Spotlight: Jerusalem Orchestra East & West

The Jerusalem Orchestra East & West brings together musicians from Israel’s three main religions – Judaism, Islam and Christianity – to play music that reflects the very diverse nature of the country.

“Some members are conservatives, some liberals, but we all agree on one specific notion: that everyone can define themselves however they want and act accordingly as long as it doesn’t harm anybody else,” says conductor Tom Cohen. “But first of all, we deal with music.”

“In one week,” says Cohen, “the orchestra can play Egyptian classics in a Palestinian village in the north of the country, the next day a concert of liturgical Jewish music in an Orthodox community centre, then songs of Edith Piaf or Camarón de la Isla, or a visiting Moroccan singer, and end the week with a gala concert at The Opera House in Tel Aviv for the LGBT community playing a homage to Dana International. The fact is this orchestra can play all these events in one week, and with the same people on stage.”

Cohen, who co-founded the orchestra (with Ofer Amsalem) in 2009 was born in Beersheba, Israel, ‘the capital of the Negev,’ with two grandparents from Iraq and two from Poland and England, so a real mix of Iraqi and Ashkenazi heritage. “The idea is to create a new musical language, taking the best of Western music, whether it’s classical counterpoint, the chords of jazz, or the groove and funk of rock and pop, and combine it with all the jewels that are found in the music of the Arabic and Muslim world with its passion, sentimentality and heartfelt melodies. It’s trying to create a new language where harmony meets the world of maqam that is the opposite of fusion.” Cohen adds: “Jerusalem is one of the few places in the world where all these genres exist and are rooted in the ground of the city.” 

Although working in Israel a lot and touring, Cohen has been based with his wife in Brussels for the past decade. He has an orchestra in Morocco and has worked with the Algerian El Gusto Orchestra (see December 2007, #48). 

Coming to the Barbican, the orchestra is playing with Moroccan Gnawa musician Mehdi Nassouli, whom Cohen describes as “the face of the Gnawa these days.” Nassouli is a great singer and gimbri (Gnawa lute) player, and is joined by three backing singers on qaraqab castanets, with his big East & West orchestra super integrated into the sound and giving a real punch to the music. They spent a month touring Israel together. Nassouli is “so talented and so charismatic; sometimes he looks like a smile with a man attached, he almost has healing powers,” says Cohen. “He’s really rooted in history, but in a way that enables him to create something new. And Omri Mor on piano, [is] another genius. It’s like working with Superman and Spiderman together.”