Esther Warkov's seminal contributions to the study of Arab music and Arab-Jewish musicians in Iraq and Israel feature prominently on the JMRC website. She has also contributed biographies of Iraqi-Jewish musicians for this website.
Warkov received a Fulbright for her MA research, Twentieth Century Musical Composition in Wales and its Relationship with Traditional Welsh Music submitted to the University of Wales Department of Music, University College, Cardiff. Her work with Irish singer Joe Heaney is distributed widely. Her publications and work on these subjects appear here.
After studying ethnomusicology at the University of Washington, she joined the Hebrew University Ph.D. program in Musicology in 1979. Intent on playing Arabic music, she studied ‘ud with leading Palestinian musicians Hikmat and Simon Shaheen. Warkov originally planned to write about the art of instrumental improvisation in Arab music. However, she eventually focused on the contributions of Iraqi-Jewish musicians. Her dissertation centers on instrumental improvisation by these musicians as an indicator of culture change. Warkov’s research and musical analysis relied on her skills as a student-performer of Middle Eastern music. She also made a substantial contribution to the book The Musical Tradition of Iraqi Jews by Amnon Shiloah and wrote music reviews for the dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post.
In addition to recording prominent Iraqi-Jewish musicians, Warkov interviewed personnel at the Arabic section of the Israel Radio (Kol Israel). Her work with then young and exceptional musicians Simon Shaheen and Taiseer Elias provided a unique glimpse into these artists who later achieved international acclaim.
Warkov interviewed the Turkish Sephardic hazzan Reverend Samuel Benaroya in Seattle, performed ‘ud with Sephardic cantors, received a National Endowment for the Arts grant for ‘ud study, and wrote articles/reviews on Middle Eastern music. After ten years of ethnomusicological activities and career as an independent music educator, Warkov founded a nonprofit whose perspectives appeared in over 200 media reports.
For a profile of Warkov see here. For Warkov's publications see here.