The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life | The Bancroft Library | University of California, Berkeley

Born in Jerusalem, Yair Harel received a traditional Jewish education before going on to study zarb (Persian drum)
in Israel and France with two master teachers of the Persian tradition, Roger Yshay and Daghmeshid Chemirani, tar
and Persian classical music with Peretz Eliyhau, and improvisation with the celebrated composer and musicologist,
Andr Hajdu. He continued his studies with two masters of the Jewish-Andalusian Vocal tradition, Rabbis Meir
Atiyah and Haim Louk.
Over the last twelve years, Harel has been focusing on exploring, teaching and performing traditional Jewish music
and singing from North Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, taking a major part in many multimedia
productions based on encounters between traditional and contemporary music, in Israel and abroad. He has been
the artistic director of the Ben Zvi Piyut Vocal Ensemble since 2008, exploring and performing Jewish sacred vocal
traditions from North Africa and the Middle East.
As a lecturer, Harel has led workshops and courses in traditional Jewish vocal music, Middle Eastern percussion
and improvisation at the The Hebrew University, the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, and The Jerusalem
Academy High School for Music and Dance. As one of the leading figures in the piyut (Hebrew religious poetry)
scene that has revolutionized the face of Israeli musical culture, Harel is a founding member of the Singing
Communities Project in Israel, the founder and the present Editor-In-Chief of the Invitation to Piyut website, an
online multi-media and educational site, and serves as the artistic director of the Jerusalem Piyut Festival since
2008.
In 2010, together with international Israeli Musician Omer Avital, he created the New Jerusalem Orchestra. The
Orchestras first performance (Internal Love, with Rabbi Haim Louk) opened the Israel-Jerusalem Festival that year.
Its second work, Maqam Yerushalem, closed the first Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival, produced by the Jerusalem
season of culture in 2012, receiving extra ordinary reviews. Harel is also a founding member in the Oman chai
ensemble, which created the trilogy of musical performances for the Jerusalem- Israel festival: Writing from within
(2004), The floating tower (2007), and Raza De Shabbat (2011 ). He is also a co-founder of Tafillalt Ensemble
(2001), which creates original contemporary music influenced from the world of Jewish prayer. Tafillalt's new
album was released in New York by John Zorn's distinguished Tzadik label in 2010. The group performs in Israel
and abroad. Together with the Harel-Ben David Trio he recorded in 2004 the CD Yedid Nefesh, released in
distinguished French Label, ALPHA. In 2010 he co-founded Piyut North America together with Rabbi Roly Matalon
(leader of B'nei J'eshurun synagogue in Manhattan), a project that aims to make the ancient tradition of the sacred
Hebrew song accessible and relevant to the communities in North America.



Yair Harel
Artist in Residence at The Magnes
UC Berkeley, Fall 2014
Schusterman Visiting Israeli Artist Program
of the Israel Institute
In the course of the residency at The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, Harel will be
participating in the new PopUp Exhibitions series and present two concerts at The Magnes,
co-teach a new Jewish Studies course, Jewish Nightlife, with Dr. Francesco Spagnolo, and
give talks on the UC Berkeley campus and to the community across the San Francisco Bay
Area. Learn more at www.magnes.org