Yinon Muallem was born in Israel in 1968 to parents of Iraqi origin. Yinon combines his abilities as a composer along with his rich experience as a percussionist. In his music, he combines rhythms and melodies from an array of musical genres and synthesizes influences from traditional Turkish music, Sufi music, gypsy music, Klezmer music, and also glimpses of Balkan and Indian music into a cohesive musical statement.

In 2002, he moved to Istanbul and joined Istanbul Sazendeleri, a Turkish instrumental group made of some of the leading virtuosos of Turkish music. Yinon’s versatility and curiosity have brought him into collaboration with a variety of musicians including Ross Daly (Greece); Omer Faruk Tekbilek (Turkey-United States); the Tekfen Philharmonic Orchestra, Istanbul Sazendeleri, Akin Eldes, Anjelika Akbar (Turkey); Sirin Pancaroglu (Turkey); Alim Gasimov (Azerbaijan); Ganesh Kumar, Subash Chandran (India), and many more.

Yinon has performed in a variety of festivals and concerts in Japan, Turkey, Estonia, Spain, the USA, Belgium, England, Holland, Greece, Switzerland, France, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Morocco, Bosnia, Cyprus, Israel, and Azerbaijan.

He served as the cultural attaché of Israel in Turkey between 2011 and 2014.

Discography

Arabic Percussion Instructive DVD, 2002, Or Tav
Changing Moments, 2003, Akustik Muzik
Klezmer for the Sultan, 2005, Oriente Muzik
The Way It Is, 2008, Kaf Muzik
Telveten, 2009, Kaf Muzik
Tinshemi (Breath), 2010, Kaf Muzik-Magda Muzik

Funky Dervish, 2013, Ahenk Müzik