Formerly Orthodox singer-songwriter Matisyahu (A.K.A. Matthew Paul Miller) has penned a heartfelt, raw, honest essay for Medium about his religious journey, musical development, and struggle with substance abuse—which started when when he was just 14.

“I found company in Bob Marley and his music,” writes Matisyahu of his high school years. “I was depressed and alone, feeling misunderstood by kids, coaches, teachers and parents, so I retreated into the confines of my room in the attic with weed and music. I began to search. Summer of junior year I went into the wilderness out west and felt the gnawing gaping hole in my chest more vast then ever, and I began to think about God in relation to the void. Am I alone?”

The answer, he decided, was no. God “was with me always like an all-powerful invisible friend.” He became a Phish groupie, experienced homelessness, went into rehab, saw numerous therapists, but still “couldn’t seem to get it right.” Eventually he fell into Orthodox Judaism, got married, committed himself to his music, and became an alt-rock reggae superstar—and darling of the Hasidic-hipsters the world over. But all was not well. Dissatisfied, he chafed against the restrictions the of movement, until he found his guru—”an anti-establishment renegade Russian therapist/original thinker/Chassidic and Kabalistic creative wiz with a heart of gold and no fingers”—and a shul where he could “scream and sing during prayers and not be judged.”

It’s a compelling piece of writing, which neatly ties in with the release of his latest single, “Hard Way,” from his 2014 album Akeda (“binding”)—an allusion to the biblical story of the binding and near-sacrifice of Isaac. Read the rest here.

(Image: Matisyahu performs in Park City, Utah, January 2014. Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty.)

The post Matisyahu Opens Up About Religious Journey, Substance Abuse appeared first on Jewcy.

Which makes Dmitri Zisl Slepovitch’s new CD, Raysn: The Music of Jewish Belarus, so much more remarkable. His music is propulsive, dynamic, and often surprising—the essence of live performance. Slepovitch is probably the foremost keeper of Litvish Jewish culture in North America. He’s definitely the only one combining academic ethnographic work with a distinctive artistic vision. Raysn encompasses East and West, Jewish and non-, and builds a bridge between historic and modern performance. Though rooted in a somewhat obscure tradition, the result is enormously entertaining.

Even the name of his band, Litvakus, is both freighted signifier and playful connector. In Yiddish, ‘Litvakus’ denotes that which is related to Litvaks, the Jews of Lithuania. But for Slepovitch it’s also a play on the words “Litvak U.S.” (he recently became an American citizen). Or, as he told me recently, a kind of subliminal command: Litvak us/Litvak you/ Litvak me. If you thought Litvaks were the humorless counterparts to fun loving Galitzianers, you might be surprised.

But before we go any further, some terminology should be established. Lite (Lithuania) is a historical term denoting much more than what falls within the borders of the modern Lithuanian state. Jewish Lite is more or less contiguous with the historical Grand Duchy of Lithuania and encompassed parts of Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, and, of course, Lithuania. In Yiddish, Belarus is known as Vaysrusland or (the more obscure) Raysn. The culture of the Belarussian portion of Lite, the multilingual, multicultural Raysn, is where Slepovitch, a native of Minsk, plants his flag.

Slepovitch is a Litvak, but a fun Litvak, leaning more in the direction of Mickey Katz than the Vilne Gaon, more Moyshe Kulbak than Chaim Grade. True to his Litvak roots (and his doctorate in ethnomusicology) the CD booklet contains a wealth of information, pinning each piece, old and new, within a specific locale. The text provides amply for those who care to know time signatures, instrumentation, and notes on phrasing. For the average user, the most important information is all there: song lyrics in YIVO standard transliteration next to English translation, with context for each song’s provenance.

