Israeli Andalusian Orchestra

Ashdod is the orchestra’s permanent home, and its central repertoire draws on musical heritage associated with the Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain.[2] Singing and piyyut, or Jewish liturgical poetry, are integral to its performances, with soloists performing Hebrew and Arabic material.[4] Its musical organization brings together players accustomed to Western classical notation and musicians who learned Andalusian repertoire from childhood and perform from memory.[4] This combination places the transmission of inherited musical knowledge alongside the practices of a professional concert orchestra.[4]

The ensemble’s work encompasses preservation, public performance, and education: it has reached tens of thousands of listeners and maintains programs intended to train younger musicians.[8][6] Its repertoire also extends into jazz, Ethiopian music, flamenco, and other musical traditions.[9][10] Ashdod Municipality and the Ministry of Culture and Sport support the orchestra, which operates under the responsibility and support of the Ashdod Municipal Company for Culture and Recreation.[4]

The Andalusian musical tradition performed by the orchestra originated in medieval Spain and circulated for centuries in Morocco, where its melodies accompanied both synagogue liturgical poetry and secular songs.[11] Its musical vocabulary combines classical Arab traditions with Spanish and North African Berber elements.[12] Jewish communities in North Africa preserved melodies and liturgical poems that immigrants subsequently brought from Morocco and Algiers to Israel.[5] The orchestra developed from an interest in piyyut and helped transfer this repertoire from synagogue settings to a public concert stage.[5]

An important institutional antecedent was Ashdod’s Center for Piyyut and Song, established in 1988 through the initiative of Moti Malka, Eli Ben Hamo, Dr. Yehiel Lasri, and Sami Elmaghribi.[11] The center grew from efforts to revive shirat habakashot, a practice of liturgical poetry preserved among North African and Syrian Jews and other communities descended from Jews expelled from Spain.[11] An orchestra formed within the center and subsequently became an independent body.[11]

Elmaghribi had moved to Ashdod in 1984 and developed a center dedicated to Sephardic music.[3] During his musical directorship from 1988 to 1994, he nurtured a student choir that became the Israeli Andalusian Orchestra.[3] The orchestra’s institutional founding is dated to 1994, while its earlier development belongs to the activities of the Center for Piyyut and Song.[1][2] One official account identifies Moti Malka and Yehiel Lasri as the orchestra’s founders, with Malka serving as general manager in its early institutional history.[11]

One institutional chronology begins with Sami Elmaghribi, also known as Shlomo Amzalag, whose tenure lasted from 1988 to 1994.[11] That chronology lists Dr. Avi Eilam-Amzalag from 1994 to 2002 and Shmuel Elbaz from 2002, as well as Rabbi David Edri as musical adviser from 1994 to 2002 and Yoram Azoulay thereafter.[11] Emil Zrihan is identified as the orchestra’s lead soloist from its establishment.[11]

Ashdod Municipality was the first financial supporter, followed by the Ministry of Education and Culture, which was the principal supporting body in 2006.[1] As the orchestra developed a professional format, it recruited additional instrumentalists, including immigrants from former Soviet republics.[1] Its permanent artistic team then numbered more than 60 conductors, instrumentalists, and paytanim, or performers of liturgical poetry.[1] Ashdod supplied infrastructure for the orchestra’s establishment and development while remaining its base for appearances elsewhere in Israel and overseas.[11]

The orchestra’s instrumental layout runs from an Andalusian group containing oud, mandolin, guitar, kamancheh, darbuka, and tar to Western orchestral strings: violin, viola, cello, and double bass.[13] Its traditional players perform from memory, sustaining a repertoire passed between generations rather than relying exclusively on written scores.[11] Alongside them are classically trained musicians accustomed to reading notation.[4] The ensemble therefore combines distinct methods of musical learning within a shared performance setting.[4]

The orchestra’s institutional description gives a complement of 40 musicians.[4] Earlier descriptions recorded 45 instrumentalists and more than 15 regular paytanim and conductors, while a 2016 profile described approximately 30 musicians and lyricists, predominantly of Tunisian, Moroccan, and Russian origin.[11][5] A substantial Russian-origin contingent has performed the ensemble’s Mediterranean repertoire, bringing musicians from different immigrant backgrounds into the same artistic organization.[14] A 2025 account reported that almost half its musicians were women.[9]

