D'Or, the winner of several gold and platinum awards in his native Israel, draws from a rich heritage. Born in Israel, he hails from a family of Libyan Jewish cantors with roots in Spanish Andalusia.
Hosted by the Embassy of Israel in South Africa, he will be giving a free concert at the Regina Mundi Church in Soweto on Sunday, 25 October 2009 at 3pm. In addition, he will be performing at the State Theatre in Pretoria on Tuesday, 27 October at 8.30pm.
With a distinctive voice and style that has brought him recognition and kudos throughout the world, this singer-songwriter has performed for the likes of the King of Thailand, as well as for the Pope at the Vatican. A household name in Israel, he turned down an offer to join the New York Metropolitan Opera in order to embark on a quest to discover his roots.
He discovered that his great-grandfather had been one of the most prominent rabbis in Libya, originating from a family of Jews who were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition. D'Or then approached rabbis from the Libyan community in search of the source of the beautiful prayer songs he had heard as a child, both at home and in synagogue.
It is believed that those magical holy songs were passed down orally from father to son and can be traced back to the prayer songs sung by the Levites at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Nowadays, the songs are used by the Libyan Jewish community in prayers on Yom Kippur and the Holy Days.
D'Or has collected these holy songs, ancient chants, Yemenite Jewish songs of prayer, Sabbath songs such as his well-known hit Lecha Dodi (with a melody that he discovered in an ancient synagogue), and with his band of young virtuoso musicians from different origins (North Africa, Middle East, the Balkans), he has created a show that pulsates with emotion and energy.
A lively melting pot of sounds, rhythms and colours, his concerts feature traditional instruments such as the gumbush (a Turkish banjo-like instrument), accordion, duduk, clarinet, violin, various Middle Eastern percussion instruments, and even a shofar, the traditional ram's horn that is blown on Jewish holy days in the synagogue and is known "to open the sky for prayers and wishes".
Book for the State Theatre concert at Computicket. Tickets cost R80.
