</ref> He first became interested in British [[jazz]] when he discovered some in a British record shop in Jerusalem in the 1970s. He initially was inspired by the work of [[Ronnie Scott]] and [[Tubby Hayes]] and regarded London as “the Mecca of Jazz.”<ref name=%26quot%3BJazzHot%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B He also was influenced to become a jazz musician by the work of [[Charlie Parker]], in particular ''[[Charlie Parker with Strings]]'' recorded in 1949. Atzmon said of the album that he "loved the way the music is both beautiful and subversive - they way he basks in the strings but also fights against them."<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B  He worked with top bands as a musical producer.<ref>Barnaby Smith, [http://www.tourdates.co.uk/LondonTourdates/issue-007/2007/10/05/222-Sax-With-An-Axe-To-Grind Sax With An Axe To Grind], [http://www.tourdates.co.uk/ London Tour Dates], October 5, 2007.</ref>

In 1994,<ref name=%26quot%3BRainLore bio">{{cite web
| url         = http://www.rainloresworldofmusic.net/Artists/Artists_A-D/Atzmon_Gilad.html
| title       = Profile - Gilad Atzmon
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| date        = March 21, 2003
| publisher   = Rainlore's World of Music
}}
</ref> Atzmon emigrated from Israel to London, where he attended the [[University of Essex]]<ref>[http://www.essex.ac.uk/news/2007/nr20071214.htm University of Essex news release],
Dec 14, 2007 notes Atzmon is a “graduate.”</ref> and earned a Masters degree in Philosophy.<ref name=%26quot%3BCryFreedom%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B He has lived there since,<ref name=gilchrist222%2F%26gt%3B becoming a British citizen in 2002.<ref name=%26quot%3BSt%2E Clair"/>

==Music==
While Atzmon's main instrument is the alto [[saxophone]], he also plays soprano, tenor and baritone saxophones and [[clarinet]], [[sol]], [[zurna]] and [[flute]].<ref name=%26quot%3BGMF-GA%26quot%3B /> Atzmon's jazz style has been described as [[bebop]]/[[hard bop]], with forays into [[free jazz]] and [[swing]], and seemingly inspired by [[John Coltrane]] and [[Miles Davis]].<ref name=%26quot%3BRainLore bio" /> Atzmon sometimes plays the alto and soprano sax simultaneously.<ref name=%26quot%3BRainLore bio" />

Atzmon's works have also explored the music of the Middle East, [[North Africa]], and [[Eastern Europe]].<ref name=%26quot%3BAtzmonhomepage%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%7B%7Bcite web
| url         = http://www.gilad.co.uk/index.html
| title       = GILAD ATZMON - MUSICIAN, COMPOSER, PRODUCER, EDUCATOR, WRITER 
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| last        = Atzmon
| first       = Gilad
| year        = 2007
| publisher   = Gilad Atzmon
}}
</ref> He draws on [[Arabic music]] (which unlike Western music needs to be internalised - "there is no way to write Arabic music"<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B%29 to emphasise "reverting to the primacy of the ear",<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B encouraging students to sing jazz and bebop lines before picking up their instruments.<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B "Atzmon's musical method has been to play with notions of cultural identity, flirting with genres such as tango and klezmer as well as various Arabic, Balkan, Gypsy and Ladino folk forms."<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B Atzmon's recordings differ from his live shows. Atzom told ''The Guardian'' that this is "very deliberate. I don't think that anyone can sit in a house, at home, and listen to me play a full-on bebop solo. It's too intense. My albums need to be less manic."<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B

