Matisyahu Revisited

April 22, 2005 7:09 AM

Matisyahu Revisited: While he's been mentioned here before, a new AP profile on Matisyahu finds Brooklyn's reggae Hasid still hard at work. Catch his performance on Jimmy Kimmel, then give a listen to his amazing new live album from Jewish-oriented JDub Records — currently streaming its *entirety* on Heavy Radio.
posted by MaxVonCretin (13 comments total)

Wow, this guy was in town not two weeks ago, but I didn't get to see him. I didn't know he was as famous as he apparently is.
posted by oaf at 7:28 AM on April 22, 2005

Almost made me want to start watching Kimmel, until the interview part with Scott Baio (!). But props for putting him on.
posted by fungible at 7:35 AM on April 22, 2005

His albums are available on emusic.com.
posted by dobbs at 7:47 AM on April 22, 2005

He played on my campus (SUNY New Paltz) about three weeks ago. I would've gone but it was on a Thurs. night and I had other obligations. I like the music though, and from what I hear, it was a well attended show. Until they did the flyering, I had never heard of him.

"He's played on the Jimmy Kimmel Show."
"Oh."

As if that were a selling point.
posted by exlotuseater at 8:26 AM on April 22, 2005

As was stated in the previous thread, you can really feel him use the audience's skepticism to his advantage. When he actually performs well, much to the audience's surprise, it seems to elevate the performance one notch above what it otherwise would've been thanks to this "priming of expectations".

Anyhow, really, really cool :). Thanks.
posted by basicchannel at 9:01 AM on April 22, 2005

This guy is great, I saw him at Penn State a few weeks back. Bought the CD immediately afterwards and I can't stop listening to it.

Highly recommended.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 11:10 AM on April 22, 2005

I wish his documentary video were still on the site. It's really incredible. I'm a would-be groupie.
posted by moonbird at 6:14 PM on April 22, 2005

Oh wow, I think I may have gone to Hebrew school with him. His bio says he grew up in White Plains, but wasn't religious. That rules out the two Orthodox temple/schools in town. But his website mentions Camp Ramah (a popular kinda-religious Jewish summer camp [kosher, shomer shabbas, etc.]) and his bio indiciates he obviously had a good deal of knowledge about Judaism (even if not practicing) even before he became frum. That rules out the Reform and Reconstructionist temples/schools.

That leaves Conservative Judaism. And since there's only one Conservative temple in White Plains...

On top of that, since we were both born in 1979, we must have been in the same graduating class. Heh.
posted by Asparagirl at 6:54 PM on April 22, 2005

FWIW, I read somewhere that his parents were Reconstructionist.

Nice re-post. Just in time for Passover, too.
posted by amandaudoff at 8:42 PM on April 22, 2005

Aw, poopy. :-)
posted by Asparagirl at 7:46 AM on April 23, 2005

Saw this guy perform at Brown a little while ago - great energy, and the most diverse crowd I've ever seen at a concert.
posted by theorique at 9:13 AM on April 23, 2005

How does he reconcile Reggae's often anti-semitic and anti-manythings content and religious underpinnings with his own (supposedly deeply-held) beliefs? Or is he just vapidly appropriating a style he likes? like a Hasidic Gwen Stefani? (which he's certainly allowed to do, but there's something way way off about a Hasidic person being allowed to do this in the wider world, unless it's for recruiting new Hasidic people.)

New York just did a little story on a new hipster "orthodox" shul in SoHo, but it's a Chabad Lubavitcher (Hasidic) front, apparently--he played at the fundraiser.
posted by amberglow at 9:35 AM on April 23, 2005 [1 favorite]

He's got a category on etree for anyone who wants to check out a live performance.
posted by terrortubby at 11:42 AM on April 23, 2005