עמי יארס
Ami Yares
Director of Programming & Education
Ami Yares was born in Southern New Jersey. His full name, Ami Chai, means ‘my people live’ in Hebrew. Needless to say, it was not the easiest of names for non-Hebrew speakers to pronounce in the Jersey suburbs. Growing up with such a unique name proved to be a wonderful gift, creating a constant dialogue and connection with his roots.
Ami’s parents raised him in a Conservative Jewish home, observing Shabbat and constantly being encouraged to look about his heritage. He attended public school for all of his childhood and experienced a vibrant and diverse cultural education. Ami’s family’ roots are Sephardic. His last name, Yares, has been traced back to Spanish ancestry and his mother’s family traces their ancestry back to Greece. Over the years, the traditions and customs were lost and for more than 100 years, his family followed the Ashkenazic Jewish tradition.
Music has proven to be Ami's calling and subsequently, has studied and performed all over the world. In college, Ami double majored in Music and Jewish Studies. His research focused on the connection between individual and collective identity and music. At Rutgers University, Ami performed the RU Salsa Band and traveled to the Dominican Republic to perform and to pursue ethnomusicological research with Dr. Nanette de Jong. He also studied the musical traditions of Mali and the Caribbean under De Jong's supervision. Under the auspices of Dr. Yael Zerubavel and Dr. Mark Kligman, Ami=s studies culminated with a Honors thesis entitled, Athe Iraqi Jewish Musical Tradition. After college, he taught at the Riverview School of Cape Cod, Massaschusetts, a school for learning disabled teenagers. There, he designed an ethnomusicology program that forged music and history together in an interactive manner.
In Israel, Ami studied Middle Eastern, Jewish, Arab, and Bedouin music with two incredible teachers. In Yafo, Ami studied with Yair Dalal, one of the world’s preeminent innovators of traditional Middle Eastern music. He also studied with Muhammed Abu Ajaj, one of the foremost experts of Bedouin music.
Ami also writes his own music and can be found performing all over Israel with his America-influenced band ‘HOLLER!’
Ami founded ‘The Shuk’ with Yoni Avital in the Summer of 2008 and continues to develop new and creative ways to integrate music into Israel, Jewish studies, and life in general. Today, you can find Ami living in Yafo, Tel Aviv’s Southern sister city.