Vienna Alumni Spotlight: Isra Doghman

Isra Doghman, or IZRAA as her stage name reads, is an artist, songwriter, singer, activist, and a WVPU alumna. In February 2022, she won the FM4 protest song contest, with her piece of art – “9 November.”

Photo copyright Radio FM4 Christian Stipkovits

She graduated from Webster Vienna Private University with a BA in Media Communication and Business Administration in 2015. Both as a very active student and now as an Alumna, Isra wants to make the world a better place. A truly global citizen, she is originally Palestinian, Lebanese and Tunisian and was born in Austria but also lived in Tunisia, Lebanon, England, and Canada. She speaks Arabic, German, English, and French and is currently settled in her home country – Austria.

Although Isra has pursued a career in the field of Marketing, she has never lost her passion for one of her first loves, music. She mentioned that she has been in love with music since she was six years old and now with her most recent song, “9 November”, Isra shows how music and activism can work together to bring light to issues often ignored or forgotten.

“It's time for us to stand up for our future and for something to change. These youth need our support, our support. It can't be that nothing has changed in ten years. Young people need a chance, someone who takes them by the hand and shows them that there is another way, that there is hope.” – Isra commented on 07.24.2020 in the interview from “Vida” press.

Back in 2013, Isra won the Webster’s Got Talent Vienna competition and went on to represent WVPU at the European-wide Webster’s Got Talent competition. Back then she commented that:

“Every song I write has a story behind it, my dream is to reach people with it because everyone has feelings which are hidden somewhere deep inside.”

Her goal is to inspire people with her art, to show them the power that they have in their hands and to stand up for themselves. Isra won the 2022 FM4 protest song contest with her song against racism, inspired by personal experience. She grasped the juror’s attention and she won with a total of 7 votes out of 10. The song’s text aims at stopping the ongoing injustice, humiliation, and racism in Austria. Her family’s experience in a police operation two years ago in November inspired her to write that song and protest against the discriminatory treatment her family and others received.

The operation was called “Luxor”, which were a series of searches in mosques, prayer associations and private homes of people who were thought to be somehow close to terrorism. Authorities later recognized that the operation searches were illegal. However, it was too late to take back the harm caused to innocent families. On November 9, 2020, Isra’s parent’s apartment was also searched. A racist act, she said. One year later, the theme and her personal approach in the song brought Isra victory in the 2022 protest song contest. This is not the first time that the songwriter has won a contest with her music.

Isra has certainly managed to reach many people with her song ”9 November,” and we are proud of her success. She is also proud - commenting on her Webster’s Got Talent video on YouTube: “Proud of you IZRAA from your future self!”

We wish Isra all the best in her career and invite you to visit her channels to get to know more about her and her music.