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The Israeli Andalusian Orchestra Ashdod - A musical and cultural dialogue

The Israeli Andalusian Orchestra–Ashdod, founded in 1994, won the Israeli Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 and symbolizes another cultural bridge between Israel and the Arab countries. The Orchestra tries to spread the musical heritage which was created during the Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain.

For many years the Orchestra, headed today by Mr. Jacob Ben Simon, has struggled consistently to persuade Arab musicians and Arab producers to come and play with its artistes despite the threats and boycott which they may get from their own people and other organizations who are trying to sabotage the cultural dialogue between Israel and the Arab world. In doing so, the Orchestra committed not to publish their names. The purpose of that is to continue the musical and cultural dialogue between the Israeli artistes and the Arab artistes from North Africa and especially from Morocco, which today is considered to be the largest center of Andalusian music.