In a music scene dominated by Ashkenazi culture, Mizrahi singers had to patiently pave their way to the Israeli mainstream one song at a time. In Part III of our miniseries, we meet two Yemenite trailblazers,

In Israel today, Mizrahi – or “Eastern” – music is ubiquitous. In fact, to many, it is practically synonymous with Israeli music. But that wasn’t always the case. For decades, Israeli radio stations ignored Mizrahi tunes and exclusively played music rooted in Ashkenazi traditions. That began to change in the late-1970s and early-1980s, due – in no small part – to a few veritable trailblazers.

The original music in this episode was composed, arranged and performed by the Mixtape Band, led by Ari Wenig and Dotan Moshanov, together with Ruth Danon, Eden Djamchid and Ronnie Wagner-Schmidt. The final song, Ad Matay Elohay (Till When My G-d) was written by Uzi Chitman and sung by Zohar Argov. The episode was edited by Yochai Maital, recorded by Tony Hernandez at the Off Record Studios in New York, and mixed by Sela Waisblum. It is based on our latest live show, “Mixtape.” You can listen to Part I of the miniseries here and Part II here.

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