Deborah Conway faces down antisemitism through Songs of Strength

While facing increasing discrimination, Deborah Conway is looking forward to performing at this month’s “Shir: Songs of Strength” concerts.

The artist will bring more than her decades of artistry to the Sydney and Melbourne stages; she will also be sharing a message of resilience in challenging times.

Conway has been candid about the discrimination she has encountered connected to her Jewish identity, telling J-Wire that while there had always been “a bubbling undercurrent of antisemitism” below the surface, since October 2023 it had “burst like an abscess”.

She has also experienced protests at her concerts, including in Hobart, where demonstrators interrupted her performance and one audience member broke a glass and threatened another person with the shard. Conway described such moments as “extreme intolerance” but insists she will not be silenced.

 

For her, Shir represents more than music. It is “an important coming together for community … from people who take strength from … the optimism of the music and from the feeling of ‘we won’t be invisible.'”

When Conway and Willy Zygier walk on stage for “Shir – Songs of Strength”, they will bring with them more than guitars and microphones. They carry decades of artistry and a reputation for honesty, daring, and resilience that makes their presence particularly meaningful in this context.

Conway first rose to fame in the 1980s as lead singer of Do-Ré-Mi, whose single “Man Overboard” was a hit across Australia. Her solo career peaked with the 1991 album “String of Pearls”, producing the enduring song “It’s Only the Beginning” and earning her an ARIA Award for Best Female Artist.

Zygier entered her life as both collaborator and partner, and together they have created a body of work spanning eight albums. Their 1993 album “Bitch Epic” captured their style of confronting themes directly while wrapping them in bold musical arrangements.

For more than three decades, the pair have resisted easy categorisation. They have explored pop, folk, acoustic, and experimental sounds, always returning to finely crafted lyrics and subtle harmonies that have become their signature.

Their collaboration has not only enriched Australian music but has also carried a distinctly Jewish thread. Sometimes explicit, sometimes understated, it has always been present in their sensibility.

Earlier this year they released “Right Wing Propaganda”. Despite its provocative title, the record is a meditation on the state of the world. Sparse and acoustic, it contemplates artificial intelligence, creative freedom, and personal grief.

Their daughters appear on one track, adding intergenerational weight to an album that is both reflective and immediate. It shows that Conway and Zygier remain restless, unwilling to repeat past formulas, and determined to keep pushing their art forward.

Speaking about the upcoming concerts, Conway told J-Wire: “We will be performing our favourite songs … and we will be performing with other musicians … so it will be supercharged for the occasion.”

She said collaboration excites her most: “That’s always good fun … to collaborate with other musicians who can augment the songs that we bring to the table and see what kind of magic we can make.”

The Shir concerts hold particular significance for Conway, who was part of the inaugural Sydney event when Gary Holzman founded the festival. She called that first concert “really revolutionary” because “we were playing stuff that … really landed a bull’s-eye with this Jewish audience.”

“It was beyond music … it was just a profound feeling of connection. And a connection between us in the audience but also a connection between … being a musician and being Jewish,” she said.

She went on to help establish a Melbourne version in 2015 and 2017, both of which sold out. Even then, she said, “there was a siege mentality … a trickle of bubbling of antisemitism … harder to see, but it was kind of what it was … below the surface.”

Her involvement with Shir now carries even more weight after a year in which she has been targeted for her identity and views. She was booked, then abruptly cancelled, from a Melbourne radio appearance when a producer reportedly decided she was “a bit controversial right now.”

It is precisely this willingness to evolve and stand firm that makes her role in “Shir” so vital. She and Zygier act as a bridge between generations of Jewish music in Australia. Conway and Zygier developed the lineup in history while showing that renewal is possible at every stage of a career.

Last year, Sydney audiences saw the impact Shir’s Town Hall debut had when it brought together more than 1,500 people in song. Now Melbourne will have its turn, and the presence of Conway and Zygier gives the evening not only prestige, but depth. They remind everyone that Jewish music in Australia is not an import but part of the fabric of our own cultural life.

As the High Holy Days approach, Conway and Zygier’s voices will join those of their peers to create a collective sound that blends prayer, theatre, and contemporary song. This is far more than another performance; it represents a moment when two of the country’s most significant Jewish artists stand in the symbolic heart of their city and lend their voices to a night of resilience and pride.

In addition to Shir, Conway and Zygier are performing at other locations around Australia. Tickets are available via deborahconway.com.

Shir: Songs of Strength will be staged at Sydney Town Hall on Sunday, 28 September 2025, at 7pm and in Melbourne on Tuesday, 30 September 2025, at 7pm. Click here for tickets: http://bit.ly/3VAAiEu