Unorthodox, but kosher
Contemporary Jewish music communicates Judaism through varied styles
By MICHAEL LISI, Special to the Times Union
First published: Thursday, October 12, 2006
Matisyahu matters to Sheera Tanzman.
Rapping spiritual lyrics -- some taken directly from the Torah -- with a Jamaican accent over reggae-tinged hip-hop beats, the bearded singer with the wide-brimmed hat resonates with the 19-year-old sophomore at the University at Albany.
The Hasidic rapper expresses his yearnings for the Promised Land, his desire to follow Hashem (Hebrew for God) and his love of the Jewish culture and religion. And Tanzman, who returned from a 10-month stay in Israel in August, relates.
"What he says hits home for me," said Tanzman, who saw Matisyahu perform in Israel. "His song 'Return to Zion' makes me cry. You feel what he's saying."
She's not alone. Even before his single "King Without a Crown" broke through last year, Jewish teens and 20somethings have embraced Matisyahu, whose debut studio album "Youth" has sold around a half-million copies. The 27-year-old rapper, who plays the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany on Tuesday, has appeared on MTV and played Lollapalloza.
His success has brought attention to other members of the contemporary Jewish music scene, a diverse mix of musicians who communicate their Judaism through varied musical styles, attracting fans even as they raise the eyebrows among skeptical traditionalists and a few rabbis.
Balkan Beat Box is a mash-up of electronica, Eastern European sounds, rock and hip-hop, with horns, DJs and belly dancers. Hip Hop Hoodios is a Latino-Jewish hybrid that plays Latin funk and klezmer. Joshua Nelson melds soul and Jewish liturgical music -- a blend he calls "Kosher-Gospel."
Klezmer pioneers The Klezmatics, who play The Egg in Albany on Sunday, and Jewish funk-rockers Blue Fringe were two of more than 60 performers at last month's Oy!hoo Festival, a weeklong contemporary Jewish music celebration in Manhattan.
"One of the unique things about Matisyahu, and in their own way, Phish, is that they find ways of injecting Jewish DNA into their music," said Seth Rogovoy, a longtime music critic and Jewish music authority, Who wrote "The Essential Klezmer" in 2000.
"At its best, it's really effective and people respond. That's what Bob Marley tapped into 30 years ago."
Sacred and secular
For young people like Tanzman, contemporary Jewish music offers an alternate way to embrace their faith and culture -- secular-sounding music with a spiritual side. It's similar to what Christian rock is for young Christians -- although the subject matter can be less than orthodox.
"I've seen that happen, especially when The Beastie Boys are rapping about matzo and Manischewitz wine," said Rogovoy. "That's something a 14-year-old boy can feel proud of."
For Moshav, a Jewish rock/jam band opening for Matisyahu at the Armory, the opposition between sacred and secular doesn't apply. "I don't think there's a point where Judaism ends and rock music begins," said vocalist and guitarist Duvid Swirsky, speaking from Israel. "It's all mixed together. We're Jews, we all love music, and it's impossible to separate one from the other."
The recent boom has its roots in the klezmer revival of the late 1970s, a musical renaissance in which Jewish musicians fused traditional music with jazz, blues and folk influences. The often wild result was something of a revelation for traditional Jews raised on the "Yiddish swing" of the 1930s and '40s, a subgenre made famous by the Andrews Sisters' smash "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen."
"The fact was that klezmer music was Jewish; you could hear it was Jewish," said Frank London, the Klezmatics' trumpet player, founder and leader. "It was really good and funky and interesting. We laid the groundwork for something that people could reject."
Matisyahu and other contemporary Jewish artists who embrace reggae and hip hop, then, are the next step in the process: It's music that middle-aged klezmer fans might view as too wild.
New labels needed
London suggests the genre has grown wide enough to need a new label, or several.
"If the band has something that makes them identify as Jewish, it's Jewish contemporary music," he said. "It can draw directly from traditional Jewish music sources, Jewish texts or mean singing in Hebrew. There's a lot going on."