Atzmon has created the "Benny Hill-like alter ego - a fanatical Zionist" Artie Fishel, on the album ''Artie Fishel & the Promised Band'', which has been described as "musical anarchy."<ref name=%26quot%3BBBC-AF%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%7B%7Bcite web
| url         = http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/grp2/
| title       = Gilad Atzmon: Artie Fishel And The Promised Band
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| last        = Shackleton
| first       = Kathryn 
| date        = October 16, 2006
| publisher   = [[BBC]]
}}
</ref> With traditional [[klezmer music]], dialogue, and jokes, the album features Atzmon on saxophone, [[John Turville]] on keys and electronics, [[Yaron Stavi]] on bass, and [[Asaf Sirkis]] on drums.<ref name=%26quot%3BGA-AF%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%7B%7Bcite web
| url         = http://www.gilad.co.uk/html%20files/artiefishel.htm
| title       = ARTIE FISHEL & THE PROMISED BAND
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| last        = Atzmon
| first       = Gilad
| year        = 2007
| publisher   = Gilad Atzmon
}}
</ref><ref>[http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com/index.php/Magazine-Features/Features/Gilad-Atzmon-Not-strictly-kosher.html Gilad Atzmon, Not Strictly Kosher], [[Jazzwise]], January 17, 2007.</ref> Other artists include vocalist [[Guillermo Rozenthuler]], [[Koby Israelite]] on vocals and accordion, and [[Ovidiu Fratila]] on violin.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/mixingit/pip/lpuxw/ Mixing it feature], [[BBC]] Radio, October 6, 2006.</ref>

===Collaborations and groups===
Atzmon joined the veteran [[punk rock]] band [[Ian Dury and the Blockheads]] in 1998, and continued with The Blockheads after Dury's death.<ref>Stephen Robb, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6253257.stm The old Blockheads shows go on],
[[BBC News]],  January 25, 2007.</ref> He has also recorded and performed with [[Shane McGowan]], [[Robbie Williams]], [[Sinéad O'Connor]], [[Robert Wyatt]] and [[Paul McCartney]].<ref name=%26quot%3BGMF-GA%26quot%3B /><ref name=%26quot%3BAtzmonhomepage%26quot%3B /> He has recorded two albums with Robert Wyatt, who describes him as "one of the few musical geniuses I've ever met".<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B

Atzmon has collaborated, recorded and performed with musicians from all around the world, including the Palestinian singer, [[Reem Kelani]], Tunisian singer and [[oud]] player [[Dhafer Youssef]], violinist [[Marcel Mamaliga]], accordion player [[Romano Viazzani]], bassist [[Yaron Stavi]], violinist and trumpet-violin player, [[Dumitru Ovidiu Fratila]], and [[Guillermo Rozenthuler]] on vocals.<ref name=%26quot%3BRainLore bio" />

Atzmon founded the '''Orient House Ensemble''' band in London in the 1990s and is currently touring with them.<ref name=%26quot%3BAtzmonhomepage%26quot%3B /> The band includes Asaf Sirkis on drums, Yaron Stavi on bass and [[Frank Harrison]] on keyboard.<ref name=%26quot%3BAtzmonhomepage%26quot%3B />  It has produced five albums in eight years.<ref name=Shackleton%26gt%3BKathryn Shackleton, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/5vp2/ Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble, Refuge], [[BBC]], October 1, 2007.</ref>

Atzmon is on the creative panel of the ''Global Music Foundation'',<ref name=%26quot%3BGMF-GA%26quot%3B /> a non-profit organization formed in December 2004 which runs residential educational and performance workshops and events in different countries around the world.<ref name=%26quot%3BGMF%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%7B%7Bcite web
| url         = http://www.globalmusicfoundation.org/about.html
| title       = About GMF
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| publisher   = Global Music Foundation
}}
</ref>, and also offers personal workshops to students.<ref name=%26quot%3BAtzmon-Workshop%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%7B%7Bcite web
| url         = http://www.gilad.co.uk/education.htm
| title       = MUSIC EDUCATION 
| accessdate  = 2008-10-28
| last        = Atzmon
| first       = Gilad
| year        = 2007
| publisher   = Gilad Atzmon
}}
</ref>