The booklet may speak to the detail-oriented ethnomusicologist, but the music is pure aural pleasure. This is undoubtedly party music: dance tunes are at the center of Raysn. Traditional kolomeykes and shers sit next to original compositions like the very Brooklyn ‘Q Train Volekh.’ Slepovitch has assembled an incredibly talented group of musicians on Raysn. Craig Judelman’s fiery fiddle-work hints at a path from the swamps of Raysn to the hills of Appalachia. Sam Weisenberg’s percussion keeps the party moving with a light but driving energy. The most unusual sound comes from the generous application of drone, something not found often in modern-era klezmer recordings. Taylor Bergren-Chrisman on bass and Joshua Camp on accordion not only make this klezmer drone work, they make it sing.

Slepovitch notes that use of drone accompaniment was typical of the multicultural, Jewish Belarussian style. Extensive use of heterophony and microtone scales create an unusual dissonance, all of which make Raysn sound both distinctively contemporary yet rooted in place and time. Slepovitch’s virtuosic clarinet playing, compositional skills, infectious singing, and multilingual mastery propel Raysn to the forefront of contemporary Jewish music.

The Raysn album release event takes place tonight at 7pm at the Center for Jewish History in New York.

Related: Actor Shane Baker on Translating ‘Waiting for Godot’ into Yiddish

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Ever wonder what would happen if three veterans of the Jewish music scene got together to form a folk-pop-indie trio? Look no further than Distant Cousins, a.k.a. Dov Rosenblatt, Duvid Swirsky, and Ami Kozak.

Swirsky and Rosenblatt, the founders of popular Jewish bands Moshav and Blue Fringe respectively, started collaborating with Kozak in 2012 to explore a different side of their musical identities. It proved to be a good choice: the band’s music, often characterized by rich harmonies and feel-good beats, has recently had several major successes. Their song “Everybody Feels It” was featured in a German soda commercial, “On My Way” was in a Macy’s Labor Day ad, and “Are You Ready (On Your Own)” has a staring role in the soundtrack of This is Where I Leave You, the new film starring Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, and Jane Fonda.

I spoke with Dov, Duvid, and Ami recently about how Judaism influences their work, whether they’re actually distant cousins (they’re not), and what makes this newest musical venture unique. Their new self-titled EP is out this week.

How did you guys first meet?

Duvid: We were all playing the same Jewish music scene. I’m in a band called Moshav, Dov is in a band called Blue Fringe, Ami was in and out of bands. Dov and I played shows together on the East Coast.

Ami: I was a little younger. So I was watching their bands.

Duvid: I think we were always fans of each other. I was living in L.A. and Dov moved out a couple years ago, and I think from a distance we all wanted to work together since the first time our bands connected. Then Dov and I got together and wrote a song. Dov was like hey, this guy Ami is in town, he’s great, he’s talented, we should get him to help out with the song. The next thing we knew we turned into a band.

Ami: There’s this really nice collaborative scene in L.A. Everybody’s always collaborating on random projects here and there.

What inspired you guys to drift from your Jewish music roots?

Dov: I think that each project serves its own purpose, and that as songwriters, you just have a lot in you that needs different outlets. So it’s less about graduating from a certain scene and more about just having a different outlet… I have this mainstream pop song that we want to work on, and this is the perfect outlet for that.

Ami: And the community that we came from was very supportive of the music we were doing in separate projects. And also there’s sort of the career element… as you get more into songwriting that isn’t necessarily Jewish-themed but is more general, it has more reach.

Dov: One thing that also stems from that is this exciting sort of challenge of trying to get people to your shows… in the Jewish music scene, a lot of the time there’s already an event taking place, and people are going to be there, to meet, to eat, and there’s a band there, you know? Now we’re going out to these venues and really challenging ourselves to build the fan base around the music as the main attraction.

Duvid: Just to make it clear, we are so grateful and thankful and respectful of the audiences we have, be they Jewish or gentile, and don’t look down at all on where we come from.

Right. But it’s a bit more difficult without having that built-in community. 

Ami: I think they’re coming along for the ride, though. Those same people from our community are coming out to shows now. We’re just sort of adding to the mix with people from outside the community, I think, because the music has that appeal more broadly.

