For the last decade, from the time guitarist Yosi Piamenta a”h passed away in 2015, Avi Piamenta — one of the most beloved Jewish musicians of the generation — did his best to keep his brother Yosi’s legacy alive. Yet with Avi’s sudden passing last week at age 69, the curtain finally came down on the famed Piamenta Brothers — but the music they created and the inspiration they instilled over a span of 40 years will surely live on.
For Avi, who lived in Kfar Chabad since the early ’90s, the initial fame and ensuing spiritual odyssey was intimately tied to his brother, who created the band’s signature style — rock-influenced chassidic and Israeli music with a warm, friendly, and happy message.
“Our uncle Albert Piamenta was an Israeli saxophonist who became famous for mixing Judeo-Arabic music with jazz,” Avi told Mishpacha in an interview last year. Their father, Yehuda, was a Shin Bet agent, and although no one knew exactly what he did, after he passed away in 2011 at age 84, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu called his sons and told them that although their father always worked in closeted secrecy, his accomplishments for the country’s security were significant.
While the Piamentas had 17 generations behind them in the Holy Land, the boys knew little of their heritage. Avi grew up playing piano but eventually, he said, “I discovered the magical sound of the flute and that became my instrument of choice.” Music was the dominating force in his life, and when he was 17, he started performing with his brother Yosi, four years his senior, who’d already made a name for himself in the competitive and often cutthroat circle of professional guitarists.
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