September 21, 2008

Matisyahu - Live at Stubb's


Band/artist
- Matisyahu
Genre(s) - Reggae
Origin - United States of Zionism
Album - Live at Stubb's
Year of release - 2005

Jews. Always a fascinating and often hilarious subject. Here we have one of the most agressively Jewish individuals I have ever seen. After being born again as a follower of Hasidic judaism, one of the strictest movements within the entire religion, Matthew Miller adopted the Hebrew transcription of his first name as his stage name and decided to make a career in reggae. I must say he does so with style. Matisyahu's brand of reggae is eclectic and modern, and with the major rock and hiphop influences
it is not as lethargic and repetitive as the genre in general seems prone to. He has a good voice as well, though I'm not a big fan of the beat boxing, which luckily only occurs in one song (guess which!). His lyrics seem to deal with Judaic spirituality and personal empowerment, and I'm glad they don't seem to be motivated by political zionism - there are few subjects I can get as angry and emotional about as the occupation of Palestine and the brutal, merciless oppression that the Palestinian people face every day. I could cover a few blog pages more on this subject but maybe we'd better listen to this great concert by a reggae singer who just so happens to wear a long beard and black felt hat.
  1. Sea to sea
  2. Chop 'em down
  3. Warrior
  4. Lord raise me up
  5. King without a crown
  6. Aish Tamid
  7. Beat box
  8. Fire and heights
  9. Exaltation
  10. Refuge
  11. Heights
  12. Close my eyes
Load it down

No comments:

Post a Comment