Do you see influences from your experiences in the Jewish music world in Distant Cousins’ music?

Ami: I think we are always a product of our influences. It can’t help but find its way in, in the sense of just how we relate to each other as a band. It’s a nice, sort of profound way that we can have an understanding, even though we all come from different backgrounds. There’s something about the Jewish values and that commonality that helps us, in the creative process, to understand each other. When you’re co-writing songs and talking about deeper ideas and trying to get something meaningful across, it’s helpful to have that background to inform our opinions on all sorts of things.

Duvid: I think the Jewish music scene, whatever that is, has really expanded today. Artists like Matisyahu and even the bands that we’re in, Moshav and Blue Fringe, push the boundaries of what that means. I’ve always wondered what Jewish music is. I think anything I’ve been involved in, and definitely Distant Cousins, we’re just trying to do the best work we can. This project specifically is really song-based. We want the songs to stand up by themselves without any support from any world. The fact that we’re Jewish seeps into it just because we are… We’re just writing the best possible songs we can, something that’s going to make us feel good and then we hope that it’ll make other people feel good.

How did the name Distant Cousins come about?

Dov: Well, it obviously evokes a familial vibe, and that’s how we all met, through our other bands, and it really did feel like this large extended family. Coming up with a name happened out of a demand, because one of our earlier songs was being used in this other movie, Coffee Town, and we didn’t want to be credited as ‘Swirsky, Rosenblatt, and Kozak,’ so we needed a cooler name.

What are some of your musical influences?

Ami: Mine are Dov Rosenblatt and Duvid Swirksy.

Duvid: They range, and that’s one of the exciting things about this band, too. I feel like each guy comes with his own bag of influences and abilities… I grew up in Israel with a lot of my parents’ records from the 60s—people like Dylan and Neil Young. I feel like Ami is way more into pop music.

Dov: He introduces us to a lot of stuff.

Ami: It keeps the music always pushing, keeps it going forward and feeling fresh. And it helps keep the production current, too.

Dov: I’m a big Elliott Smith fan, but his stuff is usually really dark, and then I also love old Motown, which is all this fun, good pop music, so I think that’s something that we are constantly trying to do for ourselves in our songs: make it really fun and positive and yet not too shiny and shimmery, and still hold on to some of those more mysterious, dark elements.

Ami: The challenge is authenticity. We want everything to be authentic and honest, and if that means we’re going just a little darker, that’s totally fine. That’s still within our wheelhouse. We just want to do what feels natural and authentic and honest for all of us. Duvid keeps us in check about being too cheesy.

Duvid: I’m like the cheese-o-meter.

What genre would you guys classify yourselves as? 

Ami: When people ask me that, I say some combination of indie, folk, and pop. Folk because there’s a lot of harmony, a lot of acoustic stuff sometimes, pop because we have fun, light tunes as well, and then indie just to cover the bases. We get experimental with production and homemade sounds and stuff like that.

What makes Distant Cousins unique compared to the other bands you guys have been in?

Dov: Something I love about this band is that each one of us has all of these different skills. We’re very self-sufficient which is kind of refreshing, because the three of us all write, sing, perform, and produce. Ami does the real engineering, producing, mixing and all that… I think nowadays especially, it’s so crucial that we don’t have to go to a big studio, we don’t have to rely on other people even as far as getting the music out. We’re appreciative and grateful that we’re in this situation, where the three of us can just take it from A to Z together.

Ami: There’s a certain trust, I think, of each other’s instincts, which makes collaborating really smooth. And egos are out the door.

Dov: I think some of these things are just so ingrained in us, but that is to me such a Jewish value. You’re encouraged to debate and to challenge and it’s not about ego. It’s about getting to the bottom of it, getting to the truth, trying to get the best song possible. So we keep each other in line and say, “that lyric is cheesy, we can do better.” So hopefully we can all hold on to that as a band.

