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Avi Vaknin is a songwriter, singer, composer, and producer. He was born and raised in Sderot, Israel. Avi has recently finished production on his first solo album, Kikar Ha’avodim (Square of the Lost), which is being released summer 2008. The lyrics and music are infused with a strong sense of place – the influence of a small suffering town in the Israel’s South can be heard and felt. Avi and his band have begun touring with songs from the album in various venues around Israel.For the last ten years, Avi managed Sderock, a music club and rehearsal space for teenagers that cultivates young artists in Sderot. Using this framework, he created master classes, bringing major Israeli artists from the industry to work with Sderot’s youth. Avi produced two albums with bands from Sderock: The Record Project (2001) and The Hope Project (2007). With lyrics written by the youth of Sderock about the frustrations of life under qassam fire, The Hope Project combined the talents of three Hip Hop bands under Avi’s direction. The project toured Israel to raise awareness about the situation in Sderot, and to give a voice to the expressions of Sderot’s youth. In 2003, Avi created the audio-visual phenomenon, The Mechanic Bird, a project that combined music, dance, and video, and toured for three years. Based on the score Avi composed for My Family Pizza, an award-winning documentary, the music consists of electric guitar, electronic sound, and draws from ethnic phrasing. Other film scores composed by Avi include Raash Masach by Inbal Sagi, which won Best Score at Israel’s Cinema South Festival, and Election, directed by Ronen Amar. The score for About Love and People, a play by Hanoch Levin, was co-scored by Avi and Haim Uliel. In 2008 Avi opened AVM Studio, a recording and production studio, where he composes his own music and produces other artists. Recent productions include Nosea B’Zman, Micha Biton’s first solo album, and the first album of “HaNotchimâ€, an Israeli rock band. Avi plays piano, electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums