Yitzhak Attias (; born 9 September 1958) is a

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

-born Israeli Jewish musician. He was the percussionist for

Reva L'Sheva Reva L'Sheva (, "a quarter to seven") was an Israeli Jewish rock band formed in 1994 by lead singer Yehudah Katz. They released six studio albums before disbanding around 2006. On January 7, 2014, the band performed at Zappa Jerusalem, their ...

for several years and has released two solo albums.

Early life

Attias was born in

. He attended

Jewish day school A Jewish day school is a modern Jewish educational institution that is designed to provide children of Jews, Jewish parents with both a Jewish and a secular education in one school on a full-time basis. The term "day school" is used to differentiat ...

until age 11. Attias initially planned to become a drummer like his friend Joe Levy, but was inspired to percussion by watching

Steve Peregrin Took Steve Peregrin Took (born Stephen Ross Porter; 28 July 1949 – 27 October 1980) was an English musician and songwriter, best known for his membership of the duo Tyrannosaurus Rex with Marc Bolan. After breaking with Bolan, he concentrated on h ...

of the band T. Rex. He was also influenced by

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer * Sailboat designs by W. D. Schock Corp ** Santana 20 ** Santan ...

and

Osibisa Osibisa is a Ghanaian-Caribbean Afro rock band founded in London in the late 1960s by four expatriate West African and three London-based Caribbean musicians. Osibisa was the most successful and longest lived of the African-heritage bands in ...

, as well as

flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...

and

African music The continent of Africa is vast and its music is diverse, with different regions and nations having many distinct musical traditions. African music includes the genres like makwaya, highlife, mbube, township music, jùjú, fuji, jaiva ...

. As a child, he attended Carmel College boarding school in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, England. Musician

David Broza David Simon Berwick Broza (; born September 4, 1955) is an Israeli singer-songwriter. His music mixes modern pop with Spanish music. Biography David Broza was born in Haifa, Israel. His father was an Israeli–British businessman of German-Dutch ...

was an older student there, and the young Attias would often play percussion alongside him and his friends. He left school at age 16 to pursue a music career and came to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, where he lived on Kibbutz

Be'erot Yitzhak Be'erot Yitzhak () is a religious kibbutz in central Israel. Located near Yehud, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Modi'in Regional Council. In it had a population of . Kibbutz Be'erot Yitzhak was originally located in the Negev, near Ga ...

after being invited by a cousin. Feeling unsatisfied, he left the kibbutz and moved to

Netanya Netanya () () or Natanya (), is a city in the "Planet Bekasi" Central District (Israel), Setanyahu of Israel, Israel BAB ih, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between the Poleg stre ...

Career

''Gather the Sparks'' and Reva L'Sheva

After moving to Israel, Attias worked with musicians like Yehuda Glantz and Eli Massias (later of Heedoosh). Both contributed to his debut album, ''Gather the Sparks'', released in 1987. Many of the songs had been written with Attias' previous band, Ladino, and were inspired by the teachings of Rabbi

Nachman of Breslov Nachman of Breslov ( ''Rabbī'' ''Naḥmān mīBreslev''), also known as Rabbi Nachman of Breslev, Rabbi Nachman miBreslev, Reb Nachman of Bratslav, Reb Nachman Breslover ( ''Rebe Nakhmen Breslover''), and Nachman from Uman (April 4, 1772 – O ...

. Attias was a percussionist with the pioneering

Jewish rock Jewish rock is a form of contemporary Jewish religious music that is influenced by various forms of secular rock music. Pioneered by contemporary folk artists like Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (musician), Shlomo Carlebach and the Diaspora Yeshiva Band, ...

band

from 1999 until their break-up in 2006. He performed on four of their albums, including their final album, ''V'Sham Nashir''. In 2014, he participated in a Reva L'Sheva reunion concert at Zappa Jerusalem alongside

Yehudah Katz Yehudah Katz () is an American-born Israeli singer, songwriter, producer, arranger, and activist. He first rose to fame as the lead singer of seminal Jewish rock band Reva L'Sheva. As a solo artist, he has released three albums and performed w ...

, Lazer Lloyd, Nitzan Chen Razel, and Chanan Elias.

