Revision 345276247 of "Gilad Atzmon" on enwiki

{{npov|date=January 2010}}
{{Infobox Person
|name=Gilad Atzmon<br />{{lang|he|גלעד עצמון}}
|image=Gilad Atzmon.jpg
|image_size=180px
|caption=Atzmon in concert, February 2007
|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="St. 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]
}}


  Roland is a much bigger Nazi even than I am!

  Rancillly yours,

  --- Gilad Atzmon


'''Gilad Atzmon''' ({{lang-he|גלעד עצמון}}; born June 9, 1963) is an Israeli-born British [[jazz musician]], and is known as an author and activist who has denounced both [[Zionism]] and [[Judaism]].<ref name="gilchrist222">{{cite 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="JazzHot">Gilad Atzmon, [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3647173/How-jazz-got-hot-again.html How jazz got hot again], [[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]], October 13, 2005.</ref> and he has been described as "one of London's finest saxophonists".<ref name=Lewis/> Playing over 100 dates a year,<ref name=Lewis/> 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/> 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. He is an extremely controversial figure within the Pro-Palestinian movement because of his relentless attacks on all forms of Jewish identity and belief. Atzmon has also been accused of blaming the actions and beliefs of Jewish people themselves as the cause of the historic oppression they have experienced, including the Nazi Holocaust. <ref name="gibson">{{cite news|url=http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?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> 

==Early life==
Atzmon was born a [[secular Jew]] in [[Tel Aviv]], and trained at the [[Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance|Rubin Academy of Music]] in [[Jerusalem]].<ref name="GMF-GA">{{cite 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 to reach the conclusion that "I was part of a colonial state, the result of plundering and ethnic cleansing."<ref name="St. 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="Lewis">[http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/mar/06/gilad-atzmon-israel-jazz-interview#history-byline "Manic beat preacher" interview with John Lewis], [[The Guardian]], March 6, 2009.</ref>

He sought solace from his experience by studying jazz and composition at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem.<ref name="Lewis"/><ref name="CryFreedom">[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200308/ai_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="JazzHot"/> 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/> 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="RainLore 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="CryFreedom"/> He has lived there since,<ref name=gilchrist222/> becoming a British citizen in 2002.<ref name="St. Clair"/>

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

Atzmon's works have also explored the music of the Middle East, [[North Africa]], and [[Eastern Europe]].<ref name="Atzmonhomepage">{{cite 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> Atzmon told ''The Guardian'' that he draws on [[Arabic music]] which he says cannot be notated like western music but must be internalised, which he calls "reverting to the primacy of the ear." 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. Atzmon's recordings deliberately differ from his live shows. "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/>

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="BBC-AF">{{cite 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="GA-AF">{{cite 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="GMF-GA" /><ref name="Atzmonhomepage" /> 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/>

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="RainLore bio" />

Atzmon founded the '''Orient House Ensemble''' band in London in the 1990s and is currently touring with them.<ref name="Atzmonhomepage" /> The band includes Asaf Sirkis on drums, Yaron Stavi on bass and [[Frank Harrison]] on keyboard.<ref name="Atzmonhomepage" /> It has produced five albums in eight years.<ref name=Shackleton>Kathryn 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="GMF-GA" /> 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="GMF">{{cite 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="Atzmon-Workshop">{{cite 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&file=article&sid=9791&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 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/>

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/>

===Awards===
Atzmon was the recipient of the HMV Top Dog Award at the Birmingham International Jazz Festival in 1996–1998.<ref name="RainLore 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>

==Writing==
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 what it describes as 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="St. 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>

