Jlife (Orange County Jewish Life)
Celebrate Israel
In honor of Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, the Merage Jewish Community Center, in collaboration with IAC (Israeli American Council), the Jewish Federation of Orange County, the Jewish Community Foundation of Orange County and many community organizations, congregations and schools are excited to present Celebrate Israel on Sunday, May 19 at 12 p.m. Celebrate Israel will be a community-wide outdoor celebration of Israel’s 76th birthday that will take place at the TVT lower school field. It will feature Israeli food, games, musical and dance performances and fun for all ages, culminating with Israeli musical icon David Broza in concert at 3 p.m.
David Broza is an internationally renowned Israeli singer-songwriter, recognized for his dynamic guitar performances and humanitarian efforts. His signature sound brings together songs in Hebrew, Spanish and English, with the influence of Spanish flamenco, American folk, rock and roll, and poetry. Social justice and peace advocacy are embedded in Broza’s work, as his 1977 hit song Yihye Tov (It will be OK) remains an Israeli peace anthem. He has over 40 albums released, many of which are multi-platinum.|
Broza’s charismatic, vibrant, and passionate energy is far-reaching and carries global impact. He is an extraordinary entertainer, an industry innovator, and an inspired humanitarian. He is the founder of non-profit One Million Guitars, which provides underprivileged school children around the world with a hand-crafted guitar and the foundation of a musical education.
After the terrible events of October 7, many Israeli musicians traveled to the frontlines to lift the spirits of grieving and displaced Israelis, young soldiers and reservists called to action. Since October 7, David Broza has performed over 120 free concerts and events throughout Israel, going wherever he is needed to provide some respite from the pain and PTSD experienced by people all over the country.
I had the pleasure of speaking to Broza and interviewing him for JLife. I asked what those performances meant to him and he answered that he is completely devoted to music and its healing power. “I come with no political messaging, it’s just art for art’s sake,” he said. Broza performed for evacuees from Kibbutz Be’eri, in shelters and hospitals – but it was one visit to an army base in Ofakim near the Gaza border where a chance encounter turned out to be a fortuitous meeting.
Broza explained that there were two guards at the gate, Rachel, a lone soldier from New York, and Osher, an Israeli of Ethiopian descent. He entered the base to give a concert to the platoon and promised them he would come back and play for them after his show. And he kept his promise and did just that. The two soldiers had no idea that they were being serenaded by Israeli rock royalty. Broza asked if either of them played any music, and Osher admitted that she sang and played the piano. He asked her to sing a song for him and she chose the Carole King classic “You’ve Got a Friend.” Broza said that he began playing the song on his guitar and singing, and then magically, Osher started singing with a beautiful and powerful voice. Rachel filmed the duet, and a stunned Broza shared the video not only on his social media which instantly went viral, but also with the director of the Rimon School of Music, who awarded Osher with a full scholarship to attend the school after her release from the army.
A commitment to peace and humanitarian causes is in Broza’s blood. His grandfather, Wellesley Aron was a founder of Neve Shalom, an Israeli village where Jews and Muslims lived together and ran a school for peace. He said: ”My grandfather seeded within me the idea of always looking for solutions in life, rather than committing to the misery of helplessness. He taught me to connect with those I have least in common with, rather than run from those who are ‘other’.”
In 2013, Broza convinced Israeli and Palestinian musicians to spend eight days together in East Jerusalem recording the album East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem. The making of the album is the subject of an inspiring documentary film by the same name, available on Netflix. The film sheds a little light on the endless power of music to bring people together and help build the bridges needed in order to begin understanding one another.
I asked him if the events of October 7th have caused him to lose hope in the possibility of peace. He answered that while this is a terrible time and we are all hurting, now more than ever, it is critical to pass the message of peace to the next generation.
David Broza will continue singing his song Yihye Tov as he has since he wrote it with the late poet Yehonatan Geffen about the 1977 visit of Egypt’s Anwar Sadat to Israel. He will keep singing it for the soldiers and the spouses they left behind, for the families of the hostages and the survivors of the Nova music festival, for all Israelis and those of us in the diaspora who hope and pray and really want to believe that “It will be OK.”
Kveller
"You've Got a Friend" duet
After October 7, many Israeli musicians have gone to the frontlines to bring up the spirits of displaced, injured and grieving Israelis and young soldiers called to action. That includes David Broza, an Israeli musician well-loved by Jews around the world, who spent the days following the Hamas attack performing for evacuees from Kibbutz Be’eri, in shelters and hospitals — he even played at a bris in Kfar Aza, for a baby whose uncle was still missing.
But one visit to an army base in Ofakim by the Gaza border made for an incredibly fortuitous meeting.
“At the gate were two guards,” Broza wrote on his Instagram — Rachel, a “lone soldier from Long Island” and Osher Beniso, an Israeli native. As he entered the base, he promised to “come back [and] play for them after my show to the platoon,” which is exactly what he did, sitting there with his guitar, as the creaky gates opened and closed for vehicles, singing. When he was done with his performance, he asked if Rachel or Osher played any music, and Osher admitted that she sings and also plays piano.
So, he played a song for her to sing — the ever-so-comforting Carole King classic “You’ve Got a Friend.” Beniso later told Ynet that she chose the song because she loves it so much, and it’s one that, four years prior, she sang with her local choir.