That's no surprise coming from London, whose band plays no klezmer on their latest record "Wonder Wheel," an album of folk music set to Woody Guthrie's lyrics.
Still, it's hard not to wonder if music made by Matisyahu and his contemporaries can stand the test of time. And while the music's message is essentially Jewish, it may be a mixed blessing, London said.
"Anytime you're a minority -- less than 1 percent of the world is Jewish -- and doing something that positively embraces that, it's a good thing," he said.
"On the other hand, we're all humans -- and part of me wishes there would be more focus on humanity. When can we just get over it and realize we're all the same?"
Michael Lisi is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to the Times Union.
Music taps into a spiritual side
By SOLVEJ SCHOU
Associated Press
Matisyahu, aka Matthew Miller, has gone from underground curiosity to mainstream star in the course of a year.
The 29-year-old ultraconservative Orthodox Jew, who grew up nonreligious in White Plains, followed up the hit "Live at Stubb's" with his major-label debut "Youth." He also became a father -- welcoming the birth of his son, Laivy, now a year old.
In May, the 6-foot-3 singer -- wearing the traditional long beard, white shirt and black pants of Hasidic men, plus a pair of hip Puma sneakers -- discussed spirituality, parenthood and fame, and balancing being Orthodox within the mostly secular world of music.
Q: A sociologist once said that "music is the kids' religion." How do you reflect on that?
A: In terms of the idea of music being like religion, the two are obviously bound up with each other. From a Jewish perspective, music was used in the temple. The temple was the place where the revelation of God was actually present. ... In every religion and culture, music has been used for the purpose of opening people up in order to sense the spiritual, to sense something which transcends this world.
Q: When you perform ... in front of thousands of people, is it spiritual?
A: There's a spirituality whether you're on stage in front of 25,000 people, or whether you're in a living room with your friend playing guitar. ... People come to a music festival ... to look for some kind of break out of the mundane. That's what music is supposed to offer to people. That's my goal.
Q: What has the last year been like for you?
A: A year ago, I think we were touring, maybe playing some college shows. Basically, "Live at Stubb's" had come out. It was just starting to get radio play. We were going through the summer touring festivals and playing shows. The record started taking off, doing well. A lot has changed.
Q: How do you balance a child, a young son, with playing music?
A: It's a balancing act, but everyone has a balancing act. Having a child, there's absolutely nothing like it in the entire world. Not performing a concert, not owning any car, not being successful at anything, no amount of fame or money. There's nothing like the reward of having a child. You realize how much your parents loved you.
Q: Do you play your music for your son?
A: Yeah, I do sometimes. At first, when he was a really small baby, he would cry. And I would turn the music on pretty loud. That would get him to stop crying. I don't really play it for him that much now. Maybe in the car. I dance with him sometimes, if he's in a bad mood, or if he's kvetchy. I'll pick him up and I'll do some song and dance with him. He loves that.
Q: How do you feel about the secular music community embracing your albums?
A: It was never a question. ... I grew up listening to secular music, going to see concerts and shows. ... I guess growing up, I knew I was a Jewish person, but I didn't relate to my experience. My experience isn't what you would call a Jewish experience. But from the time I was little, I imagined myself making music, playing music. The fact that the audience that likes the music is not necessarily Jewish does not come as a surprise.
Q: There are Orthodox tenets you're supposed to follow, like not performing with nonreligious women in public. Does that apply today, performing on the same stage as female-fronted bands such the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Sleater-Kinney?
A: I probably wouldn't go see them. Unfortunately, there are some really wonderful female singers I wouldn't see. ... The law is that a man is only supposed to hear his wife singing. The idea being that the female voice is a very holy thing. ... I adhere by that pretty much.
Q: But do you fully agree with that law?
