More in ‘Matisyahu’

Boxing Tactics, With Yuri Foreman

Orthodox fighter expounds on the counter-punch
By Marc Tracy | 10:00 AM Mar 4, 2010

Wanna brush up on some basic boxing strategy? Yuri Foreman—the middleweight champion of the world who in his spare time is studying to be an Orthodox rabbi; and who in the meantime is preparing for a June 5 bout against Puerto Rican superstar Miguel Cotto—teaches you that the secret, particularly if you’re fighting a bigger ...

Sundown: Reform Jews Call For Equality for Israeli Arabs

Plus Israel's minority, an Olympian soundtrack, and more
By Hadara Graubart | 4:30 PM Nov 6, 2009

• The Union for Reform Judaism has passed its first resolution calling for equal treatment of Israeli Arabs in the Jewish state. [JTA]
• Entertainment Weekly asked Matisyahu, whose song “One Day” is being used to advertise the 2010 Winter Olympics: “So, how did a Jewish reggae guy end up as the official soundtrack to lugeing, ...

Ritual & Observance

Resolved

Rosh Hashanah resolutions from Matisyahu, Michael Showalter, Ayelet Waldman, and others
By Marc Tracy | 7:00 AM Sep 18, 2009

Rosh Hashanah resolutions from Matisyahu, Daphne Merkin, Michael Showalter, Naomi Alderman, Douglas Century, Ayelet Waldman, and Mimi Sheraton.

Matisyahu Releases New Album, ‘Light’

Mixes electronica, guitar rock into the reggae, to not-so-great reviews
By Marissa Brostoff | 3:00 PM Aug 25, 2009

Matisyahu released his third album, Light, yesterday, and this time he has added new elements—“electonica, funky pop, straight-up guitar rock and even a touch of folk,” according to the AP—to his trademark Hasidic-inspired reggae. He’s taking some knocks for it at home in Crown Heights, Brooklyn: “Just yesterday I was walking down the street and ...

Sundown: Sometimes English Just Ain’t Enough

Yinglish, anti-Israel Zionism, and a badge of dishonor
By Hadara Graubart | 5:00 PM Aug 3, 2009

• Congressman Anthony Weiner was jokingly chastised for using the Yiddish word “bupkis” in a committee meeting; a commenter on Orthodox site Vos Iz Neias thinks Weiner’s “trying to prove he’s Jewish,” and has a suggestion: “How about marrying a Jewish woman? Then you won’t have to bore Congress with Yiddish words.” [VIN]
• Matisyahu released ...

Matisyahu to Play Central Park

And explains new album to Boston website
By Sara Ivry | 1:08 PM Jul 8, 2009

Hasidic reggae phenom Matisyahu (or, as the Ticketmaster electronic voice calls him, Matis-aya-who), plays New York’s Central Park Summer Stage tomorrow to promote his new album, Light. Matisyahu, who follows in the great tradition of Jews in reggae, told Boston Music Spotlight over the weekend that Light includes “electronic stuff, there’s more organic, singer-songwriter kind ...

Music

Out of the Extraordinary

Funky soul from the desert and other musical surprises
By Matthue Roth | 11:21 AM Nov 20, 2008

Dimona is a small village in the Negev, half an hour south of Beersheva. It’s an incredibly small town, less than three square miles, and since it’s in the middle of the Israeli desert, it doesn’t get much in the way of tourists. Mostly, Dimona is known for two things: its nuclear power plant, and ...

Music

Genre Benders

Cliche-free jazz, punk, and hip-hop
By Matthue Roth | 11:43 AM Nov 6, 2008

Given the numerous scholarly elegies marking the closing of legendary Lower East Side music venues Tonic and CBGB, you’d think punk had been elevated to the status of fine art. Alas, no such luck”both clubs closed because the people who wanted to go there couldn’t afford the cover, and the people who could afford to, ...

Audio 

Music

Beats Without Borders

Balkan Beat Box's diaspora mix
By Sara Ivry | 10:39 PM Feb 20, 2006

Ori Kaplan and Tamir Muskat are the brains behind Balkan Beat Box, an ensemble which samples and fuses