Dead. Yosi Piamenta, born November 29, 1951 and died on August 23, 2015, he was an Orthodox Jewish singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for introducing the electric guitar to Jewish music.

Piamenta plays rock and roll tunes, often infused with heavy rock licks and extended guitar solos – all while dressed in Jewish Orthodox religious clothing and singing Biblical Hebrew lyrics.

Piamenta has been widely acknowledged by rock critics as a guitar virtuoso.

In addition to being an original songwriter, Piamenta covers others’ music in the religious Jewish music category – his album Songs of the Rebbes includes various Lubavitch, Belz and Sephardi nigunim and Zemirot – as well as secular American music, such as Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana and Jimi Hendrix.

Piamenta has described his music style saying, “I do klezmer with electric guitar.”

In 1974, Yosi Piamenta formed a band with his brother flutist Avi Piamenta. By 1976, the brothers had been discovered by Getz, who invited the Piamentas to record with him in New York.

He was 26 years old when he arrived in New York set out on a tour with Getz throughout the United States.

After the tour, the Piamentas joined Getz on tour in Israel. After recording an album with Getz, Piamenta became a bal teshuva, an observant Orthodox Jew.

Piamenta’s fan-base is bifurcated. A majority of Piamenta’s large fan-base appreciate Piamenta as an iconic Jewish musician and attend his live performances at religious events and Jewish concerts and weddings; but Piamenta has also attracted a fan-base sub-culture following of his music who particularly enjoy his take on rock, blues and his lengthy guitar solos that Piamenta usually plays only at smaller concerts held in bars and clubs.

In addition to his live performances, Piamenta has also released a series of widely received studio albums that can be found in many Jewish home in the US and Israel.

The Piamenta Band has been one of the highest requested musicians for Jewish weddings over the last century.

Most, but not all, of Piamenta’s concerts and albums have been performed or recorded in conjunction with his brother, Avi Piamenta.

Israeli musician Yosi Piamenta died on August 23, 2015 of cancer at age 64.