Invitation to Song – Workshop with Yoni Battat
Invitation to Song
Workshop with Yoni Battat
Aug 2 12:30 pm at the Hebrew Center
Yoni Avi Battat (he/him) brings Arab music into the soundscape of American Jewish life through composition, education, prayer, and performance on viola, violin, oud, and vocals. Described as “an education for the ear and the soul,” his debut album Fragments seeks to find new pathways to connect with ancestry and find healing around our fragmented identities. Yoni’s newest project is Kedmah: The Rising Song Piyyut Project, which preserves and reimagines traditional repertoire for Syria, Iraq, Jerusalem, Turkey, Yemen, and Morocco. Their first album, Simu Lev, was released on Rising Song Records in Spring, 2024. From 2021-2022 Yoni toured nationally as an actor and violinist with the Tony Award-winning musical, “The Band’s Visit.” Yoni lives in Boston, MA, working locally and nationally to uplift Mizrahi identity in American Jewish communities.
Yoni will preview some of the original and traditional music for tonight’s Kabbalat Shabbat service, teaching the melodies, and sharing about their origins. As Yoni explains his journey into Arab musical traditions, and the process of crafting this service, participants will be invited to interact with this music more deeply and engage with the questions and challenges that arise from trying to make a complex musical form accessible to a broader audience. Participants in this session are invited to co-lead the service with Yoni, sitting close to the center and participating actively.