ABSTRACT
On a cold Monday morning in Pardes Katz, an impoverished neighborhood outside of Tel Aviv, eighteen enthusiasts of Arab music—all Jewish Israelis who immigrated from Iraq and almost all over the age of seventy—gather in one of the Community Center’s classrooms. 1 The ambiance is not particularly inspiring for music-making: there is writing on the chalkboard from the group or class that met there last, and only a window-unit air conditioner adorns the plain white walls. Nevertheless, this devoted group has never lacked inspiration, gathering weekly in this room and others like it for over twenty years in order to enjoy some of the musical sounds of their native Iraq. This particular week in 2004, therefore, was much like the group’s numerous Monday morning meetings of past years. What did make this gathering different from most, however, was a German television station’s filming of the group’s session for a special-interest news story on Israel.