===Reviews===

Atzmon and his ensemble have received favorable reviews from ''Hi-Fi World, [[Financial Times]], [[The Scotsman]], [[The Guardian]], [[Birmingham Post]], [[The Sunday Times]]'' and ''[[The Independent]]''.<ref>[http://www.gilad.co.uk/ Gilad Atzmon web site].</ref>  Reviews of his 2007 album ''Refuge'' included:
:''[[Manchester Evening News]]'': The individuality of the music is extraordinary. No one is more willing to serve his music with raw political passion, and that curious cantor-like tone on clarinet is immediately arresting, like Artie Shaw writhing in his death throes.<ref>Alan Brownlee, [http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/music/world_music/s/1015/1015003_gilad_atzmon__the_orient_house_ensemble__refuge_enja.html Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble - Refuge (Enja)], [[Manchester Evening News]], August 30, 2007.</ref>
:''EjazzNews'': "For sheer improvisational fireworks, quirky humour and genre-defying invention, one will be hard-pressed to find a bandleader as unique as Gilad Atzmon." ("EjazzNews," September 2008)<ref>John Stevenson, [http://www.ejazznews.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News%26amp%3Bfile%3Darticle%26amp%3Bsid%3D9791%26amp%3Bmode%3Dthread%26amp%3Border%3D0%26amp%3Bthold%3D0  Gilad Atzmon liberates the Americans: Orient House Ensemble, Ronnie Scott’s London, August 30th 2008], [http://ejazznews.com EJazzNews.com], September 01, 2008.</ref>
:[[BBC]]: "...the OHE is finding its voice in an increasingly subtle blend of East and West, that’s brutal and beautiful."<ref name=Shackleton%2F%26gt%3B

In November 2008 Chris Searle launched his book ''Forward Groove: Jazz and the Real World from Louis Armstrong to Gilad Atzmon'' at the [[London Jazz Festival]]. It "chronicles the development of jazz and its great exponents" alongside social developments and political protest movements. The reviewer noted that “the torch continues to be carried by contemporary musicians such as Israeli-born alto saxman Gilad Atzmon who dreams of a free and united Palestine.”<ref>Ian Soutar,  [http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/arts/Former-head-chronicles-a-passion.4693307.jp Former head chronicles a passion for jazz and justice], [[Sheffield Telegraph]], November 14, 2008.</ref>

In February 2009 ''[[The Guardian]]'' music critic John Fordham reviewed Atzmon's newest album ''In loving memory of America'' which Atzmon describes as "a memory of America I had cherished in my mind for many years".  It includes five standards and six originals "inspired by the sumptuous harmonies and impassioned sax-playing of [[Charlie Parker|(Charlie) Parker]]'s late-40s recordings with classical strings".<ref>John Fordham, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/feb/27/gilad-atzmon-loving-memory-america Gilad Atzmon: In Loving Memory of America], [[The Guardian]], February 27, 2009.</ref>

While John Lewis praises much of Atzmon's work, he notes that "trenchant politics often sit uneasily alongside music, particularly when that music is instrumental."  Lewis criticized his 2006 comedy klezmer project, "Artie Fishel and the Promised Band," as "a clumsy satire on what he regards as the artificial nature of Jewish identity politics."<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B

===Awards===
Atzmon was the recipient of the HMV Top Dog Award at the Birmingham International Jazz Festival in 1996–1998.<ref name=%26quot%3BRainLore bio" />  Gilad Atzmon's ''Exile'' was [[BBC]] jazz album of the year in 2003.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/entertainment/3107607.stm Jazz winners span generations], [[BBC]], July 30, 2003.</ref>

