From Israel with love

MANILA, Philippines - Singer-composer David D’Or will be the last person to tell you he holds not one, but three titles in his native Israel. They are Israel’s Most-Acclaimed Modern Singer, Singer of the Year and Best Vocal Performer.

He has eight gold and platinum albums. He has sung for Pope Benedict in Israel. Pope John Paul II invited him to perform at the Vatican from where his well-acclaimed concert was broadcast live all over the world.

After Vatican, he was invited to Italy, where D’Or, also a theater actor, appeared on TV shows. He has shared the stage with Andrea Bocelli.

The monarchy of Thailand invited him to perform at their celebration of the king’s 60-year reign.

His audience includes the who’s who around the world: Israeli president Shimon Peres, Italian president Giorgio Napolitano, the King and Queen of Sweden, former South Africa president Nelson Mandela and former US president Bill Clinton.

His version of Amazing Grace reduced Dr. Martin Luther King III to tears.

D’Or’s vocal range spans more than four octaves. Name it, he sings it: Opera, dance, folk, classical, pop, jazz.

And yet, D’Or agreed to perform for free in his first concert in the Philippines tonight at the Araneta Coliseum (gates open at 4 p.m. and seating is on first-come-first-served basis).

What gives? Shouldn’t someone as acclaimed as him charge astronomical fees?

 Grace Galindez-Gupana, who brought D‘Or to the country, is herself amazed. The president-founder of HalleluYAH Prophetic Global Foundation knows how big D’Or is in his native Israel, and even worldwide. And she feels like a lotto grand prize winner when he agreed to push through with the free concert after a one-year delay.

“We prayed for this concert (to happen),” she says.

Turns out Grace won D‘Or‘s heart as well. He was floored when he learned how Grace’s group labored long and hard to make the Israel flag — all of 4.5 hectares big. They did it without anyone telling them to.

The result is a handwork whose sheer size made it to the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s biggest flag to date.

One good turn deserves another. Grace didn’t have to ask D‘Or twice when she invited him to perform in the Philippines for the first time.

“Music is a universal language,” he says, allaying doubts that Filipinos may not take to his repertoire of Hebrew music that well (he will also render English songs).

But if music lovers in London, Sweden, India, Morocco, Turkey, the US, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Australia, Taiwan and others have rewarded him with heartwarming applause, why can’t Filipinos?

For his one-and-a-half hour Philippine show, D‘Or is flying in a group of instrumentalists who will accompany him.

“The show will be a great celebration of love and peace,” he promises.

To be more concrete, D‘Or will sing songs about world peace, love, prayer power and others. He singles out a Hebrew song whose English title translation is Protect Our World My Child.

“It tells of how we are doing awful things to our world,” he explains.

It’s his plea to preserve Mother Earth before it’s too late.

D‘Or has another plea: World peace and understanding. And again he is doing it the best way he knows how: Through his music.

“I come with peace,” he shares. “After all, ours is the same God.“

Gary Granada and his UP Singing Ambassadors will help D’Or spread this, and other messages of hope when they share the stage with him in the concert.

Talk about timing. Now that North Korea has launched a nuclear missile into space, it’s just what we need — ASAP.