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Israeli Singers Form Bridge to Arab Countries
(Al-Monitor) Danny Zaken - Israeli journalists attending the Regional Economic Conference in Bahrain in June were surprised to find local music stores selling CDs by Israeli artists such as Eyal Golan, Sarit Hadad and Moshe Peretz. Their music is described in Israel as Middle Eastern or Mediterranean, often accompanied by local instruments like the oud and the darbuka. Israeli Middle Eastern music has long been popular in Arab countries. Israel has a large population of Mizrahim, Jews from Arab lands, who immigrated in the 1950s and 1960s. Our bond with our neighbors through music is natural, because we are the Jews of the Middle East, with our own rich culture," said Yemen-born singer-songwriter Avihu Medina. "We never left the region, nor were we influenced by European culture. We have nothing to change about ourselves in order to integrate into the Middle East. We are an essential part of it."