Released hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen performs songs written in captivity at Kibbutz Nir Oz concert

Former hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen performed a concert on Monday night at Kibbutz Nir Oz, debuting nine songs he wrote during his 498 days in captivity. The Israel Festival event, 'From Captivity to the Lawn: Stories and Songs,' drew 3,000 attendees, including bereaved families and other former captives. Dekel-Chen described music as a sedative and a weapon to maintain sanity, and recounted his October 7 abduction and his belief that his family had been killed. He was released in February 2025.

Former hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen performed a special concert on Monday night on the central lawn of Kibbutz Nir Oz, the community from which he was abducted during the October 7 attacks. The Israel Festival event, titled 'From Captivity to the Lawn: Stories and Songs,' drew 3,000 attendees, including bereaved families and other former captives. The concert marked the first public debut of nine songs Dekel-Chen authored, composed, and mentally cataloged throughout his 498 days of captivity in the Gaza Strip. Flanked by a live band and joined by prominent Israeli artists – including Idan Raichel, Marina Maximilian, and the band Hatikva 6 – Dekel-Chen detailed the psychological role music played during his confinement. He described nightly routines where he held imaginary conversations and storytelling sessions with his daughters, and morning routines involving pacing his cell while visualizing dancing with his wife to tracks by Israeli singer Rita. The debut material captures a stark juxtaposition between trauma and domestic hope. In 'Song of Songs,' Dekel-Chen sings, 'We used to sing at the top of our lungs, now I sing in silence.' Another piece, 'Don't Know Your Name Yet,' is dedicated to his youngest daughter, who was born while he was in Gaza. During the performance, Dekel-Chen recounted the events of October 7, detailing his engagement with the kibbutz civilian response team, his wound, and his abduction. He admitted that because he witnessed explosions and gunfire at his residence during his capture, he spent nearly his entire captivity believing his family had been killed. To survive, he deliberately maintained a falsehood that his children were alive. When informed by captors on February 12, 2025, that he was scheduled for release within three days, he ceased the self-deception and began mathematically planning funerals for his daughters. Upon his release, he discovered his family had survived. The concert's artistic director, Itay Mautner, rejected the notion that the event was escapism, framing it as essential public processing of ongoing regional trauma. Prof. Jonathan Dekel-Chen, Sagui's father, characterized the concert as dual-purpose: a prayer of gratitude and a prayer for everything lost in Nir Oz.