More recently Atzmon's political writings have been published in ''[[CounterPunch]]''<ref>Examples of Gilad Atzmon in [[Counterpunch]]: [http://www.counterpunch.org/atzmon08282003.html Collective Self-Deception: The Most Common Mistakes of Israelis], August 28, 2003; [http://www.counterpunch.org/atzmon07102009.html The Left and Islam: Thinking Outside of the Secular Box], July 10-12, 2009.</ref>, ''[[Al Jazeera]]''<ref>Examples of Gilad Atzmon in [[Al Jazeera]]: [http://aljazeera.com/news/articles/39/Caught_between_sobbing_and_war_chants.html Caught between sobbing and war chants], July 30, 2008;[http://english.aljazeera.com/news/articles/39/Deception-spin-and-lies.html Deception, spin and lies], October 22, 2009.</ref>, ''Uruknet''<ref>Gilad Atzmon, [http://uruknet.info/?p=m31096&s1=h1 Purim Special, From Esther to AIPAC], Uruknet, March 3, 2007.</ref>, ''Middle East Online''<ref>Examples of Gilad Atzmon in ''Middle East Online:'' [http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/culture/?id=34492 Vengeance, Barbarism and Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds], September 22, 2009; [http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/Default.pl?id=35102 Autumn in Shanghai], October 20, 2009.</ref>, ''Media with a Conscience''<ref>Examples of Gilad Atzmon in ''Media with a Conscience:'' [http://mwcnews.net/content/view/29574/26/ Lexicon of Resistance], January 4, 2009; [http://mwcnews.net/content/view/31075&Itemid=1 God Blessed America], August 6, 2009.</ref> and ''Dissident Voice.''<ref>Examples of Gilad Atzmon in ''Dissident Voice'': [http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/10/who-is-a-jew/comment-page-1/ Who Is a Jew?], October 6, 2009; [http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/09/the-pathology-of-evil/ The Pathology of Evil:PM Netanyahu’s UN Speech], September 29, 2009.</ref> Many of his published papers are available on his personal website.<ref>[http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/ Writings section] at Gilad Atzmon web site.</ref> He was a co-founder of and contributor to the web site [[Palestine Think Tank]].<ref name=Lewis/>

His website features a blog which he posts to weekly, if not daily, on a range of issues from popular culture to politics, with a steady focus on what he thinks they mean for Jewish people.<ref>http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/</ref>

==Politics==
{{POV-section|date=October 2009}}
Atzmon describes himself as a political artist<ref name="CryFreedom">Stuart Nicholson, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200308/ai_n9275160 "Cry freedom"], ''[[The Spectator]]'', 9 August 2003.</ref> and says that his band, the Orient House Ensemble, plays music for the Palestinian cause.<ref name="gilchrist222">{{cite 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> He has spoken and written widely in support of the [[Palestinian right of return]] and the [[one-state solution]] in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<ref name="Rizzo">Rizzo, Mary. [http://www.counterpunch.org/atzmon06172005.html The Gag Artists, Who's Afraid of Gilad Atzmon?], ''CounterPunch'', June 17, 2005</ref> 

After [[Turkey|Turkish]] prime minister [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]] cited Atzmon during a debate with Israeli president [[Shimon Peres]], music critic [[John Lewis (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">John Lewis, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/mar/06/gilad-atzmon-israel-jazz-interview#history-byline "Manic beat preacher"], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 6 March 2009.</ref> Writing about Atzmon's "wounds of the past," [[Jim Gilchrist (journalist)|Jim Gilchrist]] notes that Atzmon attributes his opposition to Israel to his military service during the [[1982 Lebanon War]] which Atzmon says "left a big scar."<ref name="gilchrist222">{{cite 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>

