Raanan Havusha is a jazz guitarist, composer, and arranger who grew up in the Galilee, in northern Israel, where he absorbed an early mix of Arabic, electronic, reggae, funk, and rock music alongside the region's own folk traditions. He studied guitar with jazz guitarists Shai Chen, Ofer Ganor, Hezi Hiat, and Avi Ben Dov, completed the Israeli Conservatory's jazz program run jointly with the New School in New York, and holds a Bachelor's degree in Jazz Performance from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Before settling into Tel Aviv's jazz scene, his own biography describes an unusually varied run of side paths: leading a group called the Northern Lights Ensemble, playing reggae with a group called Ochaka during time spent in Thailand, and working in an Indian-music project and a Gypsy jazz trio (see notes.md on the sourcing of this list). He has also written music for theater, including productions at Gesher Theater and a piece called "La Basculla." He now teaches guitar, arrangement, and theory privately and at Rimon School of Music's Akko campus, and performs regularly at Tel Aviv venues including Beit HaAmudim, Shablul Jazz, Shablon, Tessa, and Guitar Loft.

He released his debut EP, Fresh Stories, credited to "Raanan Havusha & Friends," in April 2021, to warm reviews and radio play. Its five tracks include "Anicha," a collaboration credited on Spotify to Havusha alongside saxophonist Daniel Zamir and bassist Tal Mashiach, and "Prelude to a Journey"; the other three track titles were not independently confirmed for this profile (see notes.md). In 2022 he reached the semifinal of Petrichor Records' international composition competition.

His follow-up was announced under the working title Next Chapter, aiming for a winter 2024 release, and arrived in August 2026, retitled About To Change: a seven-track, 40-minute album self-released under his own name and described in concert materials as music about "a moment of transition, internal shift, and renewal." Two of its tracks were issued in advance as singles, "Tempered Joy" in October 2025 and "Kala Patthar" in February 2026, both reviewed by the jazz site Nagamag under the labels Nu Jazz and Jazztronica; the "Kala Patthar" review described a piece that builds outward with confidence to fill the whole sonic space, and the "Tempered Joy" review singled out the saxophone writing for giving the arrangement its emotional lift.

Havusha tours About To Change with a working quartet: alto saxophonist Aviv Bloom, bassist Dor Maimon, and drummer Nir Dembinsky. In July 2026 the quartet shared a bill with oud, violin, and flute player Yair Dalal at the Paratroopers' Corner Memorial in Pardes Hanna-Karkur, and the group has also performed the "About to Change" program at Tel Aviv's Ilana Goor Museum. His own biography additionally credits performances and collaborations with pianist Omri Mor and with Roni Holan, Jonathan Volchok, Marco East, and Guy Davidov; apart from the Zamir/Mashiach credit on "Anicha," none of these connections were independently confirmed against a dated recording credit, and are reported here as self-described (see notes.md).

Havusha names Pat Metheny, Wes Montgomery, and Joe Pass as guitar influences alongside Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and Greg Howe, a pairing of jazz-guitar lineage with rock-guitar language that shows up directly in his quartet's sound: press coverage of the band describes "a wide spectrum of styles, from trance ambient through rock to blues," played "with respect for tradition and a forward-looking perspective." That range also extends to the ethnic and Middle Eastern music he grew up around in the Galilee, made explicit by the quartet's description elsewhere as "a unique encounter between modern jazz and Arabic and ethnic music" and borne out in practice by the group's collaboration with oud and violin player Yair Dalal.