Broza returns to Vancouver

CYNTHIA RAMSAY

It’s always nice when doing the right thing means you get to do something really fun. Well, next month, one of the most popular Israeli musicians ever will be playing in Vancouver – and part of the concert proceeds will go to a worthy cause.

“Through the auspices of Canada Jewish Pipeline, local temples and various Jewish organizations, David Broza appeared in Edmonton and Calgary in November of 2012,” CJP’s Bernie Estrin told the Independent. “At that time, he asked me if Vancouver was a possibility, so I arranged for the upcoming concert on November 2nd.”

The local charity that will benefit from Broza’s performance at Temple Sholom Synagogue is being kept under wraps until the show. “An announcement will be made at the concert as to the Vancouver charity that is chosen,” said Estrin.

Broza has performed to sell-out crowds here (and elsewhere) before. The Independent was one of the co-sponsors of his incredible Yom Ha’atzmaut show in 2001. He brought the audience to its feet many times, as he sang songs in Hebrew, Spanish and English for the packed Vogue Theatre.

With almost 30 albums under his belt since his career took off in the late 1970s, his most recent are Night Dawn: The Unpublished Poetry of Townes Van Zandt (2010) and Third Language (2011). His website notes that the latter “was produced wholly throughout the Internet, an unprecedented project in the music industry worldwide.” Broza also created Poetry from the Bench, a “web series dedicated to intimate and live renditions of poetry.”

About his connection to poetry, Broza told the Independent, “I started my career as a songwriter composing music to poetry. It’s a very common practice in Israel and in Spain. In the U.S., it is not the norm and is not very accepted. There is no rule as to how a song starts, whether it’s the melody or the poem/lyrics. However, when you read a poem, it is more likely that the music will come as a result of reading the poem.”

For those who may find the choice of Townes Van Zandt as muse odd, Broza explained, “When I met Townes Van Zandt, he loved the idea of my putting music to poetry and was hoping I would get to that with his poetry. Townes was a great storyteller and it was very challenging to write my ‘Israeli’ music writing to his ‘Texas’ poems.”

Broza said that his creative process is the same, no matter in which language he is writing. In all cases, he said, “I compose music to poetry, Hebrew, English and Spanish. I let the lyrics carry my inspiration and compose accordingly. I normally work on each project in a concentrated way. So, if I’m doing a Hebrew language album, I only think Hebrew, and the same with the other two languages.”

Broza’s career-launcher was his collaboration in 1977 with poet Yonatan Geffen, which produced the hit “Yihyeh Tov” (“Things Will Get Better”). “It became like a national anthem for the peace process and for all good times and bad times and I started rolling from there,” said Broza in an interview with the Jewish Western Bulletin, now Jewish Independent, in a 2001 interview. “I never looked back.”

His many successes include his 1983 record, Haisha She’iti (Woman By My Side), which is one of the best-selling albums in Israel, and the live recordings of his concerts at the top of Masada went platinum in the 1990s. His first English-language record, Away from Home (1989), was called one of the best pop albums of the year by the New York Times and his score for Cándida was nominated for a 2006 Goya (Spanish film award). His annual concert in New York City on Dec. 24 – always a sell-out – will once again take place this year, as his current tour, which includes stops in many American cities, as well as Toronto (Oct. 26) and Vancouver, culminates that night in New York.

“The Not Exactly Christmas Show was begun on the tragic night of Prime Minister Rabin’s assassination,” Broza told the Independent about the event’s genesis. “I had a show scheduled at the NYC Town Hall and, since we could not hold it, I postponed it to Dec. 24th and thus started the tradition.”

He said, “I mix my repertoire but play a lot of my Hebrew. It’s a fun night. I bring along many of my N.Y. musician colleagues.”

Broza is as well known for his philanthropy and his work promoting peace as he is for his music. He is a founder of Peace Now and has been involved in projects with singers/musicians from Neve Shalom, which was co-founded by his grandfather. He has toured and/or recorded with a variety of musicians, among them Jordan’s Hani Naser; Sabreen, a Palestinian group (“Belibi,” “In My Heart”); and the Jerusalem Youth Chorus, a Palestinian-Israeli teen choir. In addition to a stint as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, the organization used “Together,” which Broza co-wrote with Ramsey Mclean, as its 50th-anniversary theme song.

While progress has been limited on the peace front, Broza told the Independent, “In my work on social issues with Israelis and Palestinians, I always see optimism. After all, we meet playing music and doing interactive activities.” He said, “The best way for all those not living in Israel [to help] is to encourage people-to-people encounters and support co-existence.”

Broza and his sister, Talia, are also involved with Spivak: The Israel Sports Centre for the Disabled in Ramat Gan. And he is connected to the Nalaga’at Centre in Jaffa, home to a deaf-blind acting ensemble, a café and BlackOut, a pitch-black restaurant staffed with blind waiters.

“I have always been involved in social causes,” Broza told the Independent. “At the age of 7, my father took me to the Spivak sports club for the handicapped. I would do all kinds of activities with the handicapped kids in wheelchairs, etc.”

He added, “There is no doubt in my mind that my upbringing shaped me to become a social-minded person.”

Even via an e-mail interview, Broza’s energy and enthusiasm is palpable. When asked if there was anything else he’d like Jewish Independent readers to know, he responded, “I am looking forward to coming and performing!!!!!!!”

“Seeing and hearing David Broza live is a very inspiring and spiritual experience,” said Estrin. “He performs as if you personally are the only audience in the room. His guitar playing and singing are truly amazing and his mastery of performance in Spanish, English and Hebrew put him in a unique category of musical entertainment.”

Broza’s Nov. 2 concert at Temple Sholom starts at 8 p.m. Tickets ($50 plus tax) can be purchased at 1-855-481-8535.

^TOP