Nitzan-Chen Razael grew up in Jerusalem in a musical family. His grandfather was a cellist. He studied in the high school close to the Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem and then in the high school adjacent to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In the IDF, Razael served as an outstanding musician in the Education Corps Orchestra. After his military services, he graduated from the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem in violin and composition. Razael was always drawn to folk music and for many years, accompanied famous Israeli musicians such as Ehud Banay, Shuli Rand, Habrera Hativeet Band and more.
Nitzan-Chen Razael plays a variety of genres. His style combines folk-rock with world music from both the East and the West, as well as different Jewish music. Razael plays the violin for a variety of audiences. His performances are characterized by their eclectic character, and include Israeli song and piyyut alongside klezmer pieces, stories, and original material. In 2008, he premiered the show 'Secrets of Ashkenazi Piyyut' as part of the First Piyyut Festival in Jerusalem. In this show, piyyutim from various Ashkenazi traditions were performed for the first time. From this show was created his first album Finds a Place ('Motze Makom') (2013), in which he combines his personal story with piyyutim and original music.
Razael contributed a lot to the development of a pedagogy of the piyyut. At 2005-2008 he served as a music researcher on the 'Invitation to Piyyut' website, and coordinated a collection of piyyutim from various traditions, especially from Ashkenazi tradition. He also wrote transcriptions of piyyutim from several Jewish communities' traditions. During the years 2005-2009, he established and led a group for singing piyyutim under the Kehilot Sharot organization. In addition, he was a member of the comity of the Ministry of Education in charge of writing the Poetry Curriculum, 'Poems and Roots' (2006).
'Motze Makom':
Additional information:
Nitzan-Chen Razael youtube channel
