[ Woman vocalizing ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Man singing in Hebrew ] ♪♪ ♪♪ My name is Jacob Edgar.

I'm an explorer, but I don't search for lost cities or ancient ruins.

I'm on the quest for a different kind of treasure -- music.

[ Man singing in French ] ♪♪ Edgar: As an ethnomusicologist and world music record producer, I travel the globe hunting for the best songs the world has to offer, and I suffer through some of the worst, so you don't have to.

♪♪ I've got a backstage pass to the world's music, and I won't stop until I've heard it all.

♪♪ [ Woman singing in Hebrew ] ♪♪ [ Record scratches ] [ Hip-hop plays ] Edgar: Israel is a land of contrasts -- between ancient traditions and cosmopolitan modernity, spirituality and secularism, orthodoxy and hedonism, war and peace.

[ Hebrew hip-hop playing ] These contrasts are reflected in the music of Israel, which is incredibly diverse and ranges from traditional sounds with roots that are hundreds of years old to cutting-edge grooves that would sound at home in the world's trendiest nightclubs.

♪♪ On this part of my Israeli journey, I visit some of Israel's most historic sites, and the artists I meet give a taste of the variety of influences -- old and new, near and far -- that are to be found in Israeli music today.

♪♪ Nestled in the Judean mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, Jerusalem is a living museum that embodies the paradoxes and majesty of mankind.

Enclosed by ancient stone walls, Jerusalem's old city is organized into Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian quarters, which, try as they might to remain divided, can never truly be separated.

Walking around old Jerusalem is like stepping into a time machine, and the thousands of religious pilgrims who come to walk in Jesus's steps down the Via Dolorosa or pray at the Western Wall or the temple mount can feel a personal connection to their most precious religious icons.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre has been an important Christian pilgrimage site since at least the 4th century.

Yet step outside the old city, and you'll find a bustling, modern metropolis of nearly a million people.

And it's not uncommon to witness orthodox Jews dressed in black overcoats standing next to hipsters in skinny jeans and with piercings in more places than the eye can, or would want to, see.

♪♪ This juxtaposition is exemplified by the first musicians I meet in Jerusalem, Hadag Nahash, whose funky and appealing blend of hip-hop, funk, and Middle Eastern grooves combined with socially conscious lyrics and a progressive attitude, have made them one of Israel's most successful bands.

The band's lead singer, Shaanan Street, asked me to meet him at the Mahane Yehuda Market, a bustling area of vendors selling everything from pita bread to pickles.

Street: Israel has become very modernized, especially, let's say, starting in the '60s and '70s, and this is some sort of a reminder of how it maybe used to be in this region.

Israel prides itself on its local agriculture and having turned the desert into fertile land, so there is an abundance of gorgeous fruits, vegetables, and other local products.

Israel, in the past few years -- chocolate, wine, coffee, beer, cheese.

You know, it's all exploding.

It's more fun to live here than it was ever.

♪♪ Shaanan recently opened a trendy pub called Casino de Paris right here in the market, and it's in the courtyard out front that he and the rest of Hadag Nahash set up to perform an unplugged version of their hit song "Shir Nehama."

♪♪ ♪♪ [ Singing in Hebrew ] ♪♪ ♪♪ This song is a clash between a very hip-hop beat, style, and very... Street: Mediterranean.

Mediterranean, yeah.

It's about mixed emotions of being an Israeli on the one hand, and all the hardships that we go through, and on the other hand, the enormous amount of happiness that we have circulating in our community.

[ Singing in Hebrew ] ♪♪ ♪♪ There's a lot of misconceptions or true conceptions about Israel internationally, you know?

From your perspective, what do you think is the thing that most people misunderstand about Israel?

That it's not just a war zone.

It's also a good place with good people, good food, good weather -- except for today.

Good music.

[ Laughs ] There's a lot of good musicians in Israel, and very modern style, and I think in Israel you can find things that you can't find anywhere in the world, because you have all the cultures together.

♪♪ ♪♪ [ Singing in Hebrew ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Cheering ] Edgar: Another Jerusalem-based musician is singer Yasmin Levy, and her music couldn't be more different than Hadag Nahash.

[ Singing in Ladino ] ♪♪ Edgar: Yasmin is a leading Sephardic singer, having performed on many of the world's top concert stages.

She is highly respected for her efforts to preserve and develop Sephardic music and the Ladino language.

Sepharad in Hebrew means "Spain."

So the Jews that came from Spain, they are called Sephardim.

And the Jews lived in Spain until 1492, and in that year, they were expelled from Spain, as we know, because of the Catholic rulers.

But after they left Spain, the Spanish got mixed with different words of different languages, depend on the country that they went to live in.

And the same happened all over the world, and it created a language, this mixture, which is called Ladino.

Now, the songs are all traditional.

They are about love, hope, desperation, longing for someone, longing for Jerusalem.