A: No, I don't necessarily agree with it. To me, I don't consider the female voice to be that sexual. It can be, but in a lot of cases I don't think it is. For example, I was on an airplane watching TV, and Natasha Bedingfeld was on. I watched it, and I was intrigued by it, from a professional standpoint. She was performing her hit song, but with an acoustic guitar player and three back-up gospel singers. It was amazing. The thought of sexuality didn't cross my mind at all. So I don't necessarily agree with it all the time.
I guess part of the law is creating a fence. It doesn't always make that much sense in the moment, but it might protect you from falling into the wrong places. In general, that's part of the Jewish religion, or adhering to any religion, in an Orthodox way. You adapt yourself to it, and you take it into yourself as well. Mostly when people go through the world they adapt everything to themselves instead of submitting to the greater thing.
Jewish entertainment
Jewish music fans will have a lot to cheer about this week, with The Klezmatics and Matisyahu coming to town on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively.
The Klezmatics with Susan McKeown and Boo Reiners
When: 7 p.m. Sunday
Where: The Egg, Empire State Plaza, Albany
Tickets: $24
Info: 473-1845
Matisyahu
with Moshav and State Radio
When: 8 p.m. on Tuesday
Where: Washington Avenue Armory Sports and Convention Arena, 195 Washington Ave., Albany
Tickets: $30; available in advance at the Armory box office or online at http://www.ticketmaster.com
Info: 694-7160
The following is a quick-hit list of contemporary Jewish music artists and resources worth checking out online:
Artists:
Balkan Beat Box: http://www.balkanbeatbox.com
Hip Hop Hoodios: http://www.hoodios.com
The Klezmatics: http://www.klezmatics.com
Matisyahu: http://www.matisyahu.org
Moshav: http://www.moshavband.com
Joshua Nelson: http://www.joshuanelson.com
Resources:
Oy!hoo: http://www.oyhoo.com
Seth Rogovoy: http://www.rogovoy.com
Jdub Records (contemporary Jewish record label): http://www.jdubrecords.org
Tzadik Records (contemporary Jewish record label): http://www.tzadik.com
All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2006, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.
By MICHAEL LISI, Special to the Times Union
First published: Thursday, October 12, 2006
Matisyahu matters to Sheera Tanzman.
Rapping spiritual lyrics -- some taken directly from the Torah -- with a Jamaican accent over reggae-tinged hip-hop beats, the bearded singer with the wide-brimmed hat resonates with the 19-year-old sophomore at the University at Albany.
The Hasidic rapper expresses his yearnings for the Promised Land, his desire to follow Hashem (Hebrew for God) and his love of the Jewish culture and religion. And Tanzman, who returned from a 10-month stay in Israel in August, relates.
"What he says hits home for me," said Tanzman, who saw Matisyahu perform in Israel. "His song 'Return to Zion' makes me cry. You feel what he's saying."
She's not alone. Even before his single "King Without a Crown" broke through last year, Jewish teens and 20somethings have embraced Matisyahu, whose debut studio album "Youth" has sold around a half-million copies. The 27-year-old rapper, who plays the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany on Tuesday, has appeared on MTV and played Lollapalloza.
His success has brought attention to other members of the contemporary Jewish music scene, a diverse mix of musicians who communicate their Judaism through varied musical styles, attracting fans even as they raise the eyebrows among skeptical traditionalists and a few rabbis.
Balkan Beat Box is a mash-up of electronica, Eastern European sounds, rock and hip-hop, with horns, DJs and belly dancers. Hip Hop Hoodios is a Latino-Jewish hybrid that plays Latin funk and klezmer. Joshua Nelson melds soul and Jewish liturgical music -- a blend he calls "Kosher-Gospel."
Klezmer pioneers The Klezmatics, who play The Egg in Albany on Sunday, and Jewish funk-rockers Blue Fringe were two of more than 60 performers at last month's Oy!hoo Festival, a weeklong contemporary Jewish music celebration in Manhattan.
