Familiar internationally to music fans by his unique trademark signature sound, Yossi Sassi merges roots with contemporary music, and pioneers Oriental Rock. Voted "Top Newcomer of year 2012" by 'Rock Hard' magazine readers, Sassi is blending East with West, Rock with Folk music and traditional acoustic instruments with virtuoso electric guitar. With over 22 years experience as a Producer and Composer/Arranger, as well as founding member of "Orphaned Land" (Century Media USA/EMI), Yossi Sassi (Warner Music / Verycords), Orphaned Land's musical mastermind, continues to soar to new horizons.
Sassi is known for being the constant explorer of sound and musical boundaries, driving inspiration from different cultures around the world. Sassi plays 17(!) different types of guitars and traditional instruments, and was invited to play live and share the stage with artists such as Metallica, Marty Friedman, Steven Wilson, Dave Lombardo, Ron 'bumblefoot' Thal and many others.
As a veteran performing artist, with hundreds of global shows and major festivals in his record, Yossi Sassi performs ~80 shows in 30 countries on an average year.
Yossi Sassi invented the unique Bouzoukitara instrument (Electric guitar combined with acoustic Bouzouki), gave a TED talk on 'The power of music to unite people', and was awarded 4 peace and friendship awards from cities and governments. He endorses some of the best musical equipment manufacturers in the world.
Sassi blends unique instrumental pieces with melodic vocals, and succeeds in capturing the full scale of human emotions in his extraordinary release titled "Melting Clocks" (voted top newcomer of 2012 by 'Rock Hard' Magazine readers), after a long-awaited anticipation from numerous fans worldwide!
Featuring world-known musicians such as Marty Friedman (Ex-Megadeth, 27 gold and platinum records, 5 Grammy nominations), and joined by some of the top musicians out there (Shay Ifrah on drums, Or Lubianiker on Bass and Berkley's Ben Azar on guitar), this album takes you to a journey around the world with traditional instruments such as Saz, Bouzouki, Oud, Chumbush and many more!
The result is easily one of the most diverse and atmospheric albums the music world has ever seen, heard and felt.
NEW album coming in 2014!
Nowadays Yossi Sassi continues to move between Rock to Folk music with sweeping guitar emotions. His next release will be out by mid-2014, featuring a diverse range of special guest musicians from around the world, taking instrumental rock to a new horizon!