IN CONVERSATION WITH LUCKY ALI & ELEIZER

Let’s get the obvious out of the way. How did the two of you meet, and what inspired the project and name “Lemalla”?

Eliezer: Lemalla, is the higher essence, it’s the higher the manner of being in our personality. I’ve always been fascinated with India, it’s music and culture. Then came a time a few years ago, when our management from the United States, recommended that we do a collaboration with an Indian artist and my search began. The very second I came across Lucky’s voice and his very presence of screen, I knew there was something there. I was fascinated by his depth, his songs, his humanity and felt a connection. We started with an idea of a song and three years later this became an entire album - of friendship, love and discovery.

Lucky: The meaning as explained by Eli, can be described as something that is higher than the thoughts that we operate on, a daily basis. It’s an aspiration, more than a goal. The album was about discovery, indeed…

In your new project, you emphasise the need for listening over “convincing”. Could you elaborate on how you managed to communicate this message through your music?

Both: There is the general approach that perceives the other and doesn't try to change the other and that's our basic premise of this whole project together, not to create conflicts butactually through our presentation create anexample of connection. Practically, music is an opportunity is to exercise this personality in the best way because music demands us to be… to feel, to sense, to express our senses and at the same time to be in dialogue with our partners that our creating together with us and to receive also their expression through that articulate together of the movements and developments.

On paper, you read as two completely different people, coming from very different spaces. During your time together, what similarities have you found between yourselves?

Both: Both of us see music as the language of the heart and write and compose out of seeking for answers within ourselves as well as humanity. tFor sure our beautiful friendship are expressed in hobbies we have together we are family people we tribe people, we lived in the movements of family and professional life with people that we loved being with, and we have a lot of common hobbies of history, may be learning, exploring and discovering things together. We both like to sit with friends, relax and carry on the feeling as long as its connected to inspiration and continuation and good vibes.

As songwriters/performers, what do you feel is the most distinctive thing about you? And how do you bring these two elements together in your newest collaboration?

Eliezer: I think what’s unique about me is that I’m myself and no one else and that’s how I look at everyone else as their individual selves… A collaboration is just a beautiful dialogue between people and dialogues are and should be unformatted, accepting and organic…

During the making of “Lemalla”, how often did you have a clash of creative interests? And how did you manage to move past them?

Both: Its all the question of approach because, creating is all about bringing different opinions insituations. So the continuation is the expression of dialogues and just bringing up the options, we have to put our egos aside and just listen and be sensitive to our senses, to what we feel and like and also to where our collective emotions are taking us. That’s the key to understanding whose ideas are what moving forward together in thought.

In a world ridden with cultural conflict, “Lemalla” is almost rebellious in its representation of collaboration. Why do you think so many people and cultures, find it so hard to look beyond their differences and find common ground, and did you experience any of these challenges yourselves?

Eliezer I think that if we approached the ideas of community in the wrong fashion, we would subscribe to wrong ideas and then make things about ‘us’ or ‘them’ and engage in some sort of an unwanted competition, which helps no one.

But if we retain our individual personalities along with the right kind of environmental sensibilities - of belonging to an identity or faith - as also humanity, we could connect through every situation, as it is, to every person. Yes, this project was about taking a chance and fortunately so, we hope that this will become an example of the fact that racism is not only wrong but also destroys the very beauty of human connections.

What was your biggest takeaway from your journey together as musicians?

Both: ability to connect beyond language, words, geographical boundaries and other contrasts, just by listening to the language of our hearts, through expression, conversations and music.

Given that you both have somewhat distinct styles of music, was production a challenge?

Eliezer: Our attitude towards our collaboration was also the attitude of going to a new journey and coming out of known or familiar space. So it allowed us to go through an emotional dialogue of what we hear, what as musicians we want,collaborating with our partners because of their sound and their personality’s expression. We felt that its right energy of the songs and subjects of the song.

Music of course, has the ability to evoke a number of emotions in the listener. But if you had the choice of your audience taking back just a single idea or message, what would you choose and why?

Eliezer: To seek what connect us more than what divides us because, in the places of connection we create something new, which in turn creates an opportunity to fix and to learn from the past… All in order to create more positive situation, not to use our experiences or our talents in order to mess up the present that there is and creating together out of love, for love, for connection.

What do you admire the most about each other?

Eliezer: He is caring, Lucky's movements in life is a movement that brings blessing to all of his surroundings. He looks as everyone as an equal and his heart is open to love and with love.

I admire lucky, for living the true life of an artist… as also a human. I look at him as a teacher for me as well, and a partner and a friend…

Tell us about your favourite moment throughout the entire making of this project.

Eliezer: The strongest memory for me, was to see Lucky's face to face for the first time. At that moment I felt like I’ve received an answer for my intuition of a long-long time — that I my intuition was right. I found a friend to go on a journey with, that I'm very thankful for.