Meet our returning Artist of the Week, Singer-Songwriter and Actress extraordinaire Shira Averbuch. Shira will be headlining our Israeli Songbook: A Tribute to Women Poets concert on Thursday, March 5 at Yeshiva University Museum’s Center for Jewish History.
We had the chance recently to speak to Shira about her love of music and her connection to Israeli poetry.
MT: When did you know that you wanted to be a performer? Did you always know you wanted to sing and act?
Shira: About 10 years ago I was a soldier in the Israeli Army. My job was to perform for soldiers. In 2006 a war broke out between Lebanon and Israel and I was sent to perform for soldiers and civilians living in war zones. There was one performance that made me realize why this is what I have to do. We arrived at an underground bomb shelter where about four families were staying with very small children. We sang for them and with them, we told stories and performed skits. We were about to leave, and a six-year-old girl wearing a summer dress covered in butterflies ran up to me and held on to my leg asking me not to leave because I made her feel safe again. We as performers have the gift to make people think and feel without effort. I see it as my purpose to use my gifts to touch audiences and individuals with a healing brush of art.
MT: What’s special to you about this program of songs by Israel’s leading women poets?
Shira: These Four Mothers of Song were all born before there was even a state of Israel and rose above so high in a man’s world that their words are etched in the spirit of every Israeli around the world. As time goes on, I feel that it is my duty to pay tribute to these great spirits that inspired me and so many others and make sure they are not forgotten.
MT: Is there a particular song in this program that speaks to you more than others?
Shira: Each of these songs have provided inspiration and solace at different times in my life. When my father passed away, I listened to Leah Goldberg’s “HaOmnam” on repeat… It speaks of the hope of developing an ability to deal peacefully with both the past and the present, against feelings of loss and pain.
MT: Tell us something about you we don’t know about you
Shira: As a singer-songwriter I rarely find myself writing in Hebrew. Growing up in both the US and Israel I usually write in English, but there is something in Israeli poetry that plays my heartstrings like no other can. Especially songs by these four women.
MT: Who are some of the artists that inspire you?
Shira: Not only are these female poets inspiring but also are the women who sing their words. To me, Chava Alberstein and Achninoam Nini (Noa) are especially inspiring. Everything from their silky yet powerful voices to their music and delivery of these songs gives me chills even at the 100th time I push play.
MT: What are three things that you hope to achieve in the next year?
Shira: I hope to keep spreading healing and love through music and keep touring around the world, release my new album a Birds of a Feather, and wake up every day with love in my heart.
MT: The meaning of your name, Shira, in Hebrew is ‘song’ or ‘poetry’. Do you feel that it had an impact on what you chose to do in life?
Shira: I truly feel that I’ve won the name lottery… I am my name and my name is me. It is my calling and the way I bring light in the world… The way I play my little part and this thing called life.
