Regional sonic cosmopolitanism: Palestinian musicians and Arab urban music in the Galilee region, 1948–1980

This article examines how Palestinian wedding musicians in the Galilee region sustained engagement with regional Arab urban music traditions during the decades following the 1948 Nakba. While the events of 1948 shattered the musical infrastructure that had connected Palestinian cities including Haifa to the broader Arab world, cosmopolitan Arab art music continues until today to form part of the everyday sonic lives of Palestinian communities in northern Israel. Drawing on interviews with musicians active during this period, the article traces how these performers reconstructed repertoires of the Arab golden age for local celebrations through mentorship by senior Palestinian and Jewish immigrant musicians, alongside radio and television broadcasts from neighbouring Arab countries. This case study illustrates how cosmopolitan musical traditions circulate and adapt outside urban centres, revealing patterns of lateral knowledge transmission that emerged under conditions of restricted mobility and uneven access to state institutions, while addressing the methodological challenge of documenting Palestinian music history in the face of archival absence.