As it was for so many Israelis, for David Broza, Oct. 7, 2023, was a call to action. Since then, Broza has put himself on the front lines; he immediately cancelled a tour celebrating of the 40th anniversary of “Haisha She’iti (The Woman With Me)” and started playing the nearly 150 pop-up concerts he has performed across Israel.
He performs solo, just him and his grand classical guitar, providing a brief reprieve from the ongoing conflict. It’s a reprieve for him as much as the audience. “I come and try to totally detach myself from the reality that we’re witnessing and bring an escapism to the room,” Broza said. Almost every day, and sometimes multiple times per day, he’s playing for people that need it. With Israel Defense Forces brigades and displaced civilians as his audience, he often performs wearing a helmet and a tactical vest.
“I’m not the first artist to go to the front lines, and I feel very fortunate that with all the negativity around, I can do three, four, sometimes five shows a day, going from one unit to another, and then I go to the displaced people,” Broza said. “I go wherever music is needed, I just wing it and I play and I give my heart out there. I don’t even think about it. My driver takes me through these places, and some of them are very unpleasant. You hear the rockets. He keeps driving forward, and I’m just telling him where we got to go.
Born in Haifa in 1955, Broza was 12 when his father bought him his first guitar. He would spend a significant part of his youth in Madrid, Spain at a religious boarding school, where felt like “renegade.” Still, that time in Spain had a massive influence, the sounds of flamenco and folk pop still evident in his songs. Over the decades, he’s recorded in multiple languages and collaborated with musicians such as Spanish guitarist Paco de Lucía, Wyclef Jean of the Fugees, and singer/songwriter Jackson Browne.
One throughline of his career is that Broza has consistently promoted peace and understanding with his music. This was on full display with his 2014 album and documentary, “East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem,” where he chronicled eight days that brought together Israeli and Palestinian musicians.
”In my case, what I can offer is a couple of hours of great music that I bring from home, from Tel Aviv, from Israel that I bring from my journeys in America and in Spain, and just connect with the souls in the deeper end of things.” – David Broza
“I’ve always been out in the streets promoting what I think is coexistence and peace,” Broza said. Between performances, continues to find inspiration and create new music. Any given day, Broza is practicing or composing for four to six hours. As he embarks on his mini U.S. tour, he continues to bring a message of hope and unity through his music. “In my case, what I can offer is a couple of hours of great music that I bring from home, from Tel Aviv, from Israel that I bring from my journeys in America and in Spain, and just connect with the souls in the deeper end of things.”
He has been on the road performing since he was 18. And now at age 68, his setlist features songs in Hebrew, English, and Spanish. Given how effortlessly he bridges cultures and divides, so it’s no surprise he remains optimistic about the future of the people in Israel and its neighbors.
“I don’t believe in just waiting for fate,” Broza said. “I believe in getting up and grabbing fate and directing your life towards where you want. If you want to live and find a way to live in peace, which today is almost a four-letter word in Israel. You have to wait a little, maybe in making the big picture your goal, but you still have to feel it inside of you. You have to trust that people don’t want constant battles and constant fights. At some point it’ll culminate and there will be some kind of pause or solution or a horizon that will open up. And I don’t want to miss that. I want to be there right at the front of it and welcome it. So I perform for all walks of life — for anybody.”
David Broza’s tour kicked off in Los Angeles at the Saban Theatre. He will be performing throughout the month of June with stops in San Francisco, New York, Boston and Toronto. For tickets, visit https://davidbroza.net/tour.
