Neta Elkayam / Arénas

This is yet another fortuitous finding. A reference to an article about the album popped up as a I scanned the internet for "Jewish Music." Elkayam and Cohen have re-imagined traditional Moroccan music, using synthesizers and a wonderful jazz band, yet somehow, they also retain a very Moroccan sensibility. Listen to "Hawa Hawa," and you can hear music from 100 years ago, even as the rhythm and instrumentation reflect a much more contemporary approach to music. The album takes its name from the Arénas transit camp in Marseille, where thousands of North African Jewish families stayed as they moved from North Africa to Israel—After the antisemitism that manifested as the State of Israel was created? Part of the Diaspora created when those countries won their freedom from France? In all events, Elkayam encountered recordings made at the camp in 1965, in archives in Jerusalem and was blown away. The project was born of the recordings capturing that liminal period between what had been, and what was to come.

The songs on this album were written in Arabic. It is easy to forget how much Jewish culture over the last 2000 years has been expressed in that language. The vocals on "Hna Jina" could have been sung by traditional singers; the massed violins echo that sonic tradition, but the horns and electronics come from today, as do some of the vocal phrasings. Then there are moments when it sounds as though she has spliced in a snippet from the Arénas field recordings, as at the end of "Hna Jina." While most of the lyrics relate to personal relationships and love, "Hna jina" is another story:

With trust and hope—we came
No belongings, not stability—we came
Strangers without a language—we came
With faith and thought—we came
With hands raised—we came
From the pains of exile—we came
Without our neighbours—we came
With God in our hearts—we came
What can we do?
What hope is left?
A home, some quiet, and safety
No more fear ever

Seeking God—we came
Our hands held by strangers—we came
From the land of our ancestors—we came
From one desert to another—we came
What can we do?
What hope is left?
A home, some quiet, and safety
No more fear ever

Slaves to the authorities—we've become
Lost with no direction—we've become
Closed off from the world—we've become
To suffering and loneliness … We came

And, yet, not all is bleak. Another clip opens "Tkun Mbaraka", which then begins "Be blessed my young lady", ya lalla / With riches and children / Let good shine around you / Love is well born.… By emphasizing the richness of that former North African Jewish culture, Elkayam not only reclaims a Jewish place in that culture, but also reminds Jews elsewhere of that culture and its thousands of years of history. To me, those riches are this recording. The music is exciting, contemporary, and at the same time, true to the North African musical traditions whence it originated.

Reviewed by Ari Davidow, 31-Aug-2026

Songlist

1. Shrbil 6:11
2. A Lalla Ya Ima 7:07
3. Hawa Hawa 4:48
4. Hna Jina 4:47
5. Juj Njimat 6:42
6. Ya Latif 5:18
7. Tkun Mbaraka 5:31

Lyrics by Neta Elkayam. Music by Amit Hai Cohen and Neta Elkayam. Inspired by Jewish women’s voices at the Arénas camp, Marseille, 1965