Ela Sdayoor – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, the singer-songwriter, Ela Sdayoor, talks about some of her crazy moments from touring. You can check out the feature, after the break.

This year, I promoted my debut EP “My Truth” by doing a radio stations’ tour all around Israel.

I went to every radio station from northern to southern Israel, with my Martin on my back and my album in hand, in order to meet the editors and broadcasters and tell them a little bit about myself and about “My Truth”.

Sometimes I’d get invited to do an interview or to perform live, but mostly I would come for a short meeting and hope that I left some sort of impact, one that could possibly encourage the broadcaster\editor to listen to the album and to consider playing it.

One day, at the beginning of the tour, my publicist sent me to one of the biggest, most listened-to radio stations in Israel.

I was both petrified and excited at the same time, but I knew this is a chance I can’t miss.

The plan was: I was going to meet the station’s manager and editors for a few minutes only, and pray that they would agree to listen to me playing one of my songs. If not, I was to at least give them my EP.

I got into the entrance and told the guard the station’s manager’s name, whom I was supposed to meet, and at that exact moment, he walked in.

He took me to the editors’ room, who were discussing what they’re going to talk about in each show, and introduced me to everyone.

I thought it would end right there but to my surprise, they said: “play us your song”.

I took my Martin out of its’ case and started playing this new song that I just wrote, it wasn’t even in the EP but I wanted to play it even though because I felt most connected to it at the time.

Not one minute passed after I started playing and the editors stopped me and said: “we want you on air”. I was shocked and so grateful for the opportunity, but it all went so fast that I didn’t even have time to process.

They set an exact time for me to go on air and the manager showed me around the station in the meanwhile.

When it was time for me to go on air, the performance went great. I got to sing different songs and even interview for a bit, and it all went very smooth. I felt as if something was pulling me up the whole time, like as if I was awake inside of a dream.

And when the show ended everyone from the station were so excited and I got calls from few family members that said they heard me on the radio.

Since then, I’ve collected over 300 air-plays on different channels, and also did a few interviews and live performances on the radio, but this day was so special to me that I could never forget it.

That’s because it’s very hard for new upcoming artists in Israel to get recognition in the music industry. There are so many voices and not enough support and resources. And sadly many artists have to give up on their dreams in order to have a better life here.

So as one of the many struggling artists, after going through a whole year of non-stop hard work and no results, this small gesture seemed huge to me.

It made me look at the path I’ve taken since I’ve started following my heart and my dreams and be proud of myself for not giving up.

And I intend to continue to do so :)

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