==Novels==
Atzmon's novels have been published in 22 languages. His first novel ''[[A Guide to the Perplexed]]'', published in 2001, is set in a future where by 2052 Israel has been replaced by a Palestinian state for 40 years. It largely reviews memoirs of the alienated Israeli Gunther Wunker’s rise to fame as a "peepologist," or voyeur. The perplexed are defined as "the unthinking Chosen" who "cling to clods of earth that don't belong to them." The novel excoriates the commercialization of the Holocaust and "argues that the Holocaust is invoked as a kind of reflexive propaganda designed to shield the Zionist state from responsibility for any transgression against Palestinians."<ref name=%26quot%3BSt%2E Clair"/> [[The Independent]] reviewer wrote that “Those who still thrill to the pages of Sixties underground "comix" may find some of this amusing, however laboured. Yet even those semi-sympathetic to its politics will find it cheap and "provocative" in the worst possible sense.” He also wrote that the book has "just enough connection with reality to give it a certain unsettling power.”<ref>Matthew Reisz, [http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/a-guide-to-the-perplexed-by-gilad-atzmon-trans-philip-simpson-609999.html A crude - and rude - assault on Israel misfires], ''The Independent'', December 7, 2002.</ref> [[The Guardian]] review notes it is “odd to mix knob gags with highly serious assertions” but that it works because “Atzmon writes with so much style and his gags are so hilarious.”<ref>Darren King, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/jan/25/featuresreviews.guardianreview16 Mr. Peepology], [[The Guardian]], January 25, 2003.</ref>

Atzmon's second novel, ''My One and Only Love'' was published in 2005, and features as a protagonist a trumpeter who chooses to play only one note (extremely well) as well as a spy who uncovers Nazi war criminals and locks them inside double bass cases which then tour permanently in the protagonist's orchestra's luggage.<ref>Sholto Byrnes,, ''The Independent'', 25 March 2005, [http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/talking-jazz-529796.html Talking Jazz]</ref> The book also is comedic take on "Zionist espionage and intrigue" which explores "the personal conflict between being true to one’s heart and being loyal to The Jews'.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/articles/2004/10/01/gilad_event_feature.shtml BBC book launch announcement], [[BBC]], Jun 3, 2005.</ref>

==Politics==
Atzmon describes himself as a political artist.<ref name=%E2%80%9DCryFreedom%E2%80%9D%26gt%3B[http%3A%2F%2Ffindarticles%2Ecom%2Fp%2Farticles%2Fmi_qa3724%2Fis_200308%2Fai_n9275160 Cry freedom], [[The Spectator]] August 9, 2003.</ref> He also has called himself "a Hebrew-speaking Palestinian" who plays music for the Palestinian cause.<ref name=%26quot%3Bgilchrist222%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B After the prime minister of [[Turkey]], [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]] had cited Atzmon during a debate with Israeli president [[Shimon Peres]], music critic John Lewis wrote in ''[[The Guardian]]'': "It is Atzmon's blunt anti-Zionism rather than his music that has given him an international profile, particularly in the Arab world, where his essays are widely read."<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B 

Atzmon is opposed to [[Zionism]] and critiques what he describes as the “supremacist nature inherent in an ideology like Zionism.” He supports the [[Palestinian Right of Return]] as well as the establishment of a [[One state solution|single state in Israel/Palestine]].<ref name=%26quot%3BRizzo%26quot%3B%26gt%3BMary Rizzo, [http://www.counterpunch.org/atzmon06172005.html The Gag Artists, Who's Afraid of Gilad Atzmon?], [[CounterPunch]], June 17, 2005</ref> Some of his comments have led to accusations of 
[[antisemitism]] and [[holocaust denial]], which he denies.<ref name=%26quot%3Bgilchrist222%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B  

Atzmon labels the term “antisemitism” as an [[floating signifier|empty signifier]], holding that “criticism of Jewish nationalism, Jewish lobbying and Jewish power can only be realised as a legitimate critique of ideology and practice.”<ref>Gilad Atzmon, [http://palestinethinktank.com/2008/09/02/gilad-atzmon-the-wandering-who The Wandering Who?], Palestine Think Tank, September 9, 2008.</ref> He states that "antisemitism is a spin, it is a myth...there is no such a thing as antisemitism." <ref>Gilad Atzmon, [http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/04/07/gilad-atzmon-aaronovitchs-tantrum-and-the-demolition-of-jewish-power/ Aaronvitch's Tantrum and the Demolition of Jewish Power], Palestine Think Tank, April 7, 2009.</ref>

