TORONTO — When the winner of A Star Is Born, Israel’s version
of American Idol, was announced last year, and Boaz Mauda heard his
name, his mind went blank.
“I don’t remember anything from that moment. They said, ‘Boaz
Mauda,’ and it was a blackout. I remember only flashes, interviews, a
lot of people screaming.”Before A Star Is Born, also known as Israeli Idol, Mauda had never performed onstage.
“I first sang when I was a little boy, in the synagogue with my father. In Israeli Idol, it was the first time I came to a stage,” he said.
Mauda, now 21, was in the army when a friend of his insisted that he audition for Israeli Idol.
“My friend told me, ‘You must go.’ My first audition was at 12 a.m., a few weeks after, I had an audition at 11 p.m. There are three levels until the judges. I sang my song and got to the final stage. I was honoured to be loved,” he said.
During his first performance, Mauda couldn’t help but feel nervous.
“It was complicated. I didn’t know how I needed to sing. I could only let my voice out, not perform. It was beyond me,” he said. “In the first week, I was very inexperienced, I was under a lot of pressure.”
But during one performance, as Mauda looked out over the crowd, he said his dreams flashed before him and he suddenly felt at ease onstage as he began to sing.
“I saw some kind of vision, like I was a big star, and then I said, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Now, a year after winning Israeli Idol, Mauda is comfortable on stage. He has since toured Europe, and last week, he performed in Toronto at UJA Federation of Greater Toronto’s campaign launch.
One of his favourite memories of the Israeli Idol competition was performing with Israeli superstar David Broza, during the final episode.
After the performance, Broza took off a silver necklace he had worn for many years and placed it around Mauda’s neck.
Last May, Mauda represented Israel in Eurovision, a Europe-wide singing competition. For the competition, Mauda sang The Fire in Your Eyes, in Hebrew and English.
It was after Eurovision that Mauda began to understand the power of his voice. “After Eurovision, a lot of people came up to me… people that don’t understand my language,” he said.
He realized that “even people that don’t understand what I’m talking about will love me. It made me want to continue to [reach] them.”
“Since Eurovision, I’ve thought of how to let fans and listeners communicate with me. This is what keeps me going, this is my bond with them.”
Currently, Mauda is working on his first album.
“It changes and updates as we speak. I’ve been working on it for four months. It’s very hard. I’m trying to know who I am and what I want to say to people. I want to sing about pure and sheer joy. The power ballads will be sad and soft with an optimistic ending,” he said.
Mauda’s music is upbeat, reflecting his personality. “I’m always happy, I laugh most of the time,” he said.
If it were not for Israeli Idol, Mauda would have studied to become a physiotherapist. In fact, he still plans to going to enrol in a university physiotherapy program eventually.
“My grandfather was a physiotherapist. It’s part of my genes,” he said.
Right now, however, Mauda is concentrating on his music.
“I feel like a therapist. I send energy throughout my vocals. It’s all about energy. When you translate energy into songs, the message is very clear,” he said.
“A lot of people come to me and say, ‘You’re a healer with your vocals.’ I didn’t understand what they meant until I realized that this is what I’m here to do. To heal and make people happy.”
Mauda has learned a lot about the music industry, and even more about himself, since he won the competition.
“Music should stay genuine. You need to be authentic, be yourself, you can’t be afraid of anything. You need to be sure about the music,” he said.
According to Elad Weissman, Mauda’s creative and promotional manager, the secret to Mauda’s success is simple.
“He’s stayed the same. That’s the secret. He’s lovable,” he said.
