Lior
THE INFO:
What: Lior
When: Sunday, October 28 at 7.30pm
Where: Art Gallery of Ballarat, Lydiard Street North
Tickets: $35
Bookings:www.trybooking.com
IT HAS been almost 20 since Lior left Israel to come and live in Australia, but his music continues to be greatly influenced by his heritage.
Although he was only 10 years old when he arrived, the singer-songwriter remains ever-connected to his home country.
"I grew up speaking fluent hebrew and went back to live there as well so that solidified the culture and identity I developed during the first 10 years of my life," Lior said.
Melodically, much of Lior's music is layered in the sounds of the middle-east and his lyrics are also shaped by his experiences from the Holy Land.
"From an imagery point of view, I refer a lot to the desert and the landscape which I found inspiring while living or travelling there (Israel)," he said.
"From a bigger perspective, the Israeli culture and identity and importance of community and values has influenced my songwriting.
"I write from a more personal and humanitarian perspective rather than from a poilitical one."
Lior burst onto the Australian music scene in 2005 with his debut album Autumn Flow.
Since then, the artist has released a further two studio albums all the while staying true to his rich eastern musical heritage and exploring questions and ideas that have been bubbling away in his mind for much of his life.
Coming from a country where religious and social unrest is more common than in Australia, it is no wonder that Lior's songs explore themes and ideas which focus on the deeper more meaningful aspects of human life.
He said it was impossible to live in Israel without it affecting the way he perceived the world.
"In Israel, more often than not you see beautiful examples of of coexistence and it's the extremist minorities that lets it down," he said.
"You're either a religious person or a secular person or a Palestinian or an Israeli and it's all so categorical.
But even though his heritage does influence his writing, that's not to say his years of living in Australia have not played a role in how he produces his material.
"I think coming here and living in a multicultural society where there is a lot less division made me embrace living here," he said.
"Egalitarianism strengthened my outlook on just the value and worth of human beings and on equality."
