My love of music began in my childhood and is still going strong.
When I was 13, I took up the guitar and my brother, Azriel, immediately taught me my first blues and also gave me a Django Reinhardt cassette along with a large collection of records from a lot of styles. I remember spending hours listening to those records, trying to catch that magic energy that I felt from some special tunes, tunes in many different styles. The magic that I felt as a child is the secret that I’m still looking for today.
That first Django cassette played a big part in my life. Django’s music ignited a spark in me that has become an eternal light guiding my way to spread his breathtaking music, learning, performing, teaching in person and online, and developing a guitar to get the precise sound I’d been longing for.
Over the years, I have also been involved in a vast range of styles – the blues, rock, fusion, jazz, Indian, Balkan, Arabic and Irish music, et al. – all of which have influenced me and helped me create my own style.
My formal music training was at the Rimon Music College and at the Jerusalem Music Academy. My professional adventure includes performance with a variety of bands and personalities in many styles. I have also written music for the theater, composed songs, written lyrics and taught music.
In 2006, I had the great good fortune to meet and play with Jon Larsen and Walter Clerici in Denmark. That really gave me the push I needed to devote myself to Gypsy swing, leaving other endeavors by the wayside. I immersed myself completely in learning the Gypsy swing style for two years. I travelled to Europe, studied with the acclaimed master Gypsy guitarist, Fapy Lafertin, and jammed with, and learned from, such Gypsy swing guitar greats as Bireli Lagrene, Stochelo Rosenberg and Moreno.