The Festival of Light is an initiative of the Jerusalem Development Authority and Ariel Municipal Company in which artists from Israel and abroad use light in order to create statues, installations, performances and artwork. During the week, which is the 9th to 16th of June, the festival is expected to bring 200,000 visitors to the Old City.

A virtuosi performance integrating theatre, dance and acrobatics along with lighting and pyrotechnic effects will be especially organized for the festival at Habonim Gardens. The opening performance for the festival will take place in cooperation with the Israel Festival and will consist of a huge concert at Sultan’s pool performed by the Symphony Orchestra and lighting design by the internationally renowned designer Avi-Yonah Bueno (Bambi).

Moyet, who will sing a selection of her new and old songs, began her career in the 1980s as the lead singer of electronic pop duo Yazoo with Vince Clark. Together, they led the electropop music genre which was very popular in clubs in Britain and spread to the entire world. After the duo was disbanded, she launched a solo career.

In 1984 she released the solo album “Alf” with hit single “Resurrection Love”. In 2001 she returned to the stage after a long break with a new album.

The festival will also host performances by Israel’s best modern female artists, including an evening an honor of pioneer stage director Nola Chelton, which will be attended by Gila Almagor, Oded Kotler, Liora Rivlin, Yehoshua Sobol, Moni Moshonov and others.

Additional performances will mark the 25th anniversary of the album “Motek” by Corinne Allal and the Gan Eden band, the 50th anniversary of the Mowtown record company (with Ninet Tayeb, Efrat Gosh, Yael Dekelbaum, Rona Kenan, Mika Sade, Gal De Paz and the Funkenstein band) and Gosh’s new album. The festival will also include an exhibition in honor of actress and dancer Dvora Bertonov on the occasion of her 95th birthday.

Source: Ynet

A young musician who grew up near Jesus’ traditional birthplace feels the old-fashioned way of marking the holiday – hanging around Manger Square and listening to carols – is a little dull.

So Emmanuel Fleckenstein has organized a three-day battle of the bands that he hopes will attract bigger crowds to Bethlehem. City elders, worried about putting off traditional pilgrims, are keeping the wailing electric guitars and pounding drums at a safe distance from the Church of the Nativity.

We prefer that in Manger Square, we have the traditional music, the traditional choirs, the traditional Christmas carols, said Bethlehem Mayor Victor Batarseh.

The festival’s nine foreign and four local acts are mostly performing on an outdoor stage at Bethlehem University. Here, said Fleckenstein, guitar player for the Austrian pop rock band Cardiac Move, we can get as loud as we want.

On Christmas Eve, though, Fleckenstein’s four-man band gets to play in the prime venue, Manger Square, and, in a nod to the occasion, will end its 45-minute set with a rendition of Silent Night.

The festival, modest in scale, is a sign of Bethlehem’s gradual revival as a tourist attraction, after gloomy years when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict all but shut down the city.

In 2009, some 2 million tourists visited the Palestinian territories, or four times the 2007 figure, and 80 percent came to Bethlehem, said the Palestinian tourism minister, Khuloud Deibes. More Bethlehem hotels are being built, increasing the number of rooms from 2,000 to 3,000 by next year, she said.

The tourism boomlet is part of efforts by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to spur economic growth in the West Bank and restore a sense of normality, even as efforts to restart peace talks remain deadlocked.

In marketing Bethlehem, city officials seek to assure potential visitors that they are safe while not glossing over the hardships of life under Israeli military rule.

Bethlehem, a town of 32,000 just south of Jerusalem, is ringed on three sides by Israel’s West Bank separation barrier, portrayed by Israel as a shield against suicide bombers and by Palestinians as a land grab.

Israel has eased some movement restrictions in the West Bank and pledged to facilitate the influx of pilgrims to Bethlehem, but the towering barrier continues to disrupt the lives of many in the holy city.

