Gilad Atzmon

[Peter Presland]

Further to my mention of last night's Gilad Atzmon concert in Buxton last night - on the Peter P. put your coffee down thread.

A few months ago I offered him words of encouragement in his support for the Palestinian people via his blog. We then exchanged emails in the run up to the concert and he was aware of my own two blogs. When we spoke during the concert interval he noticed that I had bought his 'In loving memory of America' album on sale in the foyer. He gave me another one 'Exile' which in light of our talk and correspondence, he thought I would appreciate. He was right , I do.

Here is his introductory blurb to it:

This album is made by musicians who live in exile. For some of us it is a deliberate choice. Others are unwelcome in their homeland. In the album we try to tell the story of Palestine, a beautiful and historically ecumenical land that was suddenly stormed by radical Zionist zealots. It is an image of harmony shattered by bloodshed and destruction.

He then goes on to describe the synthesis of Jewish/Israeli traditional music and Arab interpretation that the album represents and concludes thus:

The decision to make use of Jewish and Israeli tunes was very deliberate. Jewish history is an endless story of persecution, agony and anguish. Zionism draws its force from the vivid fantasy of return. I would like to raise two simple questions:

How is it that the people who have suffered so much and for so long can inflict so much pain on the other?
How can Zionists, who are motivated by a genuine desire to return be so blind when it comes to the very similar Palestinian desire?

This album is to call attention to Palestinian suffering. It is a prayer for the world to acknowledge the Palestinian essential right to return.

His blurb on the 'In Loving Memory of America' album includes the following which I find poignant. I bit like the Vietnamese man who observed to a US soldier something like "for years we regarded America with love and affection as a sort of promised land. What happened?":

For many years I considered America as my promised land. As a young jazz musician I was convinced that it was just a matter of time before I'd settle in NYC. My Mecca was Downtown Manhattan, my shrine was the Village Vanguard and my holy scriptures were The Old Blue Note and Prestige vinyls. My priests were Coltrane, Bird, Cannonball, Duke, Dizzy, Bill Evans and others.

I do realise that 'Things have changed'. I do grasp that jazz is not exactly a form if resistance any more. It is not even a revolutionary art form. America isn't my promised land either: As much as jazz has always been a call for freedom, America is not exactly a free place anymore.

This album is in loving memory of America, in memory of the America I had cherished in my mind for many years. This album is a tribute to America;s greatest heroes. The people who have been liberating themselves through beauty. It is about Bird and the real Swans who flew far higher above anyone else.

I like Gilad Atzmon. He is a brave and honest man.