David D’Or at the WOMAD festival
If you go
Israeli singer David D’Or will perform with Taiwanese singer John Yin on Saturday, Sept. 13, at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7) at the Union County Performing Arts Center, 1601 Irving St., Rahway. Their Voice of Love concert is sponsored by the Tzu Chi Foundation USA. Admission is a donation at one’s discretion.
For more information, call 973-857-8666 or visit nj.us.tzuchi.org. For more information about the singer, visit www.daviddor.com.
September 4, 2008
Israeli singer David D’Or, the great-grandson of a prominent rabbi in Libya, says he can relate to any artist with a universal message of love and peace.
D’Or, a traditional Jew and composer of 10 albums, is teaming up with Taiwanese singer John Yin for a benefit concert in Rahway — on behalf of a Buddhist foundation.
The two will perform at the Union County Performing Arts Center on Saturday, Sept. 13, in the Voice of Love concert sponsored by the Tzu Chi Foundation USA.
The concert, in which D’Or will sing in both Hebrew and English, will benefit awareness of threats to the health of the environment, including global warming, he said.
‘I do believe in the power of music. The whole world becomes like one big family.’
“The concert is like a journey of the heart,” he said. “I’m trying to bring people closer to each other.”
Interviewed by phone in Israel before his latest trip abroad, D’Or recently returned from London. There he performed with musician Peter Gabriel at the WOMAD festival, the world music festival founded by the British singer. He has performed in venues all over the world, including Australia, Singapore, and the Canary Islands, where, he said, a group of Palestinians holding their national flag danced to the strains of the traditional Sabbath song “L’cha Dodi.”
“I do believe in the power of music,” D’Or said. “The whole world becomes like one big family.”
A resident of the town of Savyon, near Tel Aviv, D’Or comes from a family of Libyan-Jewish cantors; his great-grandfather, the rabbi in Libya, was descended from a family of Jews expelled from 15th-century Spain during the Inquisition.
“I was exposed since I was very young to all styles of music,” D’Or said. Yet Jewish prayers and Hebrew songs figure prominently on his CDs. “Everything is through the Jewish soul,” D’Or said. “I believe in the beauty of the Hebrew language.”
The Tzu Chi foundation, established in 1966, works to improve social and community services, medical care, education, and humanism in Taiwan and around the world. D’Or said he became involved with the group after the Israeli ambassador in Taiwan invited him to perform in a concert there.
By helping others, D’Or said, the foundation, while not Jewish, is involved in the spirit of tikun olam, repairing the world. “We believe that all humanity is connected in a way.”
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