Daniella Gilboa has been writing songs since she was seven years old.
She would sit at the piano in her family home, composing melodies and dreaming of the day she might share them with the world. That dream never left her, not even when the world turned unimaginably dark.
On October 25, Gilboa will step onto the Australian stage as the headline act of SHIR: Australian Jewish Music Festival’s Unbreakable concert, performing her debut single Where Everything Ends for one of her first international audiences. It is a moment she has waited her whole life for.
“Music has always been my favourite thing,” Gilboa told The AJN, her eyes lighting up. “From when I was about seven years old, I was writing songs and learned how to play the piano. I started performing live. I realised that this was the thing that I wanted to do with my life. This is my dream.”
That dream was interrupted on October 7, 2023, when Gilboa was abducted from the Nahal Oz military base at age 19, along with fellow surveillance soldiers Naama Levy, Karina Ariev, Liri Albag and Agam Berger. She was held in Hamas captivity for 477 days before being freed on January 25, 2025.
But even in captivity, Gilboa never stopped making music.
Her captors forbade her from singing in Hebrew, so she taught herself to recite Jewish prayers, including Shalom Aleichem, in Arabic so she could still welcome Shabbat each week. Her father Ran later shared that she kept singing throughout her captivity, drawing strength from it for herself and those held alongside her.
Before October 7, Gilboa had co-written a song called Maybe the Door Will Open (Ulay Tipatach HaDelet) with two of her fellow lookout soldiers at Nahal Oz, Yam Glass and Aviv Hajaj. Both were killed that day.
While Gilboa was in captivity, a video of her performing the song surfaced and was widely shared in Israel and around the world. In October 2024, Israeli singer Eden Ben Zaken recorded the track as part of a project marking one year since the war began.
After her release, Gilboa and fellow former hostage Karina Ariev performed the song live together at a memorial concert for Glass.
“The Jewish people are unbreakable. And I’m here to show that too.”
It was a full-circle moment for a young woman who had always seen music as her life’s purpose but had never imagined the circumstances under which the world would first hear her voice.
Speaking to The AJN, with her mother Orly gently encouraging her beside her, Gilboa revealed that she and her fellow hostages had found quiet moments to sing together while being held in Gaza.
“When there were some opportunities for me to sing there, in Gaza, it was the light for my friends there. We sang together,” she said, her mother Orly pointing out that they sang “very quietly”
“But it was also our way to remind ourselves that we are human. Music is always there. It’s the medicine.”
It was a moment Gilboa had not been asked about, but one she wanted to share. Her mother, who campaigned tirelessly for her daughter’s release, sat beside her as she spoke. Gilboa laughed as she shared that Orly reminds her what she wants to talk about.
Since returning home, Gilboa has devoted herself to healing and to the music career she had always envisioned. In February, she released Where Everything Ends (Eifo Shehakol Nigmar), a deeply personal debut single co-written with musicians Gil Vain and Uri Sachiv. The song traces her journey from darkness to hope, from captivity to the feeling of sunlight on her face again. It is the first single from an upcoming album she is recording with Vain.
Gilboa has spoken about wanting the song to tell the story of her upheaval from her own perspective, from the darkness and the questions that haunted her, through to the moment of returning home and feeling the sun above her. When the single was released, she wrote that she could not believe the moment had finally arrived when she could share something of her own, that her voice could finally be heard, and that she no longer needed to whisper or be afraid.
Gilboa told The AJN that music has been her greatest source of healing, in difficult times and in joyful ones alike.
“In all of my hard times in life, and also the happy times, it’s always been there, the music, to heal me, to be my therapy. To be my way to express my feelings when nobody understands,” she said.
“When there were some opportunities for me to sing there, in Gaza, it was the light for my friends there. We sang together. But it was also our way to remind ourselves that we are human. Music is always there. It’s the medicine.”
It is clear, listening to Gilboa, that music is not something she turned to after her ordeal. It is something she has carried through every chapter of her life. What has changed is the depth of what she has to say.
She said she hopes her own work can offer the same comfort to others.
“I hope to bring with my music, a light to people who are still in the darkness, [so that] they can find also the light by my music, by any music, I think. But I hope to bring something else with my words and the message I have to tell.”
Gilboa said the opportunity to perform in Australia carries particular significance, pointing to the antisemitism that has affected the local Jewish community, including the Bondi Beach terror attack on December 14 last year.
“It is a great opportunity for me to show some support, also after the heartbreaking tragedy that happened in Sydney,” she said. “The Jewish people are unbreakable. And I’m here to show that too.”
“I’m here to show and prove that every one of us is so strong. Because when all over the world there is antisemitism and hate, we’re still together and united. Bringing hope and love, I think, that’s who we are as a community.
I am here to show that we are strong, because even though there is antisemitism and hatred around the world, we are still together and united. We are here with love. That is who we are as a community.”
Gilboa said she is also honoured to be coming to Australia to show her appreciation for all the support she received, particularly the campaigning worldwide to bring her and all the hostages home.
Gilboa will be joined at the Unbreakable concert by an ensemble of Australian and international performers. The lineup includes acclaimed pianist Simon Tedeschi AM, 2025 IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition winner Sidra Nissen, award-winning cellist Rebecca Herman, vocalist Jemma Cher, soul singer Sarit Michael, brothers Ezra and Menachem Israel, and SHIR director and violinist Ben Adler, along with the Chutney ensemble. Guest artists from Indian, Iranian and Christian backgrounds are also set to appear.
SHIR director Ben Adler said the concert’s title reflects the spirit of the evening.
“The concert is Unbreakable in reference to the unbreakable spirit of the Jewish people, epitomised by Daniella Gilboa, who has emerged from captivity and transformed into an extraordinary artist,” he said. “And also in reference to the bonds that we share with our fellow citizens in this beautiful place I call home.”
Asked if she had a message for the Australian Jewish community, Gilboa did not hesitate.
“Be strong. We are so strong that no one will break us.”
Unbreakable is in Melbourne on Thursday October 22 and Sydney on Sunday October 25. For tickets, visit shir.com.au
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