About Nadav Friedman
Nadav Friedman is a percussionist, composer and educator. He specializes in Middle Eastern percussion and drum set, and keeps a large collection of percussion instruments from around the world, which lets him move between the rhythms of the Middle East and North Africa, the Balkans, Persia and Latin America, and between the roles of accompanist, bandleader and composer.
Since returning to Israel in 2023 he has turned his attention fully to percussion. He creates original productions: Alma de Bata (2025), a celebration of percussion with Rony Iwryn and Itamar Gutman, and Mirror (2026), where Jewish and Palestinian musicians play the music of their homes and then hear it through each other. He leads the Balkan-Gypsy band Bombaras and co-leads Playground Trio, and performs with the Israeli-Persian ensemble of tar player Itai Armon, cellist Leat Sabbah's Galilee Ensemble, and singers Shimon Buskila, Rotem Cohen, David Lavi and Tamar Philosof.
Nadav was born in Ramat Gan in 1992 and grew up in Hod Hasharon, where he started on drum set at thirteen. After his military service and several years of travel and volunteer work across the Americas, he returned to music in 2014, at the Rimon School and then the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. In Jerusalem he found the North African roots of his music: he was a founding member of HaMadrasa, the Andalusian orchestra led by Hagai Bilitsky, and formed the Soltz Trio with Lior Soltz and Tamir Klein.
During the pandemic he moved to Boston for a Master’s degree at the New England Conservatory. There he became one of the busiest Middle Eastern percussionists in the Northeast, performing and studying with artists including Danilo Pérez, Miguel Zenón, Donny McCaslin, Dave Holland, Ethan Iverson, Jason Moran and Arturo O’Farrill, and recording for Hollywood productions. His debut album as a leader, Songs for Empathy, closed that chapter in 2023. All told, he has recorded percussion on more than 15 albums.
Teaching is at the heart of his work. Nadav is head of the percussion department at the Kiryat Ono Conservatory and teaches at HaSadna Conservatory in Jerusalem. He gives professional masterclasses in Middle Eastern percussion, at Bar-Ilan University, the New England Conservatory, the Panama Jazz Festival and for Costa Rica’s national orchestra among others, and leads percussion groups and ensembles. He also teaches in his private studio in Neve Shalom, and has written his own method, The Middle Eastern Drum Set.
