Moshe Laufer

Muzika mizrahit (Israeli Mizrahi or Oriental music) is a modern Israeli popular genre rooted in the musical traditions of Jewish communities from the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. It blends Arabic, Turkish, Greek (laïko/rebetiko), and Andalusian influences with Hebrew lyrics and contemporary pop production. Musically it favors modal melodies drawn from Middle Eastern maqam systems (e.g., Hijaz, Bayat, Kurd) and characteristic vocal ornamentation (melisma, microtonal inflections). Typical instruments include oud, bouzouki, qanun, violin, darbuka/tabla, riq, and handclaps, increasingly complemented by synthesizers, drum machines, and pop/EDM-style arrangements. Lyrically, songs often revolve around love, longing, family, faith, and place, moving between dance-forward party anthems and deeply emotive ballads. Since the 1990s, the style has moved from a marginalized “cassette culture” to the mainstream of Israeli pop.

Chabad niggunim are devotional melodies of the Chabad–Lubavitch movement within Hasidic Judaism. They are sung to cultivate inward contemplation (hisbonenus) and cleaving to the Divine (deveikus), and to channel communal joy during farbrengens (Hasidic gatherings), prayer, and Torah study. Typically performed a cappella in unison, these melodies range from slow, meditative tunes (niggunim of dveikus) to lively dance songs (niggunim of rikud) and march-like pieces. Musical language often draws on Ashkenazi synagogue modes such as Ahava Rabbah (Freygish/Phrygian dominant) alongside major and minor modalities. Forms are strophic and mantra-like, featuring short motives repeated with gradual intensification, call-and-response, and dynamic crescendos. While primarily wordless, some include brief sacred phrases or Psalm verses; vocables (yai-dai-dai, bim-bam) are common. In recent decades, selected Chabad niggunim have entered broader Jewish popular music and even mainstream settings through choral arrangements, studio productions, and sampling, while remaining a living spiritual practice in Chabad communities worldwide.