Mad about music

Israeli rocker turned Hebrew qawwali singer Shye Ben Tzur is all set to woo the Capital.

A few years ago, Shye Ben Tzur was lending voice to numerous angst ridden rock music fans in his homeland, Israel, with ha rock band he founded — Sword of Damocles. Now, he is all set to enthrall a totally different audience in a completely different country with Hebrew qawwalis.

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“I came to India out of pure curiosity for the music here, and ended up collaborating with qawwali singers and other folk musicians,” says Tzur, who has learned from the fabled qawwals of the Dargah of Khwaja Garib Nawaz in Ajmer. But his interests aren’t just limited to this one form of music. “I’m very intrigued by the numerous folk music forms here, especially those from Rajasthan,” he adds.

Tzur is performing in New Delhi to promote his new album , Shoshan, in which he has collaborated with the likes of Shubha Mudgal. “Whenever I’ve performed in Delhi or anywhere else in the country, I think people have been fascinated by the music rather than my background, which is what every musician wants, after all,” he says. Ask him if Bollywood is where he sees himself eventually, and Tzur brushes aside the idea. “I’m not too familiar with Bollywood music and I don’t think it’s fit for me,” he says.