Dina Samte was only 17 when we first met her in 2010. The young Bnei Menashe singer and keyboard player, who made aliyah with her family from India in 2007, impressed us not only with her expressive voice and expertise on the synthesizer, but by the fact that she is entirely self-taught and was born blind.
Blind Bnei Menashe girl performs with Israeli pop superstar
Thanks to Shavei Israel
Dina Samte was only 17 when we first met her in 2010. The young Bnei Menashe singer and keyboard player, who made aliyah with her family from India in 2007, impressed us not only with her expressive voice and expertise on the synthesizer, but by the fact that she is entirely self-taught and was born blind.
Dina was already playing at Bnei Menashe weddings and bar mitzvahs, but she told us five years ago that her goal was to become a professional singer and to take to the big stage. Most of all, she dreamed of playing with Israeli pop superstar Moshe Peretz who has been her idol and inspiration from “the first time I turned on the radio in Israel and I heard him singing,” she says. “I was just ten years old and even though I didn’t understand a word of Hebrew, his songs touched me deeply. I would go so far as to say that I learned Hebrew by listening to his songs. But I never imagined I would get a chance to meet him and to sing with him.”
But in December 2015, Dina could scarcely contain her excitement as she took to the stage in front of 600 people in the central Israeli city of Modi’in to perform a song together with none other than Moshe Peretz.
The opportunity arose at a benefit concert for Shalva, the Israeli non-profit organization for children with special needs. Just coincidentally Peretz was the special guest. Dina, on the other hand, has been a member of the Shalva Band since 2013. The band includes both children who benefit from Shalva’s programs, and Shalva staff. Since joining the ensemble, Dina has become a soloist, performing all over Israel and abroad as well, in particular in the U.S. and the U.K.
Dina didn’t even know about Shalva when the band’s guitarist nearly bumped into her (literally) while she was walking and singing to herself at the Jerusalem School for the Blind, where she studies. The guitarist immediately recognized what Dina’s fans at Bnei Menashe celebrations already knew. “We need you,” he told Dina. A week later, she was in.
Dina Samte is a true Bnei Menashe success story. Dina grew up in Churachandpur in the Indian state of Manipur where there are only limited facilities for teaching the blind. “I received no formal education,” she told us. But her aptitude for music became quickly apparent and her father bought her a small keyboard when she was just 9-years-old.
Dina says that life in India was “really hard for me. Because I was blind, I stayed home most of the time. I had no friends and I was always alone. Now in Israel, thanks to Shavei Israel, I’m truly happy. I’ve learned to ‘see’ through my music,” she says.
Dina lives in an apartment with four other girls who also have limited vision. “We manage the household, the shopping and all the financial issues,” she says proudly. She goes home to visit her family in Kiryat Arba for Shabbat.
Dina’s music originally focused on “the yearning of the Bnei Menashe for Zion and their love for the Land of Israel,” she says. Now that she is here and well integrated (she speaks Hebrew fluently), she hopes to use her music to help other young Israelis with special needs. And she “prays every day that more Bnei Menashe will be able to fulfill their dream and come to Israel. I thank Shavei Israel for doing their holy job with great love and for helping me and others to make aliyah.”
Will there be more concerts with Moshe Peretz? Dina is hopeful. “The only thing that was missing is that we didn’t have time to speak personally after the concert,” she says. “I never got to tell him what a big fan of his I am! But I could tell that he was excited to be singing with me as well.” And after their number together, Dina joined the audience to dance to the rest of the performance by her idol.
Why not bring Dina Samte to perform at your next celebration – with or without Moshe Peretz? For more information, please contact Rachel in the Shavei Israel office.
Blind Bnei Menashe girl performs with Israeli pop superstar.
Here’s a short video from Dina’s performance in Modi’in with Moshe Peretz.