"One of the unique things about Matisyahu, and in their own way, Phish, is that they find ways of injecting Jewish DNA into their music," said Seth Rogovoy, a longtime music critic and Jewish music authority, Who wrote "The Essential Klezmer" in 2000.
"At its best, it's really effective and people respond. That's what Bob Marley tapped into 30 years ago."
Sacred and secular
For young people like Tanzman, contemporary Jewish music offers an alternate way to embrace their faith and culture -- secular-sounding music with a spiritual side. It's similar to what Christian rock is for young Christians -- although the subject matter can be less than orthodox.
"I've seen that happen, especially when The Beastie Boys are rapping about matzo and Manischewitz wine," said Rogovoy. "That's something a 14-year-old boy can feel proud of."
For Moshav, a Jewish rock/jam band opening for Matisyahu at the Armory, the opposition between sacred and secular doesn't apply. "I don't think there's a point where Judaism ends and rock music begins," said vocalist and guitarist Duvid Swirsky, speaking from Israel. "It's all mixed together. We're Jews, we all love music, and it's impossible to separate one from the other."
The recent boom has its roots in the klezmer revival of the late 1970s, a musical renaissance in which Jewish musicians fused traditional music with jazz, blues and folk influences. The often wild result was something of a revelation for traditional Jews raised on the "Yiddish swing" of the 1930s and '40s, a subgenre made famous by the Andrews Sisters' smash "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen."
"The fact was that klezmer music was Jewish; you could hear it was Jewish," said Frank London, the Klezmatics' trumpet player, founder and leader. "It was really good and funky and interesting. We laid the groundwork for something that people could reject."
Matisyahu and other contemporary Jewish artists who embrace reggae and hip hop, then, are the next step in the process: It's music that middle-aged klezmer fans might view as too wild.
New labels needed
London suggests the genre has grown wide enough to need a new label, or several.
"If the band has something that makes them identify as Jewish, it's Jewish contemporary music," he said. "It can draw directly from traditional Jewish music sources, Jewish texts or mean singing in Hebrew. There's a lot going on."
That's no surprise coming from London, whose band plays no klezmer on their latest record "Wonder Wheel," an album of folk music set to Woody Guthrie's lyrics.
Still, it's hard not to wonder if music made by Matisyahu and his contemporaries can stand the test of time. And while the music's message is essentially Jewish, it may be a mixed blessing, London said.
"Anytime you're a minority -- less than 1 percent of the world is Jewish -- and doing something that positively embraces that, it's a good thing," he said.
"On the other hand, we're all humans -- and part of me wishes there would be more focus on humanity. When can we just get over it and realize we're all the same?"
Michael Lisi is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to the Times Union.
Music taps into a spiritual side
By SOLVEJ SCHOU
Associated Press
Matisyahu, aka Matthew Miller, has gone from underground curiosity to mainstream star in the course of a year.
The 29-year-old ultraconservative Orthodox Jew, who grew up nonreligious in White Plains, followed up the hit "Live at Stubb's" with his major-label debut "Youth." He also became a father -- welcoming the birth of his son, Laivy, now a year old.
In May, the 6-foot-3 singer -- wearing the traditional long beard, white shirt and black pants of Hasidic men, plus a pair of hip Puma sneakers -- discussed spirituality, parenthood and fame, and balancing being Orthodox within the mostly secular world of music.
Q: A sociologist once said that "music is the kids' religion." How do you reflect on that?
A: In terms of the idea of music being like religion, the two are obviously bound up with each other. From a Jewish perspective, music was used in the temple. The temple was the place where the revelation of God was actually present. ... In every religion and culture, music has been used for the purpose of opening people up in order to sense the spiritual, to sense something which transcends this world.
Q: When you perform ... in front of thousands of people, is it spiritual?
A: There's a spirituality whether you're on stage in front of 25,000 people, or whether you're in a living room with your friend playing guitar. ... People come to a music festival ... to look for some kind of break out of the mundane. That's what music is supposed to offer to people. That's my goal.