[ Singing in Ladino ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Funky music playing ] [ Men singing in Hebrew ] Edgar: Hotels in Israel have mastered the fine art of breakfast.

So much so that the "Israeli breakfast" is trending in hotels all over the world.

And there's a great example of what an Israeli breakfast in a hotel is all about here at the Dan Jerusalem.

[ Men singing in Hebrew ] Edgar: A typical buffet might start here with pickled fishes.

You've got your salmons, herrings, sardines.

Then you've got a selection of local cheeses.

Of course, we're in the Mediterranean, so you've got really beautiful olives.

And then fresh salads -- tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms.

On the other side of the buffet, you've got one of my favorite breakfasts, a really typical Israeli breakfast, called shakshouka, which is basically tomatoes and eggs cooked together.

It's like kind of a casserole.

[ Group singing in Hebrew ] You won't be wanting for anything at a typical breakfast like this.

♪♪ [ Traditional music playing ] Another Israeli artist who has been deeply influenced by Spanish flamenco is David Broza.

A household name in Israel, Broza is a classic troubadour in the mold of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, or Bruce Springsteen.

[ Broza singing in Spanish ] Edgar: We managed to find him in Israel, which isn't easy to do, given his busy international touring schedule, and Broza invited us out to the countryside not far from Jerusalem to discover some places that are not only important to him personally, they also have a lot to reveal about Israeli history and heritage.

My grandfather was looking for a place to create a school for peace.

After the Six Days' War, he thought Jerusalem should be the city of peace, but he got ousted and thrown out of the city.

So he went looking, and he found this place, which was a hermitage.

Our first stop is a small village called Neve Shalom in Hebrew, or Wahat-Al-Salam in Arabic, "oasis of peace" in English.

This cooperative community was co-founded by Broza's grandfather in the early 1970s in an attempt to bring Jews and Arabs together as neighbors.

Edgar: About how many people live in this community?

Right now, there'd be 50 families.

Mm-hmm.

25 Arab and 25 Jewish.

So they intentionally try to keep it balanced?

Completely balanced, have to be absolutely balanced.

[ Broza singing in Spanish ] People from outside, they can't imagine that there are from both sides people that are willing to make peace and willing to live in coexistence, in equality.

And it's -- living with the other side didn't mean that we are accepting all the conflictual or violence actions from the other side.

I am willing to live with you in equality and in peace.

This is the way that we are trying to do things here -- to do it and not only to speak about it.

♪♪ Edgar: Not far from Neve Shalom is the Red Poetry Winery, a vineyard that has been part of Broza's family since the late 1800s.

[ Flamenco music playing ] [ Broza singing in Spanish ] Broza: I love the name "Red Poetry."

Right, that's the name of the wine that they produce, it's called "Red Poetry."

"Red Poetry."

And my entire career has been dedicated to writing music, to poetry, whether Israeli, American, or Spanish, it goes very well with my music.

I mean, when I think of Jewish wine, mostly, I think of Manischewitz, so... [ Laughs ] [ Broza singing in Spanish ] My buddies and my friends and colleagues outside of just the regular musicians that I use, which are Israeli, and when I'm in the States, it's Americans.

In Spain, it's Spaniards.

But let's say here within the region, my collaborators and people I work with and associate with would be Palestinians and Arabs, who -- who want to get closer, through music, just to do what you and I are doing now, looking at each other in the eye.

Yeah.

And the music is the medium, and that's the bridge.

And after that, it's the wine.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ I lived in Spain as a youngster, as a teenager, and I brought back with me a lot of influences.

But I was playing then Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, so you go figure.

This particular song, which is called, "Hello," has the flamenco tinge to it.

It's really flamenco.

♪ Hello ♪ [ Singing in Hebrew ] ♪♪ ♪ Hello ♪ What is that song about?

This is a frustrating one.

It's this one -- It's the -- "Hello?

Hello?

Can you hear me?

Damn!"

"Can you hear me now?"

"Do you feel okay?

You feeling all right?

But I can't -- I can't even -- Damn!

I can't -- Hello?"

It's very funny -- ♪ Hello ♪ ♪ Hello ♪ [ Singing in Hebrew ] ♪♪ This wine is mine.

This wine is made for drinking.

Yeah.

So... L'chaim.

[ Singing in Hebrew ] ♪♪ Edgar: Broza doesn't just talk the talk about peace, he is one of the few Jewish-Israeli musicians that works regularly with Palestinians across the fence.

One of his frequent artistic collaborations is with the Palestinian group Sabreen, a band that I've been following since way back in the early 1990s.

♪ I know I'll find it ♪ Edgar: David Broza made me a very special offer to come to East Jerusalem and hang out with him and some of the Palestinian musicians that he plays with, and it turns out that this is the recording studio of Sabreen, which is one of the premier Palestinian groups.

