Yonatan Zigelboum (born November 4, 1991), known by the stage name Yoni Z, is a recording artist and songwriter from Brooklyn, New York, United States.
Early life
Zigelboum was born and raised in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and currently resides in Suffern, New York.[1][2] Zigelboum's father is of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, descending from Jews exiled in Eastern Europe. Yoni's mother's family is Mizrahi Jewish, descending from Jews who remained in the Middle East. His father and his maternal grandfather were both cantors.
Zigelboum also has family members who survived the Holocaust.
Career
External videos
Israel National News interview "Yoni Z: Next generation of Jewish Music and Jewish video clips"here
In October 2018, Zigelboum was chosen as Israel's Kikar HaShabbat's Best New Artist of the Year[3] and Music Video of the Year for the Israeli video UP.[4] He has performed singing the national anthem at a Miami Heat game in 2014,[5] a Brooklyn Jewish Heritage Night performance hosted by the Brooklyn Nets in December 2015,[6] and a Miami Heat Jewish Heritage Night half-time concert in December 2016.[7][8] In August 2018, Yoni released the music video “AYO/Kadima,” setting a record for the number of music videos released from one Jewish album.[9] He also performed at the first-ever Jamaican Passover program in Montego Bay in 2018.[10]
Music videos
Zigelboum released music videos before his debut album.[11] The video for Ma Naaseh was shot in the snow in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania.[12] The Eilat Mountains of Israel were chosen as the location for the video of AYO/Kadima.[13] The animated video for UP, created by a team of fifteen people, uses a child-friendly approach to convey its message.[14]
Albums
On July 26, 2018, Zigelboum released his debut album, consisting of 14 original songs. He participated in the songwriting and production of all album tracks. The album has been called "revolutionary" for Jewish music. The album sold out during the pre-order, and immediately went into a second production.[15][16] He released music videos for four of the album tracks.
