Hamami, The Western East

Yossi Hamami
The Western East

Yosef (Yossi) Hamami creates bridges and break down fences between different genres of music: Eastern and Western, popular and classical. His music points towards a new pluralistic musical reality.

In 2012 Yossi formed "Contrast Casting" with flutist Lior Eitan and cellist Micha Haran. This unusual group performs songs written, sung and arranged for the group by Yossi Hamami. 

Flutist Lior Eitan: 

I met Yossi Hamami for the first time in 2000 at a concert that combined a rock band with a classical ensemble. In a chance conversation between us, I told me him that I own a bass flute. As a bass guitar player, he showed a lot of interest in the rare instrument. A number of meetings between us in which I demonstrated the bass flute inspired him to write The Western East for bass flute and harp, which was premiered in May 2002 at Kibbutz Negba by myself and harpist Yulia Rubinsky. In its three movements, the work combines elements from the worlds of classical music, jazz, and Eastern music. When we considered publishing the work in 2012, we decided to add a version for alto flute. 

Hear The Western East performed by Lior Eitan and Yulia Rubinsky