JMW: FRAGMENTS - Yoni Avi Battat

Inspired by traditional Arab musical forms, Yoni Avi Battat combines Hebrew, Arabic, English, and Yiddish lyrics to express the fragmenting effects of migration, lost languages, assimilation, and erasure. Sharing musical insights about his own fragmented Iraqi-Jewish identity, Yoni gives us a concert described as “an education for the ear and the soul.” You will be captivated by the music and you will awaken your understanding of Arab and Jewish history, culture, and identity. Ultimately, listeners of all backgrounds will find resonance and healing in this beautiful message.

Yoni Avi Battat brings Arab music into the soundscape of American Jewish life through composition, education, prayer, and performance on viola, violin, oud, and vocals. His debut album Fragments seeks to find new pathways to connect with ancestry and find healing around our fragmented identities. Yoni’s newest project, Kedmah, recently released their first album of Mizrahi Piyyutim (Middle Eastern Jewish liturgical music), entitled Simu Lev. From 2021-2022 Yoni toured nationally as an actor and violinist with the Tony Award-winning musical, “The Band’s Visit.” www.yonibattat.com @yoniavibattat