Strumming heartstrings

From the day we are born, we are thrown into societal restrictions. Sometimes, these restrictions hinder our passion and limit our creativity from pursuing our real dreams. But what if one gets a rare chance to break away from everything and set out on an adventurous journey to nowhere. Just a backpack and an object that stirs you from within maybe a paintbrush or a book or just a guitar. Meet music aficionado and solo traveller Limor Ballas.

“I had come to India in search of the ‘right’ energy for my second album. And I would like to say that the rest is history. My visit to India has proved to be life-changing, leaving me fascinated with all the experiences,” Limor explains as she sits down to talk about her India experience.

Her maiden visit to the country has left the musician in Ballas transformed. Limor who originally hails from Israel was on a two-month unplanned sightseeing trip to Himachal Pradesh and ended up performing in cultural festivals of four colleges across the country. Besides that, she even ended up collaborating with sarod player Soumalya Sareswary, handpan player Abhinav Deodhar and singer Rahul Singh.

“I was in Himachal Pradesh when I accidentally ran into the organiser of Effervescence — the cultural fiesta at Allahabad. Invitation to perform at IIT’s Rendezvous too came somewhat as a surprise to me,” she shares as she further reveals that she had to catch up with an old friend who worked at the Embassy of Israel in India. And when that friend got to know that Ballas was in Delhi, she was invited to perform at Rendezvous.

“When I was sitting in Manali, one guy saw my guitar and asked me. ‘Oh, so you play the guitar, would you like to have a gig here ’ After seeing my performance he asked me to accompany him to Thar Desert Music Festival,” she shares.

From an early age, Limor devoted most of her time to music. She started playing the guitar and writing songs at the age of 16. “Music,” she says, “originates from the heart.” Pointing at the response she garnered from her audience in India, she says, “Music always conveys something very special. And it aspires to reach one’s soul. But I was really surprised when people around me who heard my songs gave me a push to go ahead in life,” says Limor.

In her free time Limor gives piano, guitar and harmonica lessons to young children. She also organises singing classes for children in five different languages namely English, Hebrew, Spanish, French and Portuguese. Limor is also an active member of an organisation under which she teaches a choir team of special-needs children. She recently launched her album In the face of myself. And has a band called Limor Ballas and Band, which is into genres like soft rock, Israel folk and bossa nova.

Nowadays it has become very easy for artists to record their music and post it on YouTube. When quizzed about the diminishing trend of performing live gigs in front of small random audience, Limor says, “There is nothing better than a live performance. When I am performing live, I feel connected to the audience, and when the performer and the audience connect, magic happens. We should never forget our roots as musicians. However, it’s good to have a balance between both (recorded and live music). You can use YouTube as a platform to get in contact with various people from all around the world.”

This musician is planning to start recording for her next album as soon as she gets back to Israel. She informs that she has finished writing songs for the upcoming album, which happened in between all her Indian collaborations and gigs. Her journey to India was undertaken to partake of a ‘waking’ experience, one which she felt would enrich her new project. Along the way, she ended up falling in love with the sarod, and Indian music as a whole. “I couldn’t have found a better ambience than this to write my songs. This was one of my best experiences and I am really looking forward to my next trip to India,” she concludes.