Q: What has the last year been like for you?
A: A year ago, I think we were touring, maybe playing some college shows. Basically, "Live at Stubb's" had come out. It was just starting to get radio play. We were going through the summer touring festivals and playing shows. The record started taking off, doing well. A lot has changed.
Q: How do you balance a child, a young son, with playing music?
A: It's a balancing act, but everyone has a balancing act. Having a child, there's absolutely nothing like it in the entire world. Not performing a concert, not owning any car, not being successful at anything, no amount of fame or money. There's nothing like the reward of having a child. You realize how much your parents loved you.
Q: Do you play your music for your son?
A: Yeah, I do sometimes. At first, when he was a really small baby, he would cry. And I would turn the music on pretty loud. That would get him to stop crying. I don't really play it for him that much now. Maybe in the car. I dance with him sometimes, if he's in a bad mood, or if he's kvetchy. I'll pick him up and I'll do some song and dance with him. He loves that.
Q: How do you feel about the secular music community embracing your albums?
A: It was never a question. ... I grew up listening to secular music, going to see concerts and shows. ... I guess growing up, I knew I was a Jewish person, but I didn't relate to my experience. My experience isn't what you would call a Jewish experience. But from the time I was little, I imagined myself making music, playing music. The fact that the audience that likes the music is not necessarily Jewish does not come as a surprise.
Q: There are Orthodox tenets you're supposed to follow, like not performing with nonreligious women in public. Does that apply today, performing on the same stage as female-fronted bands such the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Sleater-Kinney?
A: I probably wouldn't go see them. Unfortunately, there are some really wonderful female singers I wouldn't see. ... The law is that a man is only supposed to hear his wife singing. The idea being that the female voice is a very holy thing. ... I adhere by that pretty much.
Q: But do you fully agree with that law?
A: No, I don't necessarily agree with it. To me, I don't consider the female voice to be that sexual. It can be, but in a lot of cases I don't think it is. For example, I was on an airplane watching TV, and Natasha Bedingfeld was on. I watched it, and I was intrigued by it, from a professional standpoint. She was performing her hit song, but with an acoustic guitar player and three back-up gospel singers. It was amazing. The thought of sexuality didn't cross my mind at all. So I don't necessarily agree with it all the time.
I guess part of the law is creating a fence. It doesn't always make that much sense in the moment, but it might protect you from falling into the wrong places. In general, that's part of the Jewish religion, or adhering to any religion, in an Orthodox way. You adapt yourself to it, and you take it into yourself as well. Mostly when people go through the world they adapt everything to themselves instead of submitting to the greater thing.
Jewish entertainment
Jewish music fans will have a lot to cheer about this week, with The Klezmatics and Matisyahu coming to town on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively.
The Klezmatics with Susan McKeown and Boo Reiners
When: 7 p.m. Sunday
Where: The Egg, Empire State Plaza, Albany
Tickets: $24
Info: 473-1845
Matisyahu
with Moshav and State Radio
When: 8 p.m. on Tuesday
Where: Washington Avenue Armory Sports and Convention Arena, 195 Washington Ave., Albany
Tickets: $30; available in advance at the Armory box office or online at http://www.ticketmaster.com
Info: 694-7160
The following is a quick-hit list of contemporary Jewish music artists and resources worth checking out online:
Artists:
Balkan Beat Box: http://www.balkanbeatbox.com
Hip Hop Hoodios: http://www.hoodios.com
The Klezmatics: http://www.klezmatics.com
Matisyahu: http://www.matisyahu.org
Moshav: http://www.moshavband.com
Joshua Nelson: http://www.joshuanelson.com
Resources:
Oy!hoo: http://www.oyhoo.com
Seth Rogovoy: http://www.rogovoy.com
Jdub Records (contemporary Jewish record label): http://www.jdubrecords.org
Tzadik Records (contemporary Jewish record label): http://www.tzadik.com
All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2006, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.
posted by Editor at 9:10 AM
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