We suffer from this wall of separation … but the tourists, they are safe, they are welcome every minute and every day in this city, said Batarseh, who recently visited Indonesia and Bethlehem’s sister city, Joplin, Missouri, to drum up business.

Some 15,000 visitors are expected on Christmas Eve, about the same as last year, said Tony Morcos, a city official. Regardless of the turnout, many souvenir shops and local artisans now sell many of their wares through the Internet, rather than to pilgrims.

However, the global economic crisis put a damper on the demand for olive wood nativity scenes and Christmas ornaments, said Amani Juha of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, which helps market Bethlehem’s specialties through a network of churches in the United States.

Fleckenstein, the fledgling music impresario, said it’s time for new ideas.

The son of a Palestinian mother and German father, he grew up in Beit Jalla, near Bethlehem. He said he had the inspiration for the rock festival after last year’s family visit to Manger Square.

Traditionally, choirs sing Christmas carols in the square, as pilgrims wait for the Midnight Mass to begin in the nearby Church of the Nativity, built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born.

It was really sad here, there was not much to do, Fleckenstein said of last year’s festivities.

With the help of several Roman Catholic Church officials in Vienna, where he now lives, he brought the bands together. His high school friend from Bethlehem, Elias Halabi, persuaded local officials to go along.

The pair booked 13 groups and performers, including a Palestinian hip hop band, a dance troupe, a guitar-playing priest from the U.S. and a garage band from Germany.

On Monday evening, Fleckenstein’s group – in addition to him a drummer, vocalist and bass guitar player – rehearsed on the stage set up in the outdoor basketball court of Bethlehem University.

On Tuesday evening, the first day of performances, turnout was relatively light, with only about 300 people showing up. But the small crowd was enthusiastic.

It’s the first time that I hear rock music in Bethlehem, said Fida Gharee 28 a project coordinator at the university. It’s live, it’s Christmas and we should enjoy this time of the year.

See also: Christmas in Nazareth, Jesus’s home-town

The largest Arab city in Israel, Nazareth – in Israel’s north – is also home to the country’s large Arab Christian community.

Every year at this time, the city’s Christian population decorates their Christmas trees and dons their Santa suits to celebrate the birth of Jesus with festivals, church services, presents, and parties.

On the eve of Christmas thousands of the town’s inhabitants take part in a colorful procession through the city that locals call the city of peace.

Nazareth is a fantastic city, and you can read more about travelling to Nazareth here.

Didgeridoo by Flickr user Jeff the Trojan

It is indisputably Australian, but the didgeridoo is now hugely popular overseas.

In Israel, hordes of fans have turned out for the sixth annual Israeli Didgeridoo Festival.

It is about as far from Aboriginal Australia as you will get, held at a kibbutz not far from Tel Aviv to coincide with the Jewish holiday, Sukkot.

Organiser Yoram Sivan admits for all its Aboriginal origins, traditional didgeridoo rhythms are giving way to a more modern, global sound.

“The didgeridoo is one of the most magical instruments I’ve come across and people are very excited about it,” he said.

“Maybe there are still more didgeridoos being made in Australia than other places in the world, but definitely the scene in the world is so much larger.

“In Australia the thing about didgeridoo is the tourism, you sell didgeridoos to tourists. And in any other place in the world it’s not about that. It’s about the music.”

Even the musicians have drawn limited inspiration from Aboriginal didgeridoo players. Some have never been to Australia.

The didgeridoos are not made down under, and Ortal Pelleg, a member of one band that specialises in didge, says its music is far from exclusively Australian.

“I think that the music in this band is a mix of cultures around the world, with African touches, Brazilian touches; really a lot of different influences are weaved in there,” he said.

The huge success of didgeridoos as a tourist souvenir or marketable product in Australia means this traditional Aboriginal artefact is more and more a global commodity adopted and modified by overseas musicians without necessarily any regard for its Indigenous origins.

Some fans at the festival say the didgeridoo may even be bigger in Israel than in Australia.

