Those we have lost

Matan Lior, 35: Festival sound man stayed to help others flee

Murdered at the Supernova music festival on October 7

Matan Lior Mordechai (Courtesy)
Matan Lior Mordechai (Courtesy)

Matan Mordechai Lior, 35, from Sde Hemed, was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7.

He is survived by his parents, Sara’le and Opher, his sister Hila, his grandfather Yehoshua and his girlfriend Zohar.

A well-known figure in the country’s music scene, Lior provided the amplification system, electrical infrastructure, and lighting for the festival. He was also a dedicated athlete, his family said, and would run almost 20km every morning.

He remained at the site, announcing directions towards emergency exits even as the gunmen were carrying out their murderous rampage, until he was eventually slain.

His family said in a statement that the festival, a place “full of love, joy, youth and peace,” signified the values represented in Lior.

“Everyone who knew him, even for a moment, knew his whole heart was full of giving, kindness, love for people and a desire to help everyone around him.”

“The amount of love and kindness that Matan spread in every moment of his life is enormous and the number of hearts he reached is endless and all with his beautiful smile that lit up the room with eyes that radiate kindness and human love.”

“His whole life was dedicated only to doing good and spreading it,” the family said.

In February, his mother Sara’le, told the Kan public broadcaster that Matan “at some point understood what was going on there, he saved almost 100 lives.”

Using his sound equipment, she said, “he shouted at people to leave until he had no voice left. Then he started to collect people who had frozen out there, who were confused and didn’t know what to do.”

“He ran and he threw people into bushes and fields, he saved his girlfriend,” his mother recounted, saying that they gathered information from videos and eyewitness testimony from survivors in the weeks and months since the attack.

He “wasn’t the kind of guy who would flee,” his mother added. “Matan was a hero, so many people told us that, that he was a hero.” He was also a “musical genius… he was so modest, so generous,” noting that he also had a degree in neuroscience: “He was so smart and intelligence and so, so, so modest.”

His girlfriend, Zohar Maaravi, told Channel 12 news that she begged Matan to get in the car with them as they fled “and sadly he didn’t get in… he said ‘Zohar, I love you, get in.'”

Zohar added that “even when he’s not here, I know how much he loves me, I know how much I love him, and how much I miss him. But life is stronger than anything, and we’re here to keep living and to give it our all, that is what Matan would have wanted.”

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