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Black Musics, African Lives, and the
National Imagination in Modern Israel
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Citation Hankins, Sarah Elizabeth. 2015. Black Musics, African Lives, and
the National Imagination in Modern Israel. Doctoral dissertation,
Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.
Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:17467531
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Black Musics, African Lives, and the National Imagination in Modern
Israel
A dissertation presented
by
Sarah Elizabeth Hankins
To
The Department of Music
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the subject of
Music
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
March 2015
© 2015, Sarah Elizabeth Hankins
All rights reserved.
Advisor: Kay Kaufman Shelemay Sarah Elizabeth Hankins
Black Musics, African Lives, and the National Imagination in Modern Israel
Abstract
“Black Musics, African Lives, and the National Imagination in Modern Israel,” explores
the forms and functions of African and Afro-diasporic musics amidst heated public debate
around ethnic identity and national membership. Focusing on musical-political activity among
Ethiopian Israeli citizens, Sudanese and Eritrean refugees, and West African labor migrants in Tel
Aviv, I examine how diverse types of musicking, from nightclub DJing and live performance to
church services and protest concerts, voice African and Afro-descendent claims to civic status in
a fractured urban environment. Grounded in ethnographic participant observation, the
dissertation analyzes musical and political activity through the lens of “interpretive modes” that
shape contemporary Israel’s national consciousness, and which influence African and Afro-
descendant experiences within Israeli society. These include “Israeliyut,” or the valorization of
so-called native Israeli cultural forms and histories; “Africani,” an emerging set of aesthetic and
social values that integrates African and Afro-descendent subjectivities into existing frameworks
of Israeli identity; and “glocali,” or the effort to reconcile local Israeli experience with aspects of
globalization.
Tracing “blackness” as an ideological and aesthetic category through five decades of
public discourse and popular culture, I examine the disruptions to this category precipitated by
st
Israel’s 21 century encounter with African populations. I find that the dynamics of debate over
African presence influence an array of mass-cultural processes, including post-Zionism, 

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conceptions of ethnic “otherness,” and the splintering of Israel’s left into increasingly
narrow interest groups. Contributing to the literature on continuity and change within urban-
dwelling African diasporas, this dissertation is the first monograph exploring dramatic
transformations of Israel’s highly consolidated national culture through in-depth ethnography
with migrant groups.
iv
Contents
List of Figures vii
A Note on Translation and Orthography vii
Acknowledgements viii
Dedication xiii
1. Introduction: Blackness, Black Musics and Identities in Israel 1
March-April, 2013, Tel Aviv 1
Shachorut: Blackness in Israeli Society and Politics 11
Studying Blackness in Israel 21
Black Musics in Israeli Popular Culture 26
“African Music” 34
Blackness and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 45
Motivations and Methodologies 53
Fieldwork Locations, Conditions, and Strategies 58
Overview of Chapters 63
2. Cityspace, Music, and Israeli Interpretive Frameworks 71
Intrepretive Frameworks 78
The Hevreman in Cityspace and Time 87
Mizrahiyut and Native “Blackness” 100
Glocali: Foreignness in and as Schonah 111
3. Othered Selves: Ethiopian Israeliness, Multidimensional Blackness 122
“Your Mother’s Negro”: Ethiopianness and Peripheral Israeli Identity 129
Reggae’s Ethiopian Sabra, Hip Hop’s Glocal Ethiopian 137
Amharic Music and Complications of the “Regional” 155
4. Refugees, Activists, and Sonic “Hidden” Transcripts of Dissent 165
Refugee Status and the Making of a “Community of Dissent” 171
Performance as Oblique and Overt Resistance 179
Public Sound as Force in the Refugee Debate 187
Israeli Pro-Refugee Activism and Glocal Music 200
Music and Commemorative Narrative at Refugee Seder 212
5. Friendship House: Christianity and African Expression in the Migrant-Israel Relationship 226
Body Display and African Expression in Church 234
Migrant Musicians’ Presence, Power, and Performance 250
Christian Zionism at Friendship House 266
6. This Na’African Style: Glocal Community in Tel Aviv’s African Branja 278
“Zombies Be Ready… U Dey Tell Dem Go Dance”: Groove Politics 283

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Community of Glocal Affinity: Structure, Constituency, and Musical Taste 292
Black Music, White Community? Branja Frameworks of Authenticity 307
Emotion 310
Proximity 318
7. Epilogue 332

Bibliography 335
Discography and Videography 346
Interviews 349
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List of Figures
1.1 Rasta Club, 36 HaRakevet Street, Tel Aviv 3
1.2 Khen Elmaleh tending bar at Albi 20
1.3 An army DJ on break in the Galgalatz studios, Jaffa 33
1.4 Promotional flyer for “Tribal War” 38
1.5 Map of Neve Sha’anan neighborhood and environs 60
2.1 Sleeping gear in the Levinsky Park playground 77
2.2 Promotional photo for the Idan Raichel Project 115
2.3 Still image from “Part of the Glory” video (Balkan Beat Box, 2012) 120
3.1 Menelik promotional flyer, with members of the house band 127
3.2 Efrat Yerady at the Raav poetry night, Be’er Sheva, February 2013 133
3.3 Still from “Going to Zion” video (Zvuloon Dub System, 2014) 152
4.1 The protest outside of Sudanese Cultural Day 170
4.2 S2(A)5 card belonging to Sudanese refugee “Din” Ahmed 174
4.3 Fura “warrior dance” at Sudanese Cultural Day 182
4.4 Giving back to the neighborhood at Darfur Remembrance Day 187
4.5 Mubarak’s King Lear monologue at Teatron Tmunah 197
4.6 DJ Andrea spins at Refugee Seder while a group of kids watch from the
Levinsky Library roof 219
5.1 Pastor Chidi at the “Double Portion” RCCG 2013 conference, Jerusalem 239
5.2 Dancing at Friendship House 246
5.3 Bonfils Nkiza at the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem 255
5 . 4 H i l l a r y S a r g e a n t 2 6 4
6 . 1 E l i s e E l e m e n t Y v e s 2 8 1
6 . 2 T h e G r o o v e A m b a s s a d o r s a n d g u e s t C h a l e D a v o e A s c e n d o a t A f r i c a F e s t 2 9 1
6 . 3 P e r f u s i o n e n s e m b l e a t t h e Z o n e 3 1 7
6 . 4 A r i e l N a h u m o f F u l a E x p r e s s 3 2 3
6 . 5 P r o m o t i o n a l m a t e r i a l s f o r T a m T a m e v e n t s 3 2 9

