Kutiman is Israeli musician, composer, producer and animator Ophir Kutiel (Hebrew: אופיר קותיאל; born in Jerusalem on 21 April 1982). He is best known for creating the online music video project, ThruYOU, a self-titled album, and the viral ongoing series "Thru the City" including his "Mix Tel Aviv" piece, which went viral on YouTube.
It was while working at a local convenience store in Tel Aviv that Kutiel discovered a college radio station that was playing music much different from the Classical-Jazz he had been used to hearing. Following this, Kutiman met Sabbo, another Israeli artist and current music partner, who introduced him to Afrobeat and Funk music. This introduction included the sounds of James Brown and Fela Kuti, among many others. As his taste for music altered from his traditional training, Kutiman embarked on a journey to Jamaica where he researched Reggae and Afrobeat and had the opportunity to work with Stephen and Damien Marley.
In 2009 Kutiman released "ThruYOU," is an online music video project mixed from samples of YouTube videos that has received more than 10 million views. Time Magazine named it one of the 50 Best Inventions of 2009. Due to the success of Thru-YOU, in October 2010 Kutiman was invited by YouTube to perform at the "YouTube Play" grand opening at Guggenheim in New York City.
In the summer of 2010, Kutiman co-billed with DJ Shadow in Tel Aviv, collaborated with Maroon 5 to create a smash up YouTube video, and worked with Karolina to create a music video for her hit song Smile 2 Me, which was shot in 150 different locations in Tel Aviv.
Following the success of ‘Thru You,’ Kutiman released ‘Thru You Too’ in October 2014, an online music album composed of unrelated YouTube videos.
In July 2015, Kutiman released Space Cassava, a two-track vinyl featuring deep jazz and funk.
Subsequent released include Dover D (B.M.usic) June 2012, Space Cassava 12" (Siyal Music) July 2015, "6 AM" (Siyal Music) CD/LP June 2016, "White Monkey" (Siyal Music) 7" April 2017, "Dont Hold Onto The Clouds" (Siyal Music) cassette/LP July 2018, "Antarctia" (Siyal Music) February 2019, "Wachaga" (Siyal Music) digital/LP/CD July 2020,
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