Matisyahu: Hasidic Jewish Reggae Artist
Born Matthew Paul Miller, Matisyahu is the Hebrew and stage name of one of the year’s hottest recording artists. Along with band mates Jonah David (drums), Aaron Dugan (guitar) and Josh Werner (bass / keyboards), Matisyahu is bringing a unique new world flavor to diverse audiences of reggae and hip-hop, and people are listening. They played to 80,000 fans at Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee this past June and are slated for Lollapalooza, the festival created by Jane’s Addiction front man Perry Farrell, in August.
Matisyahu’s road to musical acclaim is as interesting as the soul bending sounds that mark the band’s reggae-hiphop-rock style. The singer was born in West Chester, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia and then raised in White Plains, NY. He was brought up a Reconstructionist Jew and found an early passion for music which he expressed in his teenage years under the alias “MC Truth” for MC Mystic’s Soulfari band.
His affinity for music led him to a free lifestyle (or what some call his odyssey) traveling the musical festival currents through Israel, Colorado, Oregon and more. He claims his first public performance was in a parking garage after a Phish concert. The sights and especially sounds that that he experienced during his “hippie” days carry through in the lyrics and vibe of his chart topping albums. They resonate with the intent of Matisyahu’s voice: messages of peace and unity.
In 2001, Matisyahu turned toward Orthodox Judaism becoming a member of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic community in Brooklyn, New York, one of the largest branches of Hasidic Judaism and one of the largest Jewish Orthodox movements worldwide. He studied the Torah and began playing with the New York band Pey-Dalid. He recorded his first album while a student at Hadar Hatorah and along with Bob Marley and Phish, Matisyahu credits lyrical inspiration for the album to a book by Rabbi Simon Jacobson, a teacher in the Chabad.
Matisyahu’s poignant lyrics and rhythms started to create local buzz around New York City and beyond. In 2004, the band debuted on the charts with Shake off the dustâÂ?¦Arise! and experienced terrific success with their 2005 release Live at Stubb’s. Their sophomore album Youth was released March 7 of this year. Like Matisyahu himself, it is a mix of old and new. It captures years of free living as well as influences from Orthodox Judaism that teach music as “the quill of the soul.” It is a mix of contemporary, original hip-hop sounds rooted in reggae and religion.
The band has been touring frenetically to promote their new album and has been gaining tremendous momentum in past months. Their video “King without a Crown” has seen much airtime with its simple stylized urban visuals and energizing message. The song has topped in the Modern Rock Top 10. Their new album Youth topped Billboard magazines #1 slot and is in the top 20 on iTunes. Esquire magazine dubbed Matisyahu the 2006 Most Loveable Oddball with an Esky Music Award. It has been a very good year.
Many fast rising stars might succumb to the spoils of fame and impending fortune. Matisyahu’s path is everything but clichÃ?©. In 2004 he married an NYU student and recently became a father. It’s not unlikely his family joins him while on tour. He keeps kosher on the road with restaurants and a network of Chabad rabbis. And as for the stage diving, Matisyahu explains that there is a restriction in his religion that men may not touch women with the exception of wife, mother, daughter or grandmother. Touch is holy and respectful. Although he does stage dive in videos it is the director’s job to see it is only men he lands on.
Wild parties are not part of touring for Matisyahu and band mates who admittedly dig competitive bowling. It seems their music is practiced like religion, with clarity. Matisyahu’s community, Chabad is a Hebrew acronym that translates to “wisdom, understanding, knowledge.” Through kinetic energy and righteous rap lyrics fused with jam band sounds and beatbox phenomenon, Matisyahu’s message is coming through loud clear.
