Though he had been studying music since childhood, a concert by Pandit Hari Prasad Chaur-asia and Ustad Zakir Husain he attended back home in Israel changed Shye Ben-Tzurs life forever. "It was my deepest musical experience", says Ben-Tzur, who along with a group of fellow Israelis and other qawwals from Ajmer, will present a Heeyam Hebrew qawwali at the forthcoming Jahan-e-Khusrau Sufi music festival. That was in 1993, and two years later Ben-Tzur decided to come to India to learn music.
"There is such an ocean of traditional music here. I had been composing music in Israel too, but when you compose you have to look for inspiration elsewhere. In Indian music, everything is so detailed that you just reach the source of inspiration and everything just flows after that", adds Ben-Tzur. As for his attraction to the Sufi tradition, Ben-Tzur says that since he comes from a place where there is so much violence, he was amazed to see that so much beauty and healing touch also existed in Islam. "India has such a strong Sufi tradition, and it is very soothing for a person like me", says this Israeli artiste, "it has not just touched me but grabbed me".
Having studied Sufi music and culture for the last 10 years, Ben-Tzur has recently come out with an album on Heeyam (an Arabic word describing the state of supreme love), which was recorded in Rajasthan, Mumbai, Varanasi, Delhi, Tel Aviv and New York. Involving musicians from various ethnic and religious backgrounds, the album shares the vision of unity through music. For the Jahan-e-Khusrau festival too, Ben-Tzur has brought together a group of qawwals from Ajmer, with two members of an Israeli ensemble called Shave, and together they bind Islam, Hinduism and Judaism in a joyful celebration.
"Though Israel is my home because I have family there", says Ben-Tzur, who is in no hurry to leave India, "India has become my second home, because I find myself emotionally attached to this country." Home is where your heart is. And Ben-Tzurs heart surely is in Indian music.