Its programming joins traditional Sephardic and Andalusian music with collaborations intended to reach listeners beyond audiences already familiar with piyyut.[5] By 2016, collaborations with other musicians formed part of its approach to attracting younger audiences, alongside listeners who had grown up with the music.[5] The combination of Eastern and Western sounds was also an attraction for new listeners.[5] The 2025–2026 subscription season included original productions connecting Andalusian music and piyyut with jazz, contemporary compositions, and Moroccan performers.[15]

The 2025 program “West to East” followed a musical route from the Sahara regions of Morocco and Algeria to the Ethiopian highlands.[9] Performers included artistic director Elad Levi on violin and kamancheh, pianist Omri Mor, saxophonist and singer Abate Berihun, and Moroccan rabab player Aziz Ousous.[9] The program brought Andalusian repertoire into a concert setting that also included jazz and Ethiopian musical traditions.[9]

A 2000 album brought together the orchestra, singer Sami Elmaghribi, the Piyyut and Song Center Choir, and the Im HaBanim children’s choir.[7] Published by Koliphone, the Hebrew-language recording runs for 65 minutes and contains 15 listed selections, with musical material associated with Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt.[7] Emil Zrihan appears as a guest singer.[7] The recording thus preserves a collaboration involving the orchestra, an established singer, and both adult and children’s choral groups.[7]

The orchestra and singer Lior Elmalich also appear on the commercial recording “Tzur Yechayeni,” dated 2002 and lasting four minutes and 56 seconds.[16] The poem is attributed to David Bouzaglo, who lived from 1903 to 1975, and its musical arrangement to Abraham Elam-Amzaleg.[16] The work belongs to the North African Sephardi musical tradition, specifically Morocco.[16] The catalog metadata for this recording and the 2000 album was generated from the ACUM database and carries a warning that song-record details may contain errors.[7][16]

Another recorded performance, “Shalom Aleichem,” appears on “Israeli Andalusian Orchestra – Garden Concert – Oneg Shabbat,” produced by the Ministry of Education and Keren Karev.[17] The piyyut opens the Friday-night Kiddush, has an unknown author, and appears in print from the seventeenth century.[17] It is sung across Jewish communities, which may use different melodies.[17] No recording date is specified for the orchestra’s performance.[17]

The orchestra’s international appearances have included Central Park in New York, Montreal, Paris, Marseille, Brussels, and Los Angeles, alongside major Israeli venues and festivals.[11] Activity figures for 2014 recorded 110 concerts attended by approximately 53,000 people, with 29 permanent instrumentalists and singers and 13 salaried staff.[8] Average ticket prices for concerts by the Ashdod and Jerusalem Andalusian orchestras were reported at NIS 90–120.[8] By 2016, the Ashdod ensemble was giving more than 120 performances annually and had 5,000 subscribers, as well as presenting concerts for children.[5]

In December 2018, the orchestra made its first appearance in Morocco at the Andalusiyat festival in Casablanca.[12] Israeli musicians performed with local Muslim and Jewish musicians before more than 1,000 people in the hall, while thousands more watched a Facebook livestream.[12] The broader concert involved about 100 Jewish, Muslim, and Christian musicians and was broadcast live.[18] Festival organizers gave the orchestra and its members personal recognition.[18]

The festival program ranged across Andalusian instrumental music, Moroccan Jewish shgouri, Algerian-related merranti, Egyptian sharqi, shaabi, and qasida singing.[12] Before the festival, Jewish and Muslim musicians performed the Hanukkah song “Maoz Tzur” together at an informal gathering.[12] A pre-concert Hanukkah candle-lighting also brought together Muslim guests and members of the Jewish community.[18] On stage, Miriam Toukan sang “Lamma Bada Yatathanna” with musicians and a choir from Casablanca’s Dar Al Ala ensemble.[18] Moroccan singer Nouaman Lahlou also joined an orchestra rehearsal spontaneously to sing “Lemdina Lakdima.”[18]

The orchestra returned to open the Casablanca festival in 2019.[19] At the end of March 2022 it performed two concerts in Morocco in collaboration with the Moroccan Association of Andalusian Music.[2] The first took place at Rabat’s Mohammed V National Theater in the presence of Israeli, Moroccan, and foreign officials.[2] Its program included Israeli and Moroccan songs and opened with the two countries’ national anthems.[2] These were the orchestra’s first Moroccan performances since diplomatic relations resumed in December 2020.[2]

