Week 7 Reading Response on Music

As someone who loves and is pretty knowledgeable about hip-hop, reading about the development of hip-hop in Israel was strange, especially coming from an American perspective. Hip-hop was formulated in the 70s here, so to think of it developing in a much more modern context (1990s), and within a country of physical turmoil, changes how hip-hop should be viewed. But the commonalities between American and Israeli hip-hop form their bases: groups of people being ignored by their governments and societies using music to express their dissatisfaction with this. Hip-hop was the logical child (in some respects) to disco, funk, and mow-town, but it really developed into something beyond dance and having fun and was used to project a reality experienced by an oppressed segment of society. But Israeli rap didn't build upon anything--it was its own thing. Knowing that rap is incredibly prominent here, I can't imagine it not being incredibly successful in a modern place like Israel, so I will be interested in keeping tabs on how it develops at least out of curiosity.

Learning about the foundations of hip-hop in Palestine seemed more similar to the American hip-hop narrative: those being oppressed used hip-hop as a way to express their turmoil and dissatisfaction. I had never heard of DAM so reading about them was great and I look forward to looking up more about them. I especially appreciated that they created a song about violence against women. It reminded me of the Immortal Technique song "Dance with the Devil," which is about a violent gang rape and murder of a woman, the former perpetrated in part by her own son. The connection was extremely sad and the themes are chilling, but the goal of many musicians is to incite some sort of emotion in the listener. Rappers often paint realities that many listeners would otherwise have no idea about or give them something new to learn. I was pleased to see that DAM was putting forth a message that needs to get out. The foundations of rap are really to send a message.

Music is such a great way to link people together. No one ever meets a person who says, "I don't like music." Everyone loves music, no matter they're from, what they do, or how old they are. Even people who dislike each other personally can usually unite over mutual musical enjoyment. The Heartbeat Project has taken hold of that fact, which is great! Many people play instruments (or want to), love to sing, or just appreciate a nice melody. Most people want to create music when given the chance. It's just infectious and such a positive thing. It flexes parts of the brain not always used. It can require discipline and be a serious skill, or it can just be mindless. Regardless, it's always enjoyable and transcends so many boundaries. While lyrics can be used to highly politicize music and make it divisive, it isn't typically a divisive thing. I was somewhat surprised to see that the Heartbeat Project was created on a Fulbright grant, which I thought was a really cool and experimental idea. In high school, one of my teachers coordinated a drum circle in which handicapped students and regular-ed students would come together to play drums. Students that would normally not have a chance (or perceived reason) to interact could come together for something fun. Seeing a social gap be bridged by music is powerful. I don't know anything about the Heartbeat Project beyond what we read, but I hope it's just as successful in a part of the world where there is a lack of understanding between two groups of people who live amongst each other.

As a side note... 
The first link we read, which was to the PDF on the guide to Channels of Rage, I noticed that when describing the Second Intifada, the author said that 1,000 Israelis died, but did not mention that nearly 3,000 Palestinians died during it. I thought that was a rather strange thing to exclude, but interesting to note in light of our discussion this past week on including (or not including) certain facts and how that influences the perception of the article and shows bias. I didn't know if anyone else noticed this or was frustrated with the lack of that fact, but I thought I'd share.

So, to leave you with something that really shows the power of music, specifically hip-hop, I decided to share a song that I found to be incredibly powerful and mentions Israel and Palestine throughout the song, so it's relevant for our purposes. Just a forewarning, there is strong language in this song! But it's quite moving. Immortal Technique is one of the most intelligent and eloquent individuals in the music industry right now, so I hope you enjoy and agree!