A N o t e o n T r a n s l a t i o n s a n d T r a n s l i t e r a t i o n
A l l t r a n s l a t i o n s a r e b y t h e a u t h o r u n l e s s o t h e r w i s e n o t e d . S o n g t e x t s a r e t r a n s l a t e d w i t h a t t e n t i o n
t o i d i o m a t i c m e a n i n g w h e r e r e l e v a n t . H e b r e w w o r d s a r e r o m a n i z e d a c c o r d i n g t o t h e g u i d e l i n e s
o f t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l S t a n d a r d s O r g a n i z a t i o n i n I S O 2 5 9 - 2 ( 1 9 8 4 ) a n d , w h e r e e x p e d i e n t f o r e a s e o f
r e a d e r c o m p r e h e n s i o n , I S O 2 5 9 - 3 ( P h o n e m i c C o n v e r s a t i o n , 1 9 9 9 ) . R o m a n i z a t i o n o f A r a b i c ,
A m h a r i c , a n d T i g r i n y a u s e s t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l P h o n e t i c A l p h a b e t , r e v i s e d 2 0 0 5 . I n d i v i d u a l ,
e n s e m b l e m , y a a n s d s o v c e i n a u t e e s n ’ a mp er se f ae r r ee n t c r e a s n . s l i t e r a t e d a c c o r d i n g t o
v i i
Acknowledgements
The vital seed of this dissertation was sown more than a decade ago, when I was working
at the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, and it has been growing ever since. Countless individuals
have helped me tend this project over the years, and written thanks to everyone who contributed
would require a book of its own. Yet I am boundlessly grateful to all of them. I remember each
name, wheter inscribed here, or in my heart and mind.
My advisor Kay Kaufman Shelemay must have seen the potential of my dissertation
proposal even before I saw it myself. Her guidance helped transform my impassioned notions
about Israel’s Afro-diasporic musics into a mature piece of scholarship. She offered essential
methodological training, theoretical and structural assistance, field connections, area studies
expertise, and a peerless eye as a reader. Dr. Shelemay’s reputation as one of ethnomusicology’s
foremost innovators and student mentors is well-deserved. Over six years of graduate study, she
gave me room to pursue unconventional academic interests, always stepping in with advice and
perspective at just the right times. She supported my personal endeavors in the same way, and
gave me invaluable help when I had trouble in the field. I came to Harvard with an anthropology
B.A., a government background, and a quirky love of music; I leave it as an ethnomusicologist. I
could not have achieved this without Kay Shelemay’s guidance, generosity, and intellect.
Ingrid Monson was a crucial voice on African and diasporic musics. Her scholarship on
black musical politics inspired many aspects of my own analysis. As course head for many of
the classes I taught at Harvard, Dr. Monson also played a major role in my pedagogical
development, shaping my ideological approach to instruction in the liberal arts classroom. Our
talks about music, race, gender, and identity have enriched my graduate experience immensely.

viii
Richard Wolf has been a constant source of learning throughout my time at Harvard. His
feedback on the content, structure, and writing style of my dissertation chapters was incisive and
enormously helpful. His breadth of knowledge, rigorous attention to detail, and deep
commitment to music are qualities I will seek to emulate in my own career. As a classroom
teacher, a reader, and a respected senior colleague, Dr. Wolf has always “pointed to his ears,” and
reminded me to use my own.
Many Harvard faculty members were significant in this project. Carol Oja taught me the
pleasures and challenges of music history, and the value of clarity in writing. Christopher Hasty
welcomed me into a wonderful theoretical conversation about musical meaning. Visiting
Professor Martin Scherzinger introduced me to sound studies and music industry politics. Other
professors, preceptors, and lecturers also contributed to my academic development, especially
Chaitanya Lakimsetti in Women and Gender Studies, and Steven Caton in Anthropology.
The Music Department administrative and library staff were always ready with aid and
friendship. I owe special thanks Nancy Shafman, Sarah Adams, Eva Kim, Kaye Denny, Charles
Stillman, Jean Moncreiff, Lesley Bannatyne, Kerry Masteller, Liza Vick, and Andrew Wilson.
Friends are a life-giving source of intellectual inspiration, companionship, and joy. Anne
Searcy and Olivia Lucas entered the Harvard program with me, and I have relied on them
through the years in more ways than I can name. The spirit of our friendship imbues my writing.
Ian Power, Jon Withers, John Gabriel, Sam Parler, Emerson Morgan, Krystal Klingenberg,
Cynthia Breckenridge, and Madeleine Blum have also been special colleagues and friends on this
journey. All of the graduate students of the Harvard Music Department are like my family. I
honor them, and look forward to a long and fruitful engagement as our careers progress. 

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