Following his recent win of the 2024 Prime Minister’s Award for Jazz Composition, guitarist/composer Kai Gluska is set to debut his new album, Mei Ami, on July 18 at Shablul in Tel Aviv.

The event will feature the Kai Gluska Sextet, the same ensemble that performed on his debut album, Impressions of Yesterday.

Mei Ami blends new original instrumental compositions and unique arrangements of Israeli songs, while fusing diverse musical influences, including jazz, African grooves, R&B, and classical harmonies.

A musician plays a trombone during the first day of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana April 25, 2014.
A musician plays a trombone during the first day of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana April 25, 2014. (credit: JONATHAN BACHMAN/REUTERS)

The New York-based Gluska shares that the title track “Mei Ami,” an instrumental piece dedicated to peace, is the name of the moshav in the North where he grew up, just meters away from the Israeli Arab city of Umm al-Fahm.

“This physical proximity often feels like an enormous distance,” observed Gluska. “The paradox of being so close, yet so far, is at the heart of this composition. Mei Ami is my musical prayer for peace.”

Tickets: shablul.smarticket.co.il