Atzmon has disseminated his political views through his performances, speaking engagements and publications. He has been published in ''[[CounterPunch]]'',<ref>Gilad Atzmon, 28 August 2003, [http://www.counterpunch.org/atzmon08282003.html Collective Self-Deception: The Most Common Mistakes of Israelis]</ref> [[Al Jazeera]], Uruknet[http://www.uruknet.info], Middle East On Line[http://www.middle-east-online.com], Dissident Voice[http://dissidentvoice.org], and Atlantic Free Press[http://www.atlanticfreepress.com]. Many of his published papers are available on his personal website.<ref>[http://www.gilad.co.uk/politiks.htm Politiks] at Gilad Atzmon web site.</ref>  He is a co-founder of and contributor to the web site [[Palestine Think Tank]]<ref name=PTTabout%26gt%3B[http%3A%2F%2Fpalestinethinktank%2Ecom%2Fabout%2F About PalestineThinkTank.com page].</ref> 

Atzmon has engaged in “furious attacks on Israel.”<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B His military service led him to believe that Israel was a “racist, militarised state that was a danger to world peace” and that Israel’s actions “sow hatred throughout the world.” He compares the Israeli actions to those of the [[Nazis]], and said that the [[Rocket_and_mortar_attacks_on_southern_Israel]] did not justify the Israeli military response in [[2008-2009 Israel-Gaza conflict]].  He described Israel’s attacks on Palestinians as increasingly brutal, its nuclear weapons as "idiotic" and a threat to the region.<ref name=%26quot%3Bgibson%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B  

Atzmon extends his criticism of Israel to Zionism and Judaism,<ref name=%26quot%3Bgilchrist222%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B including through philosophical texts on [[Jewish identity]] discussed by the likes of [[Noam Chomsky]].<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B  Atzmon says the military experience of “my people destroying other people left a big scar” and led to his condemnation of “Jewishness” as "very much a supremacist, racist tendency".<ref name=%26quot%3Bgilchrist222%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B  Atzmon has asked “How is it that people who have suffered so much and for so long can inflict so much pain on the other?” and questions ‘How can Zionists, who are motivated by a genuine desire to return, be so blind when it comes to the very similar Palestinian desire?”<ref name=%26quot%3BCryFreedom%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B 

Atzmon has stated in the past that he has effectively “renounced his Jewish identity” but explains his being sometimes "loud and rude” by saying “You can take the Jew out of Israel but you cannot take Israel out of the Jew." He states his writings and music are "self-reflective" and that "When I criticise the Jews, in many cases I'm criticising myself."<ref name=%26quot%3Bgilchrist222%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B

Atzmon believes the financial meltdown “is all just part of the programme,” including the [[Iraq war]], of “America acting as an Israeli mission for fighting the last pockets of resistance, led tactically by Neoconservatives and the Federal Reserve.” He says there was not a [[credit crunch]] but a “Zionist punch” and that "Alan Greenspan's job was to create a financial boom so America's people were not concerned with the tactics used in the Middle East.” He says non-Jews like former U.S. president [[George W. Bush]] also "behaved Jewishly": "Even in Christianity, this tendency to go Old Testament - into tribalism, into supremacy, into violence, into shock and awe . . .  This is something we have to fight against."<ref name=%26quot%3Bgibson%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B 

Atzmon has had conflicts with some Jewish anti-Zionists whom he claims fail to listen to Palestinian activists but “prefer to act under your Jewish banner” and “run campaigns solely with your Jewish comrades.”<ref name=%26quot%3BRizzo%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B He asserts "The Palestinian cause doesn't belong to any one person. And I don't identify with any political party. That's the advantage the artist has over the politician.”<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B  

