Gay Israeli singing icon on tour

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AMANTHA MIMERAN

SINGER Ivri Lider is touring around Australia this week under the auspices of the Embassy of Israel in Canberra.

In looking for a way to promote Israel’s open and inclusive society, the embassy decided to bring out the prominent gay performer for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Lider will lead a discussion entitled “Queer Tel Aviv” as part of Queer Thinking, the opening event at Mardi Gras. He will talk about the devastating shooting at a gay youth event in Tel Aviv in August last year.

Since revealing his sexuality publicly in an interview with Ma’ariv newspaper in 2002, he has become a gay icon of Israel.

“I wanted to be true to my fans, I wanted to be able to write whatever I wanted to write about without barriers. So I decided to come out and … it was actually great,” he told The AJN ahead of his trip to Australia.

On February 24, in cooperation with the embassy and NSW State Zionist Council, Lider will perform in Sydney at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).

Lider will perform in Melbourne on March 28 at the Prince of Wales Bandroom as part of the community’s Purim party in cooperation with Hagshama and the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) Victoria.

While in Australia, he will also visit a number of university campuses and perform at the University of New South Wales. He will lead masterclasses at The University of Sydney and Monash University, all in cooperation with AUJS.

Sydney performance: February 24, 8pm at NIDA, 215 Anzac Parade, Kensington. Enquiries and tickets: Sydney@hagashama.org.