A 'symbolic' collaboration

In a time when the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause mayhem, two free-spirited artists - Lucky Ali and Israeli musician Eliezer Cohen Botzer – created 'Amaraya', a rendition that is not only beautiful beyond words but also highlights a deep inner truth. This cross-cultural project is their second song from the upcoming album 'Lemalla'.

In an exclusive conversation with 'Millennium Post', the duo talks about the spiritual connection they felt while making a song 'that strives to create a reality where the impulse to listen is greater than the need to convince'.

Talking about the album, Lucky says, "I see 'Lemalla' as a continuation of the journey within the music that will culminate into something we are yet to discover. For me, the whole album is a discovery in itself. The music found its way through like-mindedness, a connection that we (Ali and Botzer) felt during the process of discovering each other. While working on the project, we also realised that we have more similarities culture-wise than we knew we had."

He adds, "Amaraya' is one of the songs that talks about rising above differences in a chaotic time like the COVID-19 pandemic. In a world full of strife, suspicion and anger, people must come out and make overtures and build bridges. This pandemic has put us in such a terrible situation that we are bound to think who we are and where we are going."

Sharing his views on the idea behind 'Amaraya' Eliezer mentions, "The word 'Maraya' in Arabic means mirrors. The 'A' we added to the name of the song symbolises the oneness of all mankind. It basically indicates how we all are like the shards of mirrors that reflect one another. 'Amaraya' is born from humanistic beliefs and mutual prayer for people to come together."

Talking about the collaboration with Ali, the talented artist says, "This collaboration provided us with an opportunity to see many myriad perspectives and meet new musicians with diverse attitudes, skills and personalities to create togetherness out of love and friendship. Every song that came out of this collaboration took us on to a whole new world of discovering music and life together," he states.

Speaking about the connection between him and Ali, Eliezer shares, "For more than a decade, I have had a very deep connection with India, the land and its people. While exploring India, I searched for an Indian artist to connect with, to create a collaboration of spirit and a joining of souls through the element of music. God guided me to the best partner for the journey. The second I heard Lucky's music and saw his performances, I felt so connected. His personality is fascinating and caring as he spreads inspiration and love wherever he goes. This collaboration has been a very meaningful journey, probably one of a kind of experience that I have been through in my life."

"Our first conversation was over a phone call," informs Eliezer, adding, "We discussed and shared music over that call and soon after that we understood that the best way for us to collaborate is to meet. So I came to India with our team and spent some time together at Lucky's farmhouse. From there, our creative journey started and led to us making a whole album together."

Botzer admits, the beauty of this experience is that "we did not just create soulful music but also a lasting friendship and connection between two families. This album is about a connection between two musicians, two artists, two different cultures and two musicians from Israel and India, which we hope inspires the listeners as it inspired us while creating it."

For Eliezer, Indian music is similar to the music created in his country when it comes to self-reflecting renditions like 'Amaraya'.

"The music in both countries is very soulful and combines eastern and western instruments. Both of our countries are very much rooted with a culture that relates to all times and stays always relevant," he opines.

He also mentions, "I feel very strongly about Indian music. It is the music of the heart that always demands true emotions. I feel very honoured to be a part of such a project for that very reason as it is something I relate to very much. Our music and cultures have a lot of similarities, which is something I discovered even more during this beautiful project."

Lucky Ali's fans never stopped crooning his hit numbers while he busied himself in making new music for the new single – which apparently took a long time. About this long break and the much-awaited comeback, Lucky says, "I never went anywhere as I was getting ready to release a song and prepare for a concert. Whatever I do, I follow my own pace. To create songs like 'Amaraya' takes time," he says.