Several of Atzmon's statements regarding [[Jews]] and [[Judaism]] have triggered allegations of [[antisemitism]]<ref>Aaronovitch, David. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/david_aaronovitch/article538076.ece How did the far Left manage to slip into bed with the Jew-hating Right?] ''The Times'', June 28, 2005.</ref><ref name="ges2004">Curtis, Polly. [http://education.guardian.co.uk/racism/story/0,,1481647,00.html Soas faces action over alleged anti-semitism], ''The Guardian'', May 12, 2004.</ref> The [[Board of Deputies of British Jews]], criticized Atzmon for saying, "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="ges2004">Curtis, Polly. [http://education.guardian.co.uk/racism/story/0,,1481647,00.html Soas faces action over alleged anti-semitism], ''The Guardian'', May 12, 2004.</ref>  Atzmon responded in a letter to [[The Observer]] that "since Israel presents itself as the 'state of the Jewish people’ ... any form of anti-Jewish activity may be seen as political retaliation. This does not make it right."<ref>Gilad Atzmon, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/apr/24/letters.theobserver Letters to the Editor],[[The Observer]], April 4, 2005</ref> In 2005 [[David Aaronovitch]] criticized Atzmon for writing in his essay "On Anti-Semitism" that "We must begin to take the accusation that the Jewish people are trying to control the world very seriously."<ref>Aaronovitch, David. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/david_aaronovitch/article538076.ece How did the far Left manage to slip into bed with the Jew-hating Right?] ''The Times'', June 28, 2005.</ref><ref>Gilad Atzmon, [http://web.archive.org/web/20051025201912/http://www.gilad.co.uk/html+files/onanti.html On Anti-Semitism], originally at his personal web site, December 20, 2003.</ref> Journalist [[Nick Cohen]] compared Atzmon to members of the far right with a [[The Paranoid Style in American Politics|paranoid mentality]]<ref name="Cohen">Cohen, Nick. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/14/james-von-brunn-far-right The unlikely friends of the Holocaust memorial killer], ''The Observer'', June 14, 2009.</ref>, for his statements that, "Jewish ideology is driving our planet into a catastrophe" <ref name="gibson">{{cite news|url=http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?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> and "the Jewish tribal mindset&mdash;left, centre and right&mdash;sets Jews aside of humanity."<ref name="Cohen"/> In 2007 the [[Swedish Committee Against Anti-Semitism]] criticized the [[Swedish Social Democratic Party]] for inviting Atzmon to speak, saying he had worked to "legitimize the hatred of Jews.” <ref name=local327>[http://www.thelocal.se/6777/20070323/ Social Democrats invited known anti-Semite to seminar], [http://www.thelocal.se/ The Local], March 23, 2007.</ref>

Atzmon denies he is an antisemite but does blame “Jewish ideology” for Israel’s “brutality” against the Palestinians. <ref name="gibson"/> He states he does not attack Jews or Judaism but Zionism and what he calls “Jewishness,” which he describes as "very much a supremacist, racist tendency."<ref name="gilchrist222"/>. Atzmon has said "I’m anti-Jewish, not anti-Jews." <ref name="gibson"/>. He told one interviewer “The anti-Semitic slur is a common Zionist silencing apparatus,”<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], Interview with Gilad Atzmon in London Tour Dates magazine, October 5, 2006</ref> and told another about “crude and banal attempt to silence me by spreading lies, slander and defamation.”<ref>[http://gilad.squarespace.com/writings/gilad-atzmon-interviewed-by-eleftherotypia-greek-sunday-pape.html Gilad Atzmon interview], in "Eleftherotypia" (Greek Sunday Paper), 11 January, 2009</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 Books]], 2005. ISBN 0863565077 (pbk.). ISBN 9780863565076 (pbk.)

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://www.gilad.co.uk/ Gilad Atzmon web site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/giladatzmon Gilad Atzmon official myspace page]
*[http://www.archive.org/details/GiladAtzmonOnArabvoices.netJune2009 Gilad Atzmon on KPFT ArabVoices.net June 2009 during visit to Houston, Texas]
*[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, 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=
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atzmon, Gilad}}
<!-- Categories -->
[[Category:1963 births]]
[[Category:Antisemitism]]
[[Category:Bebop saxophonists]]
[[Category:Hard bop saxophonists]]
[[Category:Jazz saxophonists]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Writers on Zionism]]
[[Category:Jewish anti-Zionism]]



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[[de:Gilad Atzmon]]
[[fr:Gilad Atzmon]]
[[gl:Gilad Atzmon]]
[[it:Gilad Atzmon]]
[[no:Gilad Atzmon]]