Isabel Fattal is a sophomore at Wesleyan University majoring in the College of Letters. She is an opinion columnist at the Wesleyan Argus, and a former intern at Tablet Magazine.

(Images courtesy of Distant Cousins.)

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Here’s a blissful way to usher in the Sabbath Queen: give a listen to “Lincoln’s Nigun—Yamin U’smol,” a new song from Brooklyn-based musician and composer Joey Weisenberg, with gorgeous lead vocals by Deborah Sacks. It’s a lovely take on Lecha Dodi, the traditional Sabbath eve hymn. (You’ll get why it’s called “Lincoln’s Nigun” when you start listening.)

This track comes from the recently-released album Brooklyn Spirituals, the fourth in a series of liturgical recordings composed and led by Weisenberg, whose mission is to “reinvigorate Jewish life through song,” according to a 2013 article in Tablet Magazine. The album was recorded in the choir loft of the Kane Street Synagogue in Brooklyn, which until recently was crowded “with what seemed like a century’s worth of accumulated shul accoutrements.” After decluttering the space, an intimate studio and performance space was born. And now we reap its luscious musical fruits!

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom.

(Image: YouTube)

The post “Lincoln’s Nigun—Yamin U’smol”: The Perfect Song to Usher in the Sabbath Queen appeared first on Jewcy.

If, like me, you have an embarrassing penchant for Jewish liturgy sung to viral pop hits, you’ll love this version of ‘Adon Olam’ sung to the tune of Pharrell’s ‘Happy.’

Listen Up, a Chicago-based Jewish a capella group, uploaded the video to YouTube yesterday, and so far it’s accrued over 3,000 views—not bad for a hymn that’s been around for several hundred years. Shayna Elliott’s lead vocals are crisp and strong; she’s ably supported Freddie Feldman and Eli Nathan Taylor (harmony) and Steve Singer (bass, vocal percussion).

Your move, Maccabeats.

(Image: YouTube)

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The sidewalk outside Arlene’s Grocery on the Lower East Side of New York is usually populated by die hard rock fans and frat boys looking for late night shenanigans, but last Thursday night was a different scene: TV cameras, news vans, and hordes of women—many of them Orthodox Jews—were eagerly awaiting the official live debut of Hasidic alt-rock girl band Bulletproof Stockings, in front of a female-only audience. (The Jewish law of kol isha prohibits Orthodox women from performing in front of men.) There were long wigs, hippie headscarves, chic hats, sleeves and skirts of varying lengths—not to mention the non-Orthodox attendees dressed in less modest summer attire, canvas tote bags slung across bare shoulders. The eclectic crowd chatted freely with the many journalists who had come to cover the show, which was being filmed by filmed by Oxygen for their forthcoming TV series Living Different.

“Mom, I’m so glad we’re doing this together,” a twenty-something woman in an unassuming dress said to the bewigged, middle-aged woman standing next to her. Teens dressed in the ‘uniform’ of Orthodox high-schoolers (button-down shirt, pleated skirt, flat loafers) tried to conceal their excitement at stepping into a real, secular rock venue. Inside, the crowd generally avoided the bar, some ordering ice water from a bored-looking bartender. “It doesn’t even look like they all came from Crown Heights!” a woman triumphantly cried as she scanned the room, waiting for the listed set time of 7pm to begin.

Previous BPS shows have traditionally targeted niche Orthodox audiences through private fundraisers or school events, but this was the first gig open to the public, and it clearly made its mark in the press and on social media. Facebook seemed to be the primary driver of the evening, along with the promise of dancing alone with no men in the crowd, and of course, the music. “We are Jews. We like music!” a young woman informed me, explaining why she and her friends had come. “That’s it, really.”

