Australian Jewish
Music Festival
About Shir
SHIR – the Australian Jewish Music Festival – is a national platform dedicated to presenting the highest quality Jewish music in Australia’s most iconic venues.
Formerly known as Shir Madness (2010–2018), SHIR relaunched in 2023 with a new name, new energy, and a renewed sense of purpose.
Our concerts feature a diverse range of Jewish musical styles, performed by artists who take pride in exploring their Jewishness on stage. From classical to klezmer, contemporary Israeli pop to liturgical reimaginings, SHIR offers a musical tour of the kaleidoscopic Jewish experience.
We commit to providing our community with the connection, warmth and empowerment that only music can bring. We are the beating heart of Jewish music.
Why Music
Music is, and always has been, foundational to the Jewish experience. Since October 7th 2023, we in the Jewish community have turned even more deeply to music for strength, healing and connection.
We have found ourselves craving the catharsis and clarity that only music can provide — to express grief, solidarity, and resilience when words fall short.
And yet, Jewish music in the diaspora is still rarely heard outside of synagogues, simchas and rallies; and there, largely incidentally. SHIR exists to change that. We are passionate about sustaining a platform for Jewish music and culture that sits apart from expressly religious and political spaces — a space of beauty, meaning, and pride.
Especially now, as Jewish presence in Australian cultural life contracts in the shadow of October 7, SHIR reclaims space we are entitled to — and deserve. Through music, we express identity, solidarity, and strength.
Music is universal. SHIR serves as a much-needed cultural gateway for non-Jewish allies and friends to learn about and embrace Jewish and Israeli culture and the lived Jewish experience. This mission has taken on urgent significance in light of the national rise in antisemitism.
SHIR is the Beating Heart of Jewish Music.
Our Purpose
is fivefold
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To present the highest quality Jewish music in the most prestigious venues Australia has to offer, to Jewish and non-Jewish audiences.
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To provide a platform for outstanding Jewish artists — particularly now, as the arts landscape has become increasingly inhospitable to Jewish expression.
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To bridge the gap between Australia’s strong tradition of Jewish arts philanthropy and the emerging generation of deserving Jewish artists.
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To reclaim the public and cultural space that Jewish Australians are entitled to — and deserve — as that space contracts in the wake of October 7.
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To create a powerful communal vehicle for expression, identity and solidarity in the face of local antisemitism and events in Israel.