Newbury Weekly News

Sari Schorr: Force of nature

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WITH a five-octave range and a diverse vocal skill set, Sari Schorr sets herself apart.

Born in Queens, New York, working the music scene on Manhattan’s Lower East Side to performing at Carnegie Hall and touring internatio­nally, Sari directs her passion for music as a force to unify people.

From her travels around the world, Sari sees music and the arts as under attack.

Art and culture have always been a beacon of freedom and a unifying element of society. Music empowers and unites, accepts difference and values individual­ism.

Along Sari’s journey, some life experience­s – considered to be as debilitati­ng as they are heart breaking – have only accentuate­d her aura of genuine raw resilience and strength. A first responder in the 9/11 attacks; a volunteer aid worker after the earthquake in Haiti and thrown into a car trunk and kidnapped in China.

Despite such pain, Sari only sees silver linings in everything she has seen throughout her life.

She does not indulge in artificial success, glorificat­ion or meaningles­s lyrics.

Sari paves the way for a vision of unity made possible with a shared love for music, holding a mirror to the world to say we are all one people.

People are kind, people are compassion­ate. Hate drives discrimina­tion, we cannot think creatively when we are under the guise of fear.

Throughout her career as a musician, Sari has been told to ‘shut up and sing’ when speaking out on crisis or relevant societal topics such as gun control, racism and equality.

Such irony can be drawn from this because Sari’s lyrics are entrenched in global issues and a passion that resonates with audiences of all cultures and geographie­s.

No line is random and no words are empty in the music she writes; speaking on behalf of the people and standing tall as a voice for those who are silenced. Topics like self-empowermen­t, standing up to hatred, taking chances and embracing life, loneliness, forgivenes­s.

Sari writes of the psychologi­cal warp of domestic/sexual abuse survival and speaks on behalf of people being treated unjustly; those who are disenfranc­hised and don’t have a voice.

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