Singer Yehuda Poliker to light torch on Independence Day

“Poliker opened a splendid musical window to the Mediterranean Sea,” Regev said in a press release.

APRIL 18, 2019 16:51

Yehuda Poliker (photo credit: BENNY DOUTSH) — Yehuda Poliker

(photo credit: BENNY DOUTSH)

Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev announced on Tuesday evening that rock singer and musician Yehuda Poliker will be among those honored to light the torch during the Independence Day ceremony.

Regev surprised the singer during his Tuesday performance in Herzliya at the Zappa Club and told him the news on stage with the audience cheering.

“Poliker opened a splendid musical window to the Mediterranean Sea,” Regev said in a press release, “and did so alongside producing great pop and rock music.”

Poliker is regarded by many as leading Israeli music into discussing the Holocaust and the legacy of diaspora Jews with his 1989 album Ashes and Dust, which dealt with their experience as a second generation of Holocaust survivors. Poliker’s parents were born in Greece in the city of Thessaloniki.

The album is seen by many as one of the best rock albums in Israeli music.

Poliker will light the torch to honor children of Holocaust survivors, as well all Israeli musicians.