Mideast Piece

Gotta love Israeli music!

Let’s look at two developments related to the Pride rally scheduled in Jerusalem today.

This first development is that - much to my surprise - the city’s leading rabbis told their people to stop setting things on fire and throwing stones at police officers to prevent the event from taking place. This was a rare show of common sense and civic duty from the leaders of a population that - to put it diplomatically - does little for the city’s social fabric outside its own gates and spreads hate in many directions. Read more about this development here.

Unfortunately, a gay city councilor has received numerous death threats this week for publicly supporting the rally. Sa’ar Netanel is being given police protection following the threats and the posting of his telephone number on fliers taped to polls in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods. It also appears in Web forums and message boards operated by sect members. Read more here.

One step forward, and another back.

Recently a media outlet in the Middle East had their readers vote for the best looking Middle Eastern men of the past. I’ll do a few posts and share the results with you.

According to the article, Mike Brant was born Moshe Brand and was the son of Holocaust survivors.

Mike was one of the chosen few who made it big in the international music scene. For the Israel of the mid-’70s, his look was considered impressive and glamorous. Brant introduced sex appeal to the puritan atmosphere of the kibbutz.

People still visit his grave despite the more than 30 years that have passed since he jumped to his death from the balcony of his Paris apartment in 1975.

And now for your French lesson of the day (Love the shirt!!!!):

Last night television viewers in much of the non-US world were glued to their screens for the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held in Helsinki, Finland this year. Dubbed by some “the gayest pop show on Earth, the Eurovision launched the careers of “gay” artisits including ABBA, Celine Dion and Julio Iglesias.

Israeli transsexual singer Dana International (who won the competition in 1998) summed up the gay interest by saying, “It’s like pageantry, and gay men love pageantry and being outrageous.” In fact, for some Europeans, identifying yourself as a Eurovision fan is a tacit way of coming out of the closet, and the show is often most closely identified with housewives and gay men.

We at Mideast Piece also love the Eurovision because it is a venue where a country like Serbia, the big winner last night, can make international headlines for something positive and trump the French to boot. Goooooooooooo Serbs!!

The 2006 contest was the gayest to date by all accounts. Out and flamboyant Bulgarian singer Azis (pictured below) sang backup for that year’s Bulgarian entrant, Mariana Popova, clad in what appeared to be a floor-length skirt and high heels. Openly gay Swedish singer Andreas Lundstedt (formerly of Alcazar) formed part of the Swiss entry Six4One, and Moldovan entrant Arsenium was outed as a bisexual slave after an ad on a S/M site surfaced.

To learn more about the gayest pop show ever, click here.

Meet Ivri Lider, Israel’s most prominent gay male singer (this year, at least). His first two albums - recorded in the late 90’s - established him as one of the most important singer-songwriters of his generation. But let’s get to the real stuff…

Ivri’s first sexual encounter with a man was at the ripe age of 24, and he came out publicly three years later, after already having achieved fame in Israel. Ivri says his music is informed by his sexuality (just like straight musicians, duh!), and vice versa:

“I would have felt really pathetic releasing an album called ‘The New People’ while hiding in the closet. I also did it for my own mental health, to be a free person, and also for my audience. I have a social commitment. It’s the commitment of an artist. I think it’s a right I have and I’m glad I acted on it. A lot of famous people have this right and don’t use it. For me, the desire to be a better and braver person exceeded the concern about whether it would make me lose fans. If I hadn’t done it, I’d have disappointed myself.”

Learn more about Ivri’s journey here, and listen to some songs here.

Recently CNN ran a piece on how some folks in the Hip Hop and Rap community are trying to take back the “f word” - you know - faggot. I am all for that! CNN’s piece featured a gay artist named Deadlee. Check it out:

Read about the largest, um, organ in the Middle East. (Tongue in sheik - ha ha).

The pics in this slide show are hot but the music gets annoying.

Ok, from time to time we’ll feature things that are just plain hot and not particularly related to the Middle East. The brown eyed boy on the left is my new boyfriend. Love him!

This video of Dana International, an Israeli transexual pop singer, performing in front of Jerusalem’s Old City wall gives me hope for the Middle East. Of course, this video was taken in 1999 before the 2nd Intifada and before all the recent controversy surrounding Jerusalem World Pride 2006.