===Allegations of antisemitism and responses===
In May 2005 the [[Board of Deputies of British Jews]] criticized Atzmon for this quote from a talk: "I'm not going to say whether it is right or not to burn down a synagogue, I can see that it is a rational act."<ref name=%26quot%3Bges2004%26quot%3B%26gt%3BPolly Curtis, [http://education.guardian.co.uk/racism/story/0,,1481647,00.html Soas faces action over alleged anti-semitism], ''[[The Guardian]]'', May 12, 2004.</ref> Protesters tried to get one venue to cancel his sold out shows.<ref>[http://www.ejazznews.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News%26amp%3Bfile%3Darticle%26amp%3Bsid%3D7022%26amp%3Bmode%3Dthread%26amp%3Border%3D0%26amp%3Bthold%3D0   Gigs: Jewish Jazz Star Slams ‘Anti-semitic’ Slurs], [http://ejazznews.com EjazzNews.com], October 23, 2006.</ref>  Atzmon responded in a letter to ''[[The Observer]]'' that he meant “since Israel presents itself as the 'state of the Jewish people’” that "any form of anti-Jewish activity may be seen as political retaliation" for Israel's actions.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/apr/24/letters.theobserver|title=Letters to the Editor|last=Atzmon|first=Gilad|date=24 April 2005|work=[[The Observer]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref>

Soon after [[Jews Against Zionism]] asked Bookmarks, the bookshop of the [[Socialist Workers Party]] to withdraw an invitation to Atzmon to speak at a book launch because he had distributed to his email list a paper called "The Holocaust Wars" written by [[Paul Eisen]].<ref name=Rizzo%2F%26gt%3B%26lt%3Bref%26gt%3BPaul Eisen, [http://www.righteousjews.org/article18.htm The Holocaust Wars], RighteousJews.org, December 2004.</ref>   [[David Aaronovitch]] in a ''[[The Times]]'' opinion piece also criticized Atzmon for various statements that “crossed the line,” as well as the party for inviting him.<ref name=%26quot%3Baaron628%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%7B%7Bcite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/david_aaronovitch/article538076.ece|title=How did the far Left manage to slip into bed with the Jew-hating Right?|last=Aaronovitch|first=David|date=June 28, 2005|work=[[The Times]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref> In defense the party argued: “The SWP does not believe that Gilad Atzmon is a Holocaust denier or racist.”<ref>[http://www.swp.org.uk/gilad.php Gilad Atzmon and Marxism 2005], [http://swp.org Socialist Workers Party web site], June 21, 2005.</ref> (The Socialist Workers Party has since distanced itself from Atzmon.)<ref name=Lewis%2F%26gt%3B 

Atzmon replied that “my take on the subject is slightly different" than Eisen's.<ref name=aaron628%2F%26gt%3B Atzmon does not deny the Holocaust or the “Nazi Judeocide” but insists “that both the Holocaust and World War II should be treated as historical events rather than as religious myth.”<ref>Manuel Talens, [http://www.redress.btinternet.co.uk/gatzmon14.htm Beauty as a political weapon; Three in one: jazzman, writer and activist - A conversation with Gilad Atzmon], originally published in the Mexican monthly magazine Memoria, No. 202, December 2005.</ref> At a 2005 German book reading Atzmon commented on the falsified [[historiography]] of the Holocaust and questioned the “forensic proof” of the figure of 6 million Jews killed.<ref>[http://www.westline.de/nachrichten/archiv/index_mono.php?file_name=20051128231021_630_001_2315688%26amp%3Bjahrgang%3D2005%26amp%3Bstichwort%3Datzmon%26amp%3B%26amp%3Bstart%3D0%26amp%3Border%3Ddatum%26amp%3Bort%3Dbo Evening full of dissonance], [http://www.westline.de West-line], Source: Ruhr Nachrichten (Bochum), November 29, 2005.  See [http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-res&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.westline.de%2Fnachrichten%2Farchiv%2Findex_mono.php%3Ffile_name%3D20051128231021_630_001_2315688%26jahrgang%3D2005%26stichwort%3Datzmon%26%26start%3D0%26order%3Ddatum%26ort%3Dbo&lp=de_en&btnTrUrl=Translate Yahoo Babel Fish translation here]; Also see [http://www.uruknet.de/?p=40226 Atzmon’s quotes from the German organizer of the event in Uruknet]</ref>

