Liora Itzhak (Pezarkar) (; born 27 September 1974) is an Israeli singer of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n origin. She was born in Israel to parents who had made

aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

from

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. During Indian

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

's 2017 visit to Israel, she sang ''

Hatikvah Hatikvah (, ; ) is the national anthem of the Israel, State of Israel. Part of 19th-century Jewish literature, Jewish poetry, the theme of the Romantic poetry, Romantic composition reflects the 2,000-year-old desire of the Jews, Jewish people ...

'' and ''

Jana Gana Mana "" is the national anthem of the Republic of India. It was originally composed as " Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata" in Bengali by polymath and activist Rabindranath Tagore on 11 December 1911. The first stanza of the song " Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata" ...

'' – the national anthem of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and India respectively.

Early life

Born in

Lod Lod (, ), also known as Lydda () and Lidd (, or ), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Shephelah on the east and the coastal plain on the west. The ci ...

to Indian Jewish (

Bene Israel The Bene Israel (), also referred to as the "Teli, Shanivar Teli" () or "History of the Jews in India, Native Jew" caste, are a community of Jews in India. It has been suggested that they are the descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes via t ...

) parents from the state of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, Itzhak moved to India at the age of 16, returning to Israel eight years later. In India, she attended the Sur Sarvadhan Institute in

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

, where she learned music from Pandit

Suresh Talwalkar Pandit Suresh Talwalkar (born 1948) is an Indian musician who plays the percussion instrument ''Tabla''. Performing career Talwalkar was born in 1948 into a Marathi family in Chembur, Mumbai. He belongs to the Keertankar family of Shri Dholeb ...

and his wife, as well as from Ramesh Nadkarni.

Career

Itzhak cites Bappi Lahiri as one of her influences, who gave her a chance at a music career. While living in India, she sang with several famous singers, such as

Kumar Sanu Kedarnath Bhattacharya (born 20 October 1957), professionally known as Kumar Sanu, is a leading Indian playback singer who primarily sings in Hindi film songs. He is widely regarded as the Melody King of Bollywood. He holds the record for winn ...

and

Udit Narayan Udit Narayan Jha (born 1 December 1955) is an Nepali and Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured mainly in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. He has also sung in various other languages including Telugu language, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil ...

. She performed in the Bollywood film ''Dil Ka Doctor''. In Israel, she collaborated with Israeli Psytrance artist Blastoyz, singer Yoav Itzhak. In 2015, she performed at a state banquet in honor of Indian President

Pranab Mukherjee Pranab Kumar Mukherjee ( ; born, 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020) was an Indian statesman who served as the president of India from 2012 until 2017. He was the first person from West Bengal to hold the post of President of India. In a pol ...

's visit to Israel. In 2017, she performed at the annual Israel Festival in Jerusalem. Her first album, ''Mala Mala'', was popular in Israel and India.

Personal life

She is married and has 2 children.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Itzhak, Liora 21st-century Israeli women singers 1974 births Living people People from Lod Israeli Mizrahi Jews Israeli people of Indian-Jewish descent Hindi-language singers Bene Israel