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Dec. 29, 2006
Sounds of Jerusalem
New Israeli Leo Doron owns a recording studio.
SIMON GRIVER ISRAEL PRESS SERVICE
Studio One in Jerusalem's Talpiot Industrial Zone is the realization
of a dream for Mexican immigrant Leo Doron. A sound engineer by
profession, the recording studio, which he acquired as an already
operating business in 2005, brings together Doron's love of music
and Jewish tradition.
Doron's clients include an eclectic range of musicians – from
jazz and rock to klezmer and Jewish chazanut (cantorial)
and on to ethnic Irish and Middle Eastern. His favorite project
involves recording various works for the Jewish musical heritage
archives of the Diaspora Museum.
Doron, 31, was born and raised in Mexico City. As a teenager, he
got a job with a local radio station working as a DJ but became
fascinated by the technical side of the work. He would have stayed
on and developed a career in radio, but he never felt entirely at
home in Mexico.
"I always had a very strong Jewish identity," he explained.
"Mexico is a great country and I love the Mexicans, but I always
wanted to be able to feel as at home as the Mexican Christians do
in Mexico. I also felt strongly that I wanted to serve in the Israeli
army."
In 1996, Doron came on vacation to Israel for the first time. He
fell in love with the country and stayed on, studying Hebrew at
a Jewish Agency kibbutz ulpan and then serving in the artillery
corps of the Israeli army. Four years later, he went to Spain, where
he studied for a B.Sc. in sound engineering, returning to Israel
in 2003.
"By then I was already in love with Jerusalem," he recalled.
"There was never any chance that I would settle in Europe or
return to Mexico."
Back in Israel, Doron took a job as a sound engineer at the Studio
One recording studios and began learning the ropes. Then, in the
summer of 2005, his boss and studio owner made him an offer he couldn't
refuse, offering to sell him the studio for $50,000.
"But I had just $200 in my pocket and, as a young new immigrant,
it would have been practically impossible to get a major bank loan
for a business," he said. "I had nobody in the country
to act as a guarantor and it looked like I [would have] to pass
up the chance of a lifetime. It was very frustrating."
Then Doron heard about the MATI Jerusalem Business Development Centre,
which seeks to strengthen the city's economy through assistance
in opening new businesses. They were happy to advance a loan after
scrutinizing Doron's business plan and, since then, the studio has
gone from strength to strength, with business coaching from MATI,
and Doron himself today employs three sound engineers.
The only downside to life in Israel for Doron is that it has separated
him from his family. However, his older brother, Abe, came to live
in Israel in 1999 and the Doron brothers are hoping to persuade
their parents to make aliyah. Abe Doron is also in the music business.
A professional percussionist, he came to Israel after completing
a two-year world tour with the world-famous Riverdance Irish Dance
Troupe.
While his brother is particularly into Israel's thriving Irish music
scene, Doron himself takes greatest pleasure from traditional Jewish
music. One of his clients is the renowned cantor Moshe Stern. And
he is frequently asked by the Diaspora Museum to cut discs for their
archives of Jewish traditional music that would otherwise be lost
to posterity.
"We recently had some elderly Jews here who were originally
from Alexandria in Egypt – once a large, proud community,"
said Doron. "They recorded their traditional songs and prayers.
Last month, we cut a beautiful disc of Portuguese chazanut from
Holland. It was really something special."
Doron does not like to talk about long-term ambitions.
"At the moment, I'm busy consolidating the business and paying
back the loan. For the moment, I'm happy, doing what I love and
making a living."
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