During a visit to Burma in March I had the pleasure of performing to a crowd of over 10 000 at the Sittwe Pagoda Festival. I took to the stage as part of a big festival featuring some of the biggest names in Burmese music. Having by this time been in the country for a few days, I was able to interact a bit with the crowd in basic Burmese. The atmosphere was electric and the crowd incredible. Apparently I was the first foreigner to perform at such an event in Sittwe; the state capital of Rakhine State. Before the concert, the head monk of the pagoda gave me a Burmese name: Mau Hla Jaw meaning ‘Handsome Famous Younger Brother’. I am not one to refuse a compliment!

In September, I was interviewed for the Tel Aviv and Gush Dan regional news bulletin. It was my first live interview in Hebrew so I was a little nervous but I managed to get through it ok without too many horrendous errors. For those who don’t speak Hebrew (or who can’t understand my accent), there are English subtitles which give a rough idea of the conversation. What you can’t hear is the entire crew roaring with laughter when I answered the final question!

Big thanks to the IBA TV journalist for securing the footage!

One month after making aliyah I had the pleasure of performing at Tzemach beach on the shores of the Kinneret. The crowd was over 1000 teenagers on FZY and Young Judaea summer programmes. Despite the extreme temperatures (around 38C) and high humidity (around 80%), and despite the fact that they had been running around all day competing in a sports competition, they still rocked the Zionist tip something big. Respect!

This is an extract from the official video of the event and comes courtesy of Promo Productions (www.promotv.co.il).