© 1995 Northern California Jewish Bulletin
"I can understand it in a sense," he said. "What would it be like if you went to a Bob Dylan concert in French?"
It's the dilemma Broza faces as he tries to carve a niche in the American rock'n' roll world. The veteran Israeli performer, whose last Israeli album, Masada Live, went platinum in 1994, finds himself trying to win over new American audiences while trying to please Israelis here who clamor for hits.
"It's extremely frustrating. It's not as if I've been touring the United States promoting my Hebrew albums."
In fact, the singer-guitarist, who will play this month at Stanford and in San Francisco, has won recent acclaim in the United States. He will soon be launching a two-month cross-country tour with singer Steve Perry (formerly of Journey) on the strength of three American albums.
The releases, "Away From Home" (1989), "Time of Trains" (1993) and "Second Street" (1994), all on the New York-based November label, blend musical influences from Spanish flamenco to American blues to Middle Eastern Mediterranean.
Broza, in a telephone interview from his New Jersey home, said while he is "proud to be an Israeli," his music crosses national boundaries.
"It's not ethnic, it's not Jewish, it's not Yemenite," he said. "It' s inspired by rock'n' roll at large."
Born in Haifa, Broza spent his adolescence in Spain and as a teenager translated Spanish ballads into English and Hebrew. His musical roots travel just as far. He grew up listening to Bob Dylan, The Band, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, and remembers his parents playing Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and the Kingston Trio.
He broke through the Israeli music scene in the 1970s and quickly became a long-haired poet heartthrob. Last summer, Broza accompanied Sting in Israel, and this month The New York Times called him "Israel' s greatest folkrock talent... a national hero."
Now 39, Broza lives in relative obscurity in Cresskill, N.J., with his wife and manager, Ruth, and three children, as he plays small club dates and tours to build a U.S. and international career. Though "anonymous" after his Israeli fame, he welcomes the change.
"I think I need this challenge. It revitalizes everything for me," he said. "When you become a superstar, it stagnates you."
For him, "art comes from pain, from the dark corners of your mind."
Broza does not want American success at any price, though, and seeks to avoid marketing labels.
Though some Israeli artists such as Ofra Haza have garnered U.S. airplay under a "world music" heading, Broza derides the term. "I'm worldly, yeah," he cracked.
While music from the Jewish state is "some of the best music being written," he adds, it should be judged on that basis and "not where it is coming from."
Critics have plugged his U.S. albums into the same folk-rock tradition as Jackson Browne, Bruce Cockburn, Gordon Lightfoot, Bruce Springsteen and Richard Thompson, but Broza prefers to avoid categories.
"I want to be judged by my talent," he said. He hopes people say, "'Broza writes pretty good stuff'" that anyone can enjoy.
Often, when he plays a tavern in some Midwestern venue, Broza said he'll perform for an hour in English, then segue into one of his Israeli blues tunes.
"I will make that redneck wonder, 'Where the hell is this guy from?'" he joked.
While he says he is "not sure where my home is," he is certain he does not want to be pigeonholed only as an Israeli artist.
"I'm not here on a mission, I don't represent anybody," he said. His religion, his nationality "is very personal, very private."
Meanwhile, Broza continues to do what he calls "the Jewish circuit. " On Monday, Jan. 23, he'll play at Stanford in a show sponsored by the campus Hillel Foundation. The next day, he will perform alongside Palestinian musician Nabil Azam at a San Francisco concert sponsored by the Consulate General of Israel.
He may defy being pinned down, but Broza insists on one thing: "I don't assimilate my roots," he said.
David Broza will appear at Stanford University's Memorial Auditorium at 8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 23. Information: (415) 723-1602. At 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24 he'll perform with Nabil Azam at the Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell St., S.F. Information: (415) 885-0750.