A pair of Orthodox sisters-in-law from New Jersey and Brooklyn had convened in Manhattan for the event. For them, it was a opportunity to have a great night out in a women’s only crowd, but in a non-traditional, not-super-Jewish setting. “The focus seems to have been about the headline: men excluded,” they observed. Their dress indicated different degrees of Orthodoxy: one wore a wig, long sleeves and skirt; the other was dressed conservatively, but with her hair uncovered. While attending shows in mixed company isn’t universally unacceptable among more modern Orthodox Jews, it was clear that the option to attend a Ladies Only night was welcomed by many in the audience, regardless of their level of religious observance.

“That’s actually the only reason I came! I don’t want to be bothered!” laughed Miriam Heimowitz, a Brooklyn music lover who heard about the show on Facebook and looked forward to dancing on her own, without risking the sexual harassment that often presents itself at the average music show. “I heard one song. I wouldn’t have come if I didn’t like the music,” she clarified, but admitted she was intrigued by the band’s story as much as their sound. “I think it’s so neat, I love it.”

Expectations were undeniably high as keyboardist and vocalist Perl Wolfe opened the show. “I see a lot of people I know, and a lot of people I don’t know,” she said, as roommate and BPS collaborator Dalia Shusterman got settled behind the drum kit. “Have you seen the news? Guys are not liking it… I guess they just really want to see us play live!”

Wolf’s powerful vocals are reminiscent of Fiona Apple and Florence and the Machine, but BPS’ songs are far from the standard female indie pop-rock. The duo has brought on several other band members to enrich their sound, including a cellist, violinist, and bass player. There was an acapella version of a classic Chabad-Hasidic niggun, Tzamah Lecha Nafshi, sung by Wolfe to a silent crowd (but those familiar with the tune hummed along during the refrain). Later in the set, their Middle-Eastern/gypsy version of a classic Chabad High Holiday tune inspired a crowd of women to dance in a decidedly non-Yom-Kippur-like manner.

There were tinges of indie rock, pop, blues, and even funk throughout the setlist, augmented with covers of Chabad songs, along with hits from the band’s first EP, released in 2012. The dancing picked up in tempo as they kicked into a classic Chabad niggun referencing “Ashreinu Mah Tov Chelkeinu” (“How Happy are we with our lot, how grateful are we with our inheritance”), the beats closer to the tune’s Eastern European peasant origins than the version popularized by the Rebbes of Chabad. The jiving crowd of hipsters, housewives, and ladies of all sorts were the epitome of BPS’ mission and vision: to empower women, and give them a chance to have fun on their own turf, in their own space.

Though BPS has been buzzed about in the local Jewish press for a couple of years now, they really became a New York media sensation in the lead-up to Thursday’s show. The spin varied from supportive to curious to suspicious to misogynistic. Some, such as Gawker, championed the women’s ability to ban the “mixed-junk crowd,” others seized upon the essential point that men had been excluded from the audience. Some commenters expressed concern that the event could set a precedent for all-white, all-men, or all-Jewish shows in the future.

For those used to the more typical indie rock-band circuit, the set might have seemed loosely constructed, the music almost repetitive, the technical problems a little too frequent. But the majority of the crowd wasn’t fussed, drinking up every element of the experience, relishing their opportunity to let their hair (or wig) down, rock out, and support women in music all at once. The show closed out with an encore of the hit “Frigid City,” played earlier in the set to an excited crowd, leading Wolfe to admit that “maybe we should’ve saved that one to the end.”

Freidel Levin, a florist and events planner who hosted the first ever BPS show in her Crown Heights flower shop, said she felt “extremely proud” of  Shusterman  and Levin, “who had a dream, and made it happen, because that is not something you find often, and I support that 100 per cent… I started my own business, and the people that supported me give me so much strength. I want to give that to my friends. They rock, they really do! I love their music and I love their vibe. It’s win-win!”

