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Canberra Today 13°/15° | Saturday, March 30, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Deaf man busks for Lifeline

A RETIRED man from Sydney with profound deafness has travelled to the Canberra headquarters of Lifeline to begin a three-year guitar-playing fundraiser around Australia.

Murray Mandel playing outside of the Canberra Centre.

The 64-year-old, Murray Mandel, has never let his hearing loss get in the way which is evident from his resume; Hospital Microbiologist (34 years), Qigong/Tai Chi instructor (36 years) and classical guitarist (5 years).

He’ll now be busking outside of shopping centres across the nation, donating all money raised to Lifeline.

“After hearing that the domestic crisis is happening more often around Australia over the last several years, I thought I would like to participate in reaching out and reminding as many fellow Australians as possible about Lifeline,” Murray says.

Murray has always liked music but has much difficulty understanding what a singer is singing.

“When I retired five years ago I happened to be living in Mildura and one evening a local man joked with me that I could play my guitar at his niece’s award-winning restaurant,” Murray says

“I only knew one piece of guitar music, but I thought it would be interesting and challenging so I began an incredible journey.

“I started off practising and researching almost everyday for four to seven hours.

“Twelve months later I ended up having my professional debut in that restaurant.”

Murray hopes that the public will find his “soothing” guitar music enjoyable.

 

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