''Reshimu''

Attias released a second solo album, ''Reshimu'', in 2012, after four and a half years of development. He worked again with Massias, as well as

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musicians Ofer Portugali, Yorai Oron, Yaron Gottfried, and Yoram Lachish. He performed at the 2014 Moshav Country Fair at

Mevo Modi'im Mevo Modi'im (, ''lit.'' Modi'im Gateway), officially Me'or Modi'im (), is a moshav in central Israel. It is also known as the Carlebach Moshav. Located north-west of Modi'in on Highway 443, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Modi'in Regi ...

alongside Yehudah Katz and

Ben Zion Solomon Ben Zion Solomon () is an American-born Israeli musician, best known as a founding member of the seminal Jewish rock group Diaspora Yeshiva Band, for whom he played fiddle and banjo from 1975 to 1983. A disciple of Shlomo Carlebach, Solomon an ...

Personal life

Attias lives with his family near the

Jerusalem Forest The Jerusalem Forest () is an artificial municipal pine forest located in the Judean Mountains on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It is surrounded by the neighborhoods of Beit HaKerem, Yefe Nof, Ein Kerem, Har Nof and Givat Shaul, and a mosha ...

. His wife, Tamar Lauffer Attias, whom he met in the early 1980s, is a professional

flautist The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

who plays with the all-female

band

Tofa'ah Tofa'ah (, "phenomenon" or "happening") is an Israeli Jewish rock band formed in Jerusalem in 1981. They are notable for being the first known all-female Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish rock band, preceding later groups like Ashira (band), Ashir ...

as well as on several of her husband's albums. His sons Yonatan Attias and Michael Attias founded the Indie-rock ban
NURIEL
and another of his sons, David Attias, soon joined as a band member. Attias was inspired as a young man by musician

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the Rock music, rock band Santana (band), Santana. Born and raised in Mexico where he developed his musical background, he r ...

's spiritual journey as expressed in his music. He also read

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...

and was introduced through

Martin Buber Martin Buber (; , ; ; 8 February 1878 – 13 June 1965) was an Austrian-Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I and Thou, I–Thou relationship and the I� ...

's work to Rabbi

, who intrigued him with his emphasis on music in religious practice. He has said that while he was raised

Sefardi Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

and follows

Sephardic law and customs Sephardic law and customs are the law and customs of Judaism which are practiced by Sephardim or Sephardic Jews ( "Jews of Spain"); the descendants of the historic Jewish community of the Iberian Peninsula, what is now Spain and Portugal. Many ...

, he identifies with the

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

outlook and philosophy in his

hashkafa ''Hashkafa'' (; plural ''hashkafot'', ''hashkafos'', ''hashkafas'') is the Hebrew term for worldview and guiding philosophy, used almost exclusively within Orthodox Judaism. A ''hashkafa'' is a perspective that Orthodox Jews adopt that defines m ...

Discography

Solo albums

*''Gather the Sparks'' (1987) *''Reshimu'' (2012)

With Reva L'Sheva

* ''Etz Chaim Hee'' (Voices Along the Path, 1999) * ''Ahavat Chinam'' (Mayim/Welcome Music, 2001) * ''10: Live'' (Noam Hafakot, 2004) * ''V'Sham Nashir'' (Noam Hafakot, 2005)

With Shlomo Carlebach

*''Shlomo Sings with the Children of Israel (Hiney Anochi V'hayeladim)'' (1989) – percussion *''The Gift of Shabbos'' (1995) – percussion *''Open Your Hearts (Music Made From The Soul, Vol. 1) (1986 Recordings)'' (1997) – percussion *''Holy Brothers and Sisters (Music Made From The Soul, Vol. 2) (1986 Recordings)'' (1997) – percussion

Featured appearances

*Ashira Morgenstern, ''Ashira 2: Castle of Water'' (1985) – "Rachel (The Courage to Live)", "Tu B'Av" *Various, ''Tomorrow Will Be Shabbos'' (2001) – "Kah Ribbon" *Ashira Morgenstern, ''Faith is Like a Garden'' (2006) – "Circle Dance", "King and Emperor" *Various, ''Symphony of the Spirit'' (2012) – "Soul Waves", "Forest Niggun", "Wandering", "Niggun Simcha", "Snow Gently Falling"

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Attias, Yitzhak Living people 21st-century Israeli male singers Israeli Hasidim Israeli Sephardi Jews Reva L'Sheva members Gibraltarian Sephardi Jews Gibraltarian musicians Israeli percussionists Jewish rock musicians Musicians from Jerusalem 20th-century Israeli male singers 1958 births