Chatting online later that night, Shusterman said she was still overwhelmed by the attention the show had received. She laughed off the flack from the anti-feminist underbelly of the Internet, complete with cheap shots at religion and cries of misandry. “We expected some, but these guys are getting really emotional about it!” she said, recalling some of the comments she’d been urged not to read that had nevertheless slipped through the net. “We’ve got guys making up halachos (Jewish laws), and others saying we’re bringing them back to The Stone Age, bless them… They’ve got us cracking up.” Online conversation has often focused on the restrictions of kol isha, rather than BPS’ mission of empowerment. “The vibe was electric, the women were on fire, totally enjoying themselves!” Dalia effuses, recalling the Hasidic-style mosh-pit, as bewigged heads banged to the hit Frigid City encore. “This was not a night about restrictions. It was about breaking off the shackles of social expectations.”

Rishe Groner is a writer and music blogger in New York, by way of Australia. Follow her on Twitter @rishegee.

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Grammy Award winner and South African civil rights activist Miriam Makeba, also known as “Mama Africa,” would have turned 82 today. Makeba’s passport was revoked in 1960 after she appeared in the anti-apartheid documentary Come Back, Africa, and she didn’t return to her home country until 1990, following Nelson Mandela’s release from Robben Island.

In honor of Makeba’s remarkable life, have a listen to her version of the Israeli classic “Erev Shel Shoshanim (Evening of Roses)” from her 1965 album, The Magic of Makeba:

Plus, bonus track! A fabulous jazzy cover of “Sunrise, Sunset”:

Magical indeed.

The post Miriam Makeba Sings “Erev Shel Shoshanim” and “Sunrise, Sunset” appeared first on Jewcy.

Nina Simone, the High Priestess of Soul, would have turned 81 today. A perfect time, then, to revisit her fabulous cover of the classic Hebrew song, Eretz Zavat Chalav (“The Land of Milk and Honey”).

Over at Jewniverse, Matthue Roth writes that Simone likely learned the tune from Shlomo Carlebach, “who she met in the 1950s, while they were both getting their starts in their chosen careers: Carlebach playing the folk circuit, Simone as a lounge singer.” (Indeed, Simone is depicted as Carlebach’s muse in the recent biomusical Soul Doctor, though some critics believe the closeness of their relationship is overstated.)

In a 2010 piece for Jewcy, biographer Nadine Cohodas explains that Simone incorporated the song into her repertoire to help showcase the talents of Brooklyn percussionist Montego Joe. She performed the song on CBS program Camera Three in the fall of 1962, at Carnegie Hall in Spring 1963, and later that year in the nationally syndicated folk-music television program, Hootenanny.

Here it is:

The post Nina Simone, Who Would Have Turned 81 Today, Sings “Eretz Zavat Chalav” appeared first on Jewcy.

The Maccabeats are back and they’re singing “D’ror Yikra” to the tune of “Cups” by Anna Kendrick— ACA-SCUSE ME? It’s the song that’s been stuck in everyone’s head since Pitch Perfect came out and blew our minds (best movie ever?). We loved their old albums, Voices From the Heights and Out Of The Box, but this new song is probably our favorite. Get ready for “D’ror Yikra” to reach millions of YouTube views— give or take 50,000 of them will be from us.

Monday just got a lot better. Thanks, Maccabeats, you acapella wunderkinds.

The post The Maccabeats Newest Single Is Finally Here appeared first on Jewcy.

We’ve all been waiting for HAIM’s album Days Are Gone, but it doesn’t officially drop until September 30. Lucky for us, public radio has given us a Simchat Torah miracle—the album is available for live stream on NPR right now.

In May, Jillian Scheinfeld interviewed the band’s youngest, Alana, for Jewcy. Alana talked about her family, her favorite venues, and the band’s success:

I pinch myself everyday. We have been working so hard for the past seven years to get out of L.A., and it really has been the most amazing ride. My fear before was that nothing was going to happen, and my fear now is that it’s all going to stop.

Well, HAIM’s success certainly shows no signs of stopping. You can read the full Jewcy interview here and listen to Days are Gone on NPR’s First Listen.

Here’s one off their EP Forever:

Spotlight on the Band Haim: Three Jewish Sisters Who Rock

First Listen: HAIM, ‘Days Are Gone’ [NPR]

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