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

Jerusalem Post/Israel NewsThe Israel Festival event, titled “From Captivity to the Lawn: Stories and Songs,” drew 3,000 attendees, including bereaved families and other former captives. Follow us on GoogleIdan Raichel (left) and Sagui Dekel-Chen embrace on stage at the concert in Nor Oz on Monday night.(photo credit: AVI ROKACH)BySAGI BIN NUNAUGUST 11, 2026 13:07In an emotional homecoming, 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.“In captivity, the music I knew kept playing in my head,” Dekel-Chen told the audience. “Initially, it served as a sedative. Later, it became a weapon to maintain sanity.”Dekel-Chen described nightly routines where he held imaginary conversations and storytelling sessions with his daughters. Morning routines involved pacing the corner of his cell while visualizing dancing with his wife to tracks by Israeli singer Rita.Sagui Dekel Chen sends message to the remaining hostages, February 15, 2025. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)Former hostage's music juxtaposes trauma with hopeThe 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.In “The Song for Me,” Dekel-Chen articulates his psychological struggles post-release, noting that while he fears nightmares and lingering trauma, his primary fear was “returning to an empty house.”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, Dekel-Chen said he deliberately maintained a falsehood in his own mind 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, assuming the worst. Upon his release, he discovered his family had survived.Musical event not escapism, but trauma-processing, director saysKibbutz Nir Oz suffered severe casualties and abductions during the October 7 attack. The concert’s artistic director, Itay Mautner, rejected the notion that the musical event was a form of escapism, framing it instead as an essential, public processing of ongoing regional trauma.Speaking after the event, Prof. Jonathan Dekel-Chen, Sagui’s father and a professional historian, characterized the concert as dual-purpose.“On one hand, it is a prayer of gratitude that Sagui returned on his own two feet,” he said. “On the other, it is a prayer for everything that was lost here in Nir Oz. The grief, the loss, and the difficulty of the abandonment remain with us forever.”Follow us on Google