What happened next was magic, as Osher started singing with a powerful, gorgeous voice.
Rachel filmed the duet, and Broza, stunned and in awe, didn’t just share it on his social media, but also with the director of the Rimon School of Music, who gave her a full scholarship to attend the school after her release from the army.
When Beniso found out about the scholarship, she said, “I couldn’t stop crying because it’s a dream I always had, to study in Rimon.”
“It’s like a Cinderella story, I never expected it to happen to me.”
This isn’t the first time Broza has toured the country during war and conflict, but in an interview with Calcalist, he admitted that it was very different this time around.
He finds the fortitude to do it all through his utter devotion to music and its healing power. “I come with no political messaging, it’s just art for art’s sake,” he said.
Broza does have political opinions, though. He believes that the way for things to get better is by having the right people in leadership. “Professionals,” he told Calcalist, “people whose interest it is to lead and not to win the next elections… I believe in humanity, in spirit and soul. This country wasn’t founded from a business interest but from passion, from a lack of choice, from ideology. We are inventing that ideology anew now and it will come.”
NBC News
The album, “Ha’isha She’iti,” caused such a sensation that it became the bestselling album in the history of Israel’s music industry. Now, it's back in the spotlight as a special 40th anniversary release but with an important distinction: Instead of in Hebrew, the songs are in their original language.
“Many people don’t realize that these songs were originally in Spanish,” internationally renowned singer-songwriter David Broza told NBC News, “and I decided to record them in Spanish as a token (of appreciation), not a lot of production, bare bones, the guitar and voice, letting the songs present themselves.”
The result is Broza's new album, “La Mujer Que Yo Quiero” (“The Woman I Love”), whose title is one of three cover versions of songs by the singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat, whose 1971 album “Mediterráneo” has long been considered a Spanish-language classic.
Forty years ago, Broza, an Israeli-born, multiplatinum artist, worked with Israeli poet Jonathan Geffen to translate into Hebrew hit songs from hugely popular Spanish singers like Serrat — a household name for many Spanish music fans. Over the years, Broza performed the chart-topping songs, sprinkling some Spanish with Hebrew.
"I discovered Serrat through Spanish friends in Madrid when I was 17," Broza said. "When I went back to Israel at 18 for military service, I took with me the 'Mediterráneo' album, which was a huge success at the time. I listened to it over and over, and learned some of the songs. These songs, translated into Hebrew, became part of the “Ha’isha She’iti” album eight years later."
David Broza has embraced Spanish lyrics and music despite his lack of familial ties to the country or the language.Ziv Barak
Broza, who has collaborated with artists such as Jackson Browne and Wyclef Jean, said he has long admired Serrat's pride in his Catalan culture and his political stand against fascism, but most importantly, his songwriting and performances. Broza considers his influences to be Spanish flamenco, American folk and rock 'n' roll, and poetry, including celebrated Spanish poets Federico García Lorca and Luis de Góngora.
Interestingly, Broza, who divides his time between Tel Aviv and New York City, did not have any familial ties to the Spanish language or Spain except for having lived in Madrid for several years as a teenager with his family.
“I can’t really explain why I’m dedicated to the degree that I am or why I’ve dedicated so many years to introducing Spanish music and culture to an Israeli audience and audiences around the world,” he said.
Broza said another inspiration is Spanish musician Paco Ibáñez.
“(He) was a troubadour and folk singer in exile in Paris, who had recorded and set to music many works by Federico García Lorca, Rafael Alberti and other renegade poets. I loved his guitar playing and the folk melodies that sounded as though they had been written hundreds of years ago,” Broza said. “In 1983 I hosted Paco Ibáñez in some of the big shows I did after the huge success of the album. He couldn’t believe his eyes as thousands of people were singing along with us in Hebrew. It was very powerful. At 88, Paco was and still is the renegade performer with his guitar!”
And naturally for music from Spain, Broza looked to flamenco and flamenco performers.
"Manzanita was a hero to me and many others in Spain with his amazing guitar playing and his thick husky flamenco voice, singing melodic pop songs," Broza said of the late flamenco artist José Ortega Heredia, known as Manzanita, who had three of his songs on "Ha’isha She’iti."
Despite his lack of familial ties to Spain or the Spanish language, Broza has been recognized for his work promulgating the music.
“There actually is this little village near Cáceres in Spain called Brozas, and I met the mayor and other dignitaries and they decided I’m their lost son,” he chuckled. “Hey, maybe that’s where we got our name from.”
Last October, Broza traveled to Spain to put together the new album and did it in one day, one take, recording nine songs — including Ibáñez's "La Más Bella Niña" ("The Most Beautiful Girl"), which was the first song translated into Hebrew that started the original project more than 40 years ago. The track comes from a 16th-century Spanish poem by Luis de Góngora.
“Only after the (recording) session was over did I realize that I had immersed myself into the songs with my whole body and soul. It was so intense, it took me several days to unwind,” Broza said. “I almost feel like I’m breaking new boundaries and new frontiers with the music. I start from the very basic — I want this to be the bare bones of how a song was written and how it became a hit.”
Following the album's recent release, Broza is doing a U.S. tour in the fall.
“What I want to do in my performances is give you the most perfected performance I can possibly deliver of every song. I’m a little overwhelmed with all the reaction.”
- Patricia Guadalupe is a freelance journalist based in Washington DC.