A review of folk-rock singer David Broza's concert in Berlin.
by Oxana Doudina with Gary Levinson
{mosgoogle}You give yourself up to the power of music when a wonderful musical master is on the stage.
With 21 albums (including gold, platinum and multi-platinum releases) behind him, he has already been acknowledged by a large audience in Israel - his homeland - where it is estimated that one in three families owns one of his records, in Spain, and in the USA where he previously lived and found subjects for his songs.
The New York Times called his first American release "Away From Home" one of the best pop albums of the year. The successor "Time of trains" won wide international acclaim.
In Berlin, he is also relatively famous and popular, for which the concert David Broza gave at the Jewish Community Center in Berlin was ample justification. David Broza is a talented person, who plays the guitar excellently, has a strong beautiful voice, and speaks very easily, clearly and understandably with the audience.
He is the son of an Israeli folk singer and an Israeli/British businessman. Born in Haifa, Israel, he grew up in England and Spain. He wanted to be a graphic artist, but his destiny was to be a musician when he became popular after a home made cassette ended up being played on the radio producing a surprise a hit.
He says: "I grew up on rock and roll, listening to Jimi Hendrix. My mother was a folk singer, Israel's first woman folk singer. I am kind of a garage musician. Now, my music is folk-rock. But I really don't know who I am.
Who he is is an author, who writes journals and letters, as well as a musician. At Bennington College he is now an artist in residence, and he gives lectures to college writing classes.
Although not a poet himself, he edits and sets the poetry of others to music. His music is an original and peculiar - captivating and compelling - interlacement of the various musical styles: national Hebrew song, flamenco, blues, rock n' roll. All together it produces a pleasurable and manifold sound, the end result of which is a unique multi-cultural blend of music, sung in three languages.
How heartfelt his songs sound in Hebrew, expressive and exuberant in Spanish and so intelligible and emotional in English.
He is not only a good musician, but also a great actor who expresses his feelings, not only through the music, but also through his gestures. Eye-catching is the way he spins his guitar around on the axis of its neck, between songs, from time to time, adding a personal touch to his performance. Sometimes you've got an impression that this person is inseparable from his guitar and that it has become an attribute of his life.
The reaction of the audience is "horrible", but in a good way: they don't let the person go who inspires them and gives their souls enjoyment. The audience isn't the only one getting pleasure: with his broad teethy smile, it's plain to see that he's enjoying himself immensely too!
This article was published in New Renaissance magazine Vol.10, No.3