Musicיוסי פיאמנטה

Yosi Piamenta

Yosi Piamenta was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish singer-songwriter and guitarist known for bringing the electric guitar into Jewish music.

1951 to 2015Electric guitar in Jewish musicThe Piamenta BandRecording and touring with Stan Getz

Born: 29 November 1951, Jerusalem
Died: 23 August 2015, New York City
Occupation: singer, singer-songwriter, guitarist, songwriter

Yosi Piamenta was born in 1951 in Jerusalem

Piamenta was born in Jerusalem in 1951 to Yehuda and Genia Piamenta, a traditional family of Syrian and Sephardi origin. In 1962 the family moved to Tel Aviv. His uncle, the saxophonist Albert Piamenta, gave him his first guitar, and he taught himself to play.

He did his military service in the Artillery Corps band before the Yom Kippur War. During that war, already released, he performed for soldiers with his younger brother Avi, a flutist.

In 1974 the brothers formed the Piamenta Band. Saxophonist Stan Getz discovered them by 1976 and invited them to record and tour with him in the United States. Piamenta then became an observant Orthodox Jew and played rock and blues style music with Hebrew religious lyrics at Jewish weddings, concerts and clubs.

He married his cousin Vivian, and they had 6 children. He lived in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and after the couple divorced in 2005 he returned to Israel at his father's request. He died of cancer in New York in 2015 and was buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.