“As far as I see it now in this festival, it has nothing to do with Aborigines and Aboriginal music,” said Ram Brousard. “I think it is more based now on electronic music.”

“I think today there are more players in Israel than in Australia,” said Elichay Danor. “People are so much in love with this instrument.”

The didgeridoo is so popular in Israel that Mr Sivan manufactures his own instruments at a workshop near Tel Aviv.

But while it might sound like a didge, his “compact didge” as it is called, does not look like one. Instead of a single, long pipe, the wooden tube is curled around like a snake.

And Mr Sivan’s unique didgeridoo is making lucrative inroads into a growing market in Europe – no doubt clearly tagged as “made and designed in Israel”.

“We are in contact with festivals in France, in Germany, in the [United] States, in Switzerland,” he said.

“I know there is a scene in Europe and people are very hot for this instrument. And it happens all over the world simultaneously.”

Article: ABC

An event not to be missed. Currently in its fifth year, the Jerusalem Beer Festival will display over 100 different types of beer from Israel and around the world

Beer from premium breweries, boutique breweries and home made beers will be featured in a variety of flavors, including herb beers. For one night Independence Park in Jerusalem will be converted into a giant bar with additional entertainment such as great music with live entertainment by various artists, street events and cultural activities.

From all accounts the history of Beer Festivals can be traced back to Munich in 1810 as part of the wedding ceremony of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese. The Royal Court, the Royal Family, city officials and townspeople all gathered at one of Munich’s many gates for post-wedding celebrations. Evidently, it proved to be a very bawdy affair. It was followed immediately afterwards by horse racing events attended by all the guests.

The Municipality of Jerusalem who are hosting the event are encouraging all visitors to come early to this event which will be held at Independence Park on August 26, 2009 from 6 pm to 11:45 pm

Admission until 6:30 pm will be free and NIS 20/25 thereafter.

On an added note on interest, the world’s largest Beer Festival, Oktoberfest, is still held annually in Munich, oddly enough in September. It attracts more than six million visitors each year. With an influx of tourists of that order, perhaps they can be forgiven for some confusion with the months.

Source: Forward

Related article: Micro-breweries in Israel

3-15 August – Jerusalem Arts & Crafts Festival a mega festival of art, crafts, and also food and music.

19-20 August – NonStop Music Festival in Tel Aviv hosts Simple Plan, Lady Gaga, and the Kaiser Chiefs.

19-22 August – The International Animation, Comics and Caricature Festival comes to Tel Aviv.

23-26 August – Red Sea Jazz Festival attracts 22 leading International and Israeli bands to play Jazz in this stunning setting in Eilat.

One of city’s most popular and long-held traditions, Hutzot Hayotzer festival, opens Monday evening. Event to feature local and international artists and artisans, music shows, international food fair and much more

The International Arts and Crafts Festival – Hutzot Hayotzer will open in Jerusalem Monday evening and last till August 15. More than 150 artists and artisans from Israel and around the world will showcase and sell their works at the event, which will also include an international food fair, dance and music shows.

The festival, which has become one of Jerusalem’s most popular traditions in the 30 odd years since its inception, will be held at the Hutzot Hayotzer Arts and Crafts Center, Mitchell Gardens and the Merrill Hassenfeld Amphitheater in the Sultan’s Pool, opposite the Tower of David at the foot of the Old City Walls.

The Festival is open every evening (except Fridays) from 6 pm-11 pm and Saturday from one hour after the end of the Shabbat until midnight.

The Israeli participants will exhibit paintings, prints, ceramics, metalwork and jewelry, weaving and textiles, Judaica, toys, crafts in various techniques, works in wood and more. The international exhibit includes authentic and varied arts and crafts from all over the world.

Among the event’s highlights: Shows for the entire families, music concerts, food fair, pyrotechnics and acrobatics performances, arts and crafts workshops and a tribute to Israeli artist David Gershtein.

Organizers expect some 150,000 people to visit the festival

Source: Ynet