Atzmon has written that Zionists have “managed to turn America into an Israeli mission force” and that disputes about the veracity of the [[Protocols of the Elders of Zion]] are moot, because "American Jews do try to control the world, by proxy."<ref name=%26quot%3Bonanti%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%7B%7Bcite web|url=http://www.gilad.co.uk/html%20files/onanti.html|title=On Anti-Semitism|last=Atzmon|first=Gilad|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref> This also has drawn charges of antisemitism.<ref name=%26quot%3Bkamm425%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%7B%7Bcite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article708984.ece|title=Agreed, we shouldn't vote for the BNP – but its twin, Respect, is just as bad|last=[[Oliver Kamm|Kamm, Oliver]]|date=April 25, 2006|work=[[The Times]]|accessdate=2009-03-21}}</ref><ref name=%26quot%3Baaron628%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B

In November 2006, academic [[David Hirsh]], in an op-ed on ''The Guardian'''s [[Comment is Free]] website, accused Atzmon of "trying to lead an anti-semitic purge of the anti-Zionist movement.”<ref>David Hirsh, [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_hirsh/2006/11/a_new_menacing_current_is_appe.html Openly embracing prejudice], ''[[The Guardian]]'', November 30, 2006.</ref> Atzmon responded on the website that Hirsh's accusations were unproven and that “Hirsh needs antisemitism” because Zionist ideology can’t be defended but “anti-semitism is a [[Incitement to ethnic or racial hatred|racial crime]] and therefore easy to attack."<ref name=%26quot%3BAtzmon-Guardian%26quot%3B%26gt%3BGilad Atzmon, [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/gilad_atzmon/2006/12/gilad_atzmon_responds_to_david.html A Response to David Hirsh], [[The Guardian]], December 12, 2006.</ref>

In 2007 the [[Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism]] complained when the [[Swedish Social Democratic Party]] invited Atzmon to speak at a seminar saying Atzmon had worked to "legitimize the hatred of Jews.”  The party responded saying “when the Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism starts calling Jews anti-Semites there is a risk that they undermine the term anti-Semite and do the fight against anti-Semitism a disservice."<ref name=local327%26gt%3B[http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ethelocal%2Ese%2F6777%2F20070323%2F Social Democrats invited known anti-Semite to seminar], [http://www.thelocal.se/ The Local], March 23, 2007.</ref> 

Jazz critic David R. Adler wrote on an [[American Jewish Committee]] website that Atzmon “hides behind the cause of Palestinian human rights, not to mention the verbiage of High Theory, as he promotes open antisemitism.” He also takes to task music writers who have interviewed Atzmon too uncritically.<ref>David R. Adler, [http://www.z-word.com/z-word-essays/jazz-and-protest%253A-a-reappraisal.html Jazz and Protest: A Reappraisal], Z-word.com sponsored by [[American Jewish Committee]], April 2009.</ref>

Atzmon denies he is an antisemite.<ref name=%26quot%3Bgibson%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B Atzmon characterizes charges of antisemitism as an attempt to silence his criticism of Israel and Zionism.<ref>Oren Ben-Dor, [http://www.counterpunch.org/bendor03152008.html 'The Silencing of Gilad Atzmon'], [[CounterPunch]], March 15, 2008.</ref><ref name=Rizzo%2F%26gt%3B%26lt%3Bref name=%26quot%3Bgibson%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B Atzmon states that the “anti-Semitic slur is a common Zionist silencing apparatus.”<ref>[http://www.tourdates.co.uk/LondonTourdates/issue-007/2007/10/05/222-Sax-With-An-Axe-To-Grind Sax With An Axe To Grind], October 5, 2006</ref> He told an interviewer “every time somebody tries to silence me, I know it must be because I'm saying the right thing, pointing on evil...”<ref name=%26quot%3Bgibson%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B "They try to call me an anti-Semite, I'm not an anti-Semite. I've got nothing against the Semite people, I don't have anything against people - I'm anti-Jewish, not anti-Jews.  I think Jewish ideology is driving our planet into a catastrophe and we must stop."<ref name=%26quot%3Bgibson%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B