I had no idea, but it's really special to be invited to this, and we're getting to hang out, have drinks, listen to music, eat shish kebab, and just have a good time.

[ Up-tempo music playing ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] So it must be beautiful in Arabic, too.

Edgar: During my travels in Israel, I've been on a quest for the country's best hummus, or "hum-mus," as they call it here.

I visited Abu Gosh, a famous hummus spot founded by an Israeli man who won $23 million in the U.S. lottery, which he used to realize his greatest dream -- to open a hummus restaurant, of course!

♪♪ [ Speaking Hebrew ] [ Speaking Hebrew ] Mmm.

Oh, man.

You know, this is really good, and it's like you're eating hummus for the first time.

It just tastes so much different and so much better.

A lot more flavor.

Amazing.

♪♪ I leave Jerusalem and head north to the Galilee, one of the most agriculturally rich parts of Israel.

Here we drive by picturesque mountainside villages and lush fields, passing by Nazareth, the childhood home of Jesus Christ.

I'm on my way to Safed, or Zefat, as it's called in Arabic.

Zefat is home to the country's largest festival devoted to klezmer music.

[ Klezmer music playing ] ♪♪ Influenced by Eastern European folk music, gypsy music, and, more recently, American jazz, klezmer is a buoyant, emotive music style that's actually had a pretty big, yet largely unrecognized, influence on popular American music.

Many of the soundtracks for early Hollywood films, like the old Betty Boop cartoons, were basically adapted from klezmer songs played by the Jewish musicians that formed most of the bands during the beginning of the film industry.

Generally, you say, "klezmer," you say, "happiness."

I meet up with Hanan Bar-Sela, the director of the Klezmer festival, which takes place here every August.

It's an 8-stage -- Eight stages!

8-stage, around 200,000 people in the three days of the festival.

You can't believe how, in small corners like this, so many people.

Hanan is also a masterful klezmer clarinetist, and he demonstrates the classic klezmer sound.

One hallmark of klezmer is the way in which the clarinet in particular is used to imitate the emotions of the human voice.

Hanan can make his clarinet sound like it's laughing or crying, and uses these emotional effects in his music.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ As I continue my road trip through Northern Israel, I decide to pass by Akko, an ancient port city on the Mediterranean coast that's famous for its picturesque architecture.

[ Funky music playing ] ♪♪ I never get tired of wandering around old markets like this.

There's something about the smell, the color, what it sounds like, just the feel of the place, that's always really, really cool.

♪ Shalom, salam, peace, shalom, salam, peace ♪ ♪ Shalom, salam, peace ♪ Get 'em while they're hot!

Get your nuts!

[ Man singing in Hebrew ] Bye!

♪♪ ♪♪ Edgar: I wind my way down the Mediterranean coast south to Caesarea, which was the capital of the Roman administration of Palestine for over 500 years.

Pontius Pilate was based here in Caesarea when he famously washed his hands of the responsibility for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

No matter where you turn in Israel, you're confronted with layer upon layer of history.

♪♪ Meeting me in the Roman theatre of Caesarea is Mosh Ben-Ari, a huge star in Israel, who first earned fame as the leader of the band Sheva, sort of an Israeli equivalent of the Grateful Dead.

Now a solo artist, Mosh has performed right here in this theater with his full band and a packed house of 4,000 fans.

We've asked him to give us a stripped-down performance, and he's joined by his bandmate Roni Hus on Peruvian cajón.

[ Up-tempo music playing ] ♪♪ [ Singing in Hebrew ] ♪♪ Your own -- Your own culture, yeah.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Where would they put you in the store?

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Up-tempo music playing ] A lover of nature and agriculture, Mosh lives surrounded by farmland.

Not your typical hedonistic rock star, Mosh prefers the natural life, planting organic fruit trees and enjoying the simple pleasures of cultivating the land.

They don't care that you're famous, right?

They're like, "who?"

They probably don't even know your music half the time.

♪♪ ♪♪ When the Beatles wrote "Mother Nature's Son," they might have had Mosh in mind.

Mosh feels a deep connection to the land, which in some ways connects him to the deeper history of his heritage in his songs.

[ Traditional music playing ] As I wandered the ancient streets of Jerusalem, traveled over the fertile landscape of the Galilee, and meandered down the striking Israeli coast, I've developed an appreciation for the rich history and traditions of this region.

For a country that can be crossed in just a few hours by car, it's amazing how diverse the landscape is and how many remarkable archeological sites there are to be seen.

But all of that is window dressing.

What really impresses are the people.

I've met trend-setting hip-hop musicians, a singer who conjures the melancholy of the Sephardim with her velvet voice, a modern troubadour for peace, a klezmer clarinetist, and a dreadlocked jam bander with a passion for plants.

Yet for all their differences, every musician I met shared in common a pride for their culture and heritage and a desire to share their music with their neighbors and the world.

♪♪ [ Man singing in Hebrew ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