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July 9, 2021

How Kobi Oz Gave Israeli Music Its Middle Eastern Flavor

Country music from the Negev.

Nobody has had a greater influence on contemporary Israeli popular music, argues Matti Friedman, than Kobi Oz, who led the way in bringing North African and Middle Eastern sounds into the mainstream. Born to Tunisian parents in the working-class southern city of Sderot, then populated mostly by Moroccan Jews, Oz—together with his band, Teapacks—popularized a genre that Friedman terms the “spiritual equivalent of American country and Western music”:

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July 9, 2021

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  2. Poland’s New Holocaust Law Should Be Unacceptable to Israel

    An attempt to whitewash Polish anti-Semitism.

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    To be prudent, it’s necessary to be smart, not just right.

  4. How Kobi Oz Gave Israeli Music Its Middle Eastern Flavor

    Country music from the Negev.

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    Even in Roman times, a very Jewish city.