Music As A Battleground Between Arabs and Israelis

In response to constant noise caused by loud music in neighboring Arab neighborhoods, Jewish communities retaliate by playing classical music.

Eli Levy in Ma'ariv:

For years the residents of Kfar Vradim have suffered from the loud music that is played by the residents of the neighboring Arab villages at their celebrations. The residents of the pastoral Kfar Vradim suffer most in the summer months, when their Arab neighbors hold wedding celebrations that can often go on for an entire day, running into the wee hours of the night.

Recently the residents of the Jewish community decided to put an end to the noise that is produced by their neighbors, and as of Friday began to fight back, using an unorthodox method. Kfar Vradim residents set up a large speaker system and began to blast their Arab neighbors with classical music.

Residents of Kfar Vradim said that they would prefer not to clash with the residents of the neighboring villages. They said that for years they respected their Arab neighbors and had asked numerous times from the village elders to lower the volume of the music that is played at the celebrations. But no such request resulted in any change, and the noise not only continued to pound away at the residents of Kfar Vradim, but even worsened.

"It was really intolerable," said Ido Maoz, a resident of Kfar Vradim. "The music was really loud every evening and on weekends, and we had trouble falling asleep and the children would wake up. In the summer, which is wedding season, the music began to be accompanied by rounds of gunfire."

"After we tried everything," adds Maoz, "a few fellows decided that sometimes the best response would be to play classical music really loud. We hope that our neighbors took the hint. We have nothing against the music that they play. Sometimes it's really Arab sounds with Umm Kultum and Farid el-Atrash, but they don't have to play it so loud."