Noting that he is a secular Jew married to a Jewish woman and in a band with three Jews, he says: "I never attack Jews, I hardly criticise Judaism – I never criticise people for their beliefs. But I can criticise conduct."<ref name=%26quot%3Bgilchrist222%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B In response to criticisms he is “self-hating” he has said “I'm not only a self-hating Jew, I'm a proud self-hating Jew! When you try to think of the biggest humanists ever, Spinoza, Marx and Christ were basically proud self-hating Jews also.”<ref name=%26quot%3Bgibson%26quot%3B%2F%26gt%3B  

Atzmon appeared on a panel with Nick Cohen and David Aaronovitch, moderated by Martin Bell, on the topic of antisemitism at the 2009 ''[[Sunday Times]]'' Oxford Literary Festival.<ref>[http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=31208 Anti-Semitism to be debated in Oxford], [http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/ Middle East on Line], March 27, 2009.</ref><ref>[http://www.sundaytimes-oxfordliteraryfestival.co.uk/ The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 29 March-5 April 2009 announcement].  The event took place on 1 April 2009.</ref>  A recording of the event is available.<ref>Dima Omar, [http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/04/06/dima-omar-so-what-did-we-learn-about-anti-semitism/ So what did we learn about anti-Semitism?], Palestine Think Tank, April 6, 2009. See also Gilad Atzmon's description, [http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/04/07/gilad-atzmon-aaronovitchs-tantrum-and-the-demolition-of-jewish-power/  Aaronovitch's Tantrum and the Demolition of Jewish Power]</ref>

==Discography==
*''"In loving memory of America"'' - Label: Enja - January 2009
*''Refuge'' - Label: Enja - October 2007
*''Artie Fishel and the Promised Band'' - Label: WMD - September 2006
*''MusiK'' - Label: Enja - October 2004
*''Exile'' - Label: Enja - March 2004
*''Nostalgico'' - Label: Enja - January 2001
*''Gilad Atzmon &The Orient House Ensemble'' - Label: Enja - 2000
*''Juizz Muzic''- Label: FruitBeard - 1999
*''Take it or Leave It'' - Label: Face Jazz - 1999
*''Spiel- Both Sides''  - Label: MCI - 1995
*''Spiel Acid Jazz Band''- Label: MCI - 1995
*''Spiel''- Label: In Acoustic&H.M. Acoustica - 1993

==Books==
*''[[A guide to the perplexed]]'', English translation by Philip Simpson. London : Serpent's Tail, 2002. ISBN 1852428260
*''My one and only love''. London : Saqi, 2005. ISBN 0863565077 (pbk.). ISBN 9780863565076 (pbk.)

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.gilad.co.uk/ Gilad Atzmon web site]
* Gilad Atzmon, [http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/03/30/gilad-atzmon-lexicon-of-resistance Lexicon of Resistance], a dictionary of his “charged terminology."
* [http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/opinion/?id=21321 Gilad Atzmon Interviewed by Mary Rizzo], July, 2007.

<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->

{{Persondata
|name=Atzmon%2C Gilad
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES = 
|SHORT DESCRIPTION = Israeli musician and political activist
|DATE OF BIRTH     = June 9, 1963
|PLACE OF BIRTH    = [[Tel Aviv]], [[Israel]]
|DATE OF DEATH     = 
|PLACE OF DEATH    = 
}}
<!-- Categories -->
[[Category:Jazz saxophonists]]
[[Category:Bebop saxophonists]]
[[Category:Hard-bop saxophonists]]
[[Category:Antisemitism]]
[[Category:Writers on Zionism]]
{{Lifetime|1963|LIVING|Atzmon, Gilad}}
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[[fr:Gilad Atzmon]]
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