David Broza was born in Haifa, Israel. His father was an Israeli–British businessman of German-Dutch Jewish descent. He grew up in England and Spain, attending Runnymede College, in Madrid. Broza's grandfather, Wellesley Aron, co-founded the Arab-Israeli peace settlement Neve Shalom – Wāħat as-Salām (The Oasis of Peace)[1] and the Habonim youth movement. Young David Broza originally planned to become a graphic artist, and by age 17 he was selling his paintings in the Rastro, Madrid's Sunday flea market. Following high school, and while serving in the Israel Defense Forces, he began playing guitar in cafes to earn extra money. Eventually he was offered a record deal, but as he still hoped to attend the Rhode Island School of Design, he declined. He later recorded a tape to promote his live shows.
His music reflects a fusion of the three countries in which he was raised: Israel, Spain and England. Since 1977, when his hit song “Yihye Tov” (It'll be Good) first hit the airwaves, David Broza has been working to promote a message of peace. In 2013, Broza began work on a new project – bringing together Israeli and Palestinian musicians for 8 days and nights to work side by side in an East Jerusalem recording studio. The result was East Jerusalem West Jerusalem, a collection of thirteen songs that blends cultures, languages and styles into a powerful statement about collaboration and coexistence. The album, produced by Steve Earle, features a stirring duet with Wyclef Jean.
In 2022, Broza began singing at Temple Emanuel in New York City on Friday nights. The service consists of 14 prayers set to music by Broza with a back up of 27 musicians and a choir.[4] Broza wrote the 14 melodies in 14 days and turned them into an album, Tefila.[5]
Also in 2022, he contributed a guitar-based original score to the film, Who Are the Marcuses?.[6]
In 1994, David Broza performed with Texan singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt during a Writers in the Round concert in Houston. They never met or had any further contact thereafter, and yet, when Van Zandt died three years later, he left Broza a shoe box full of unreleased poems and lyrics with a request that Broza set them to music. Years later, the result of that unusual story was the album "Night Dawn: The Unpublished Poetry of Townes Van Zandt", which was released by Broza in 2010.[7][8]
In 2007, David Broza performed at his annual Sunrise at Masada concert in Israel where Broza collaborated with Shawn Colvin and Jackson Browne. The concert was filmed as part of a PBS special and was released in 2014 on DVD and CD by Magenta Label Group.
In early 2013, Broza recorded sessions at Sabreen Studios in East Jerusalem with a band composed of both Israeli and Palestinian musicians, including Mira Awad, Shaa'nan Streett of Hadag Nahash, West Bank rap duo G-Town and Wyclef Jean. The resulting album, "East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem," produced by Steve Earle and Steve Greenberg, was released in early 2014 on S-Curve Records. The aforementioned Haitian performer Wyclef Jean also appeared on the title track of the 2014 album.[9]
Broza was appointed a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. His song "Together" (co-written with Ramsey McLean) was the theme song for the UNICEF 50th anniversary celebration in more than 148 countries.[1]
^ ab"David Broza profile". Archived from the original on November 21, 2007. Retrieved November 29, 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), Jewish Music Group (archived webpage)
^Townes Van Zandt's bequest finds new life at "Dawn" Reuters article of February 13, 2010 (which includes an interview with Broza, telling the story's twists and turns from his point of view), retrieved July 15, 2018
^see the Night Dawn video trailer in David Broza's official YouTube channel (which, inter alia, includes rare snippets from the 1994 concert in which Van Zandt and Broza participated)
