During his most hopeless moments, Sagui Dekel-Chen, who spent 498 days in captivity in Gaza until his release last February, would turn to music and compose songs in his head.
“ I was kidnapped, and they took everything from me. I woke up in a hospital with a dressed, unresponsive hand, a leg in a cast, handcuffed to a bed – they even took my earring. What they didn't take, simply because they didn't know about it, was the true strength inside. The strength that helped me hold onto hope, health, and sanity.”
This strength is also what then allowed Sagui to create music while held in the most deplorable conditions. “Music was there for me during the hardest moments – songs by others playing in my head. After several months in captivity, I found myself starting to create songs. I couldn't write them down, so I memorised the words in my head. I couldn't play or sing them, so I only imagined the melodies.”
Sagui Dekel-Chen being released, surrounded by Hamas terrorists (Photo: Getty)AFP via Getty Images
Within days of his release, Sagui recorded all nine songs he remembered onto his phone. “At night in the hospital, I went into a side room and, with a voice like a toad running out of oxygen, quietly and somewhat embarrassed, I recorded nine songs, words and melodies”.
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