Musical Diplomacy in Mandate Palestine from 1936 to 1948

From 1936 to 1948, music-making in Palestine centered around the Palestine Broadcasting Station (PBS) and the Near East Broadcasting Station (NEBS); the British established the two ventures in 1936 and 1941, respectively. By 1948, Jerusalem and Yafa became vibrant and dynamic hubs of music-making after Cairo. During this period, a deliberate attempt to represent and showcase the diversity of al-Mashriq, including Egypt and Iraq, accompanied the evolution of Palestinian music-making. The two stations asserted the cultural and historical connections between the people of al-Mashriq, while offering a mediated bridge to ‘modernization.’ In this chapter, the author Issa Boulos attempts to describe music-making in Palestine and highlight its role in making Palestine an influential force in cultural diplomacy in the region. He explores multiple archives and records, printing press holdings, radio records, and recordings. Boulos identified genres and musical practices that exhibited mediated music-making to influence transformation and change. Relying on the available records from the period, especially recordings, this chapter examines how Palestinian musicians navigated the scene under colonial rule and negotiated cultural, historical, and geopolitical considerations. By tracing the transformations in music-making in Palestine, Boulos points to Palestinian musicians’ role in defining the cultural politics and diplomacy in al-Mashriq and setting the standards for the rest of the twentieth century.