A separate exchange brought five Moroccan musicians to live and perform in Ashdod for a year in 2022: Abdellah Amli, Hicham Ayar, Abdelfettah Otmani, Simohamed Chfari, and Hicham Morjane.[20] Trained in Moroccan Andalusian music conservatories, they worked with Israeli musicians to exchange musical knowledge.[20] The project expanded after the 2020 Abraham Accords and brought specialist training and expertise that were difficult to find in Israel.[20]

Plans for the 2026–2027 season included four new concert series, appearances in Essaouira and Paris, and a return to Morocco after participation in the Essaouira Andalusiat Atlantique festival had been canceled following the October 7, 2023 attacks and the outbreak of war.[10] Proposed programs included a meeting of five young Moroccan musicians and five young Israeli paytanim, a series with Shimon Buskila, and encounters between Andalusian music, flamenco, and other traditions.[10]

The orchestra established a separate Young Andalusian Orchestra and extended educational activity into schools and kindergartens to introduce children and teachers to Andalusian music and poetry.[11] Its educational work accompanies public concert activity rather than being limited to training future professional performers.[4][11] The combination of children’s concerts, school encounters, and ensemble training gives young listeners several points of entry into the repertoire.[5][11]

In 2025, a music-learning center for children and teenagers was announced at the orchestra’s home in Ashdod’s Monart Center.[21] Its curriculum combines Moroccan and Western teaching models, using small-group instruction to teach instruments, maqam, and Andalusian rhythmic structures.[21] Instruments identified in the program include qanun, kamancheh, oud, and darbuka.[21] Students are intended to learn from professional musicians, perform alongside them, and potentially progress into the Young Andalusian Orchestra.[21]

The center advertises classes for ages seven to eighteen on Sundays and Tuesdays, combining instrumental lessons, theory, and practical training.[22] Participation in a concert with the orchestra forms a later component, and scholarships are available subject to eligibility criteria.[22] While Ashdod is the main location, the initiative also includes plans for workshops at conservatories in other cities.[6] Expanded training for young musicians and paytanim remained part of the announced 2026–2027 program.[10]

The orchestra received the 2006 Israel Prize for lifetime achievement and special contribution to society and the state.[1] The award recognized its role in bringing piyyut, song, and Andalusian music into the center of Israeli cultural life, extending piyyut and bakashot beyond synagogues, and bringing together immigrants from North Africa and the former Soviet Union.[1] Its performances reached large and diverse audiences, including young people and second- and third-generation Israelis.[11]

Its cultural and educational work renews Jewish music and liturgical poetry preserved among Spanish Jews and brings Jewish audiences closer to their cultural roots.[11] The Israel Prize citation emphasized professional performance standards as well as links between East and West, immigrants and established Israelis, and people of different faiths.[11] The ensemble’s development also belongs to the growing popularity of Mediterranean music in Israel, particularly among younger audiences, and the increasing visibility of ethnic cultural identities.[14]

The orchestra says the Israeli Music Council recognized it as a national orchestra alongside the Israel Philharmonic under revised criteria accommodating a leading Western classical body and a leading Eastern and North African classical music body.[23] Its announcement states that the designation carried an increased annual budget and requirements involving overseas performances and high artistic standards.[23] Several orchestras reportedly competed for recognition, although the announcement does not specify the decision date.[23]

A 2006 investigation reported administrative and financial deficiencies identified by an external audit, including concerns about changes to financial statements, ticket-sales controls, and spending on premises and an overseas tour.[24] The Ministry of Education and Culture acknowledged that deficiencies had been identified but said they had been corrected.[24] A proper-management certificate had been denied in 2004, although its connection to the earlier audit was unclear; management also responded to a finding concerning a loan to the general manager by saying legal interest had been charged.[24]

A 2009 report said orchestra members went on strike after a seven-month dispute over working conditions and low pay, and that management ended the orchestra’s activity and dismissed its employees.[25] A contemporaneous report described a pay dispute, the orchestra’s closure in early February 2009, and musicians announcing a new Andalusian ensemble and beginning rehearsals.[26] In January 2010, a court ordered dissolution after disputes over employee rights; management, backed by Ashdod mayor Yehiel Lasri, established another orchestra with new musicians and prepared a subscription season within three months.[27] These accounts describe competing initiatives, rather than establishing a single uninterrupted staffing history.[26][27]

The 2019 Casablanca appearance faced calls for cancellation and boycott by local BDS activists, and the concert was publicized only after the orchestra returned to Israel.[19] The previous year’s appearance had likewise been kept secret in advance for the musicians’ safety.[19] These performances therefore combined musical collaboration with practical security concerns and opposition to Israeli participation.[19]