Globe & Mail article: Matisyahu

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JERUSALEM -- It is a puzzling mix for a reggae concert crowd: alongside teenagers in rainbow-striped sweaters, baggy jeans, dreadlocks and Birkenstocks are young women dressed in modest long skirts and head scarves, and men in the black suits and black velvet kippahs that signify followers of ultra-Orthodox Judaism.

Your ordinary concert this is not. But then, this is not your ordinary Bob Marley wannabe.

By day, the man born Matthew Miller is a serious religious student, a pious Hasidic Jew in black suit, wide-brimmed hat and long bushy beard who studies at a yeshiva in New York's religious Crown Heights neighbourhood.

But by night, he is Matisyahu, an up-and-coming rap/reggae artist who happens to have replaced his dreadlocks with a black kippah, and whose prayer shawl tassels, peeking out from the bottom of his white shirt, shake in time to the music.

"[it's about] having a job, or a talent or a passion . . . and sharing it with the world and sharing a positive message with the world," the 26-year-old said, sharing his philosophies with journalists before a string of concerts in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem last week. "And that means going outside of the shtetl, going outside of the religious neighbourhood. And that, if anything for me, strengthens my convictions for being religious."

It's not that Matisyahu was born into this lifestyle: A former Deadhead who dropped out of school to follow cult band Phish on tour, he says his spiritual awakening began on a trip to Israel as a teenager, and was completed after a chance meeting with a Lubavitch rabbi in Washington Square Park.

But blending music with religious study has taken some work. First to go were dating and drugs, although Matisyahu is now married with a baby son.

Then there was convincing his rabbi of the need to be on stage, when the ultra-Orthodox community rejects the sort of mixed dancing and drinking that goes on in clubs. Matisyahu said the rabbi has become reconciled to his singing -- possibly helped along by songs that quote extensively from the Torah and count Klezmer music and traditional Hasidic chants among their influences.

Then there are the practical concerns. His manager must make sure kosher meals are available and can't schedule gigs or interviews between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday, when Matisyahu observes the Jewish Sabbath. And the singer gave up crowd-surfing after an incident with young female concertgoers.

"I was groped," he says without a hint of a smile, clearly offended by this affront to the conviction that he must not have physical contact with any woman outside of his family.

Still, Matisyahu is convinced his religious message can be appreciated by even the most non-religious of fans.

"The idea is that most people still want world peace, they want to get along and love. The concept of the [coming of the] Messiah is that one day, all the negativity of the world is going to be revealed for what it really is."

If the growing hype is to be believed, Matisyahu's message is about to reach a lot more people. After the moderate success of his first album, his second album, Live at Stubbs -- recorded at a barbecue joint in Austin, Tex. -- was picked up for national distribution in the United States by Epic Records, a division of Sony BMG. It has sold more than 100,000 copies.

His third album, Youth, will be released at the end of January and in being preceded by a European tour, appearances on several late-night talk shows and a spot on MTV. He's also scheduled as the warm-up act at a show in Madison Square Garden next month.

During four performances in Israel last week -- two in Tel Aviv's thriving club scene, and two in a warehouse-turned-alternative arts centre in Jerusalem -- the wide-ranging crowd suggested Matisyahu is bridging the gap between his strict traditions and beliefs and the reality of the modern world.

"He wears Hasidic clothing but he speaks a truth that anyone can understand," said Aliyana Traison, 23, a Detroit-born Israeli who heard Matisyahu play while attending McGill University. "In Montreal there were people who went [to see him play] who weren't even Jewish."

That's not to say the fans themselves have entirely come to terms with the idea: Before one Jerusalem show, a scuffle that broke out among disappointed fans still hoping for tickets to the sold-out performance ended with a kippah on the ground and shouting between fans on opposite ends of the religious spectrum. And, even as they grooved inside to the music, ultra-Orthodox men could be seen still trying to avoid bumping into young jeans-clad women oblivious to their presence.

But the crowd did share an enthusiasm for Matisyahu's work.

"It's awesome. I love it," said Avi Gellis, 20, a yeshiva student from New York waiting outside the concert in a black suit, white shirt and black kippah. "It's just cool. It's Jewish, and it's cool. That's it."

[TheGoodRev]

Great read, thanks AD.

[SmoothedShredder]

I hope his new album has lots of beat boxing.

[afro poppa]

Thanks AD, Matisyahu is awsome and his new album will be great judging by the new songs I've heard at some of his shows.

I've even had the good luck to see him debut two of his new songs, one at moe.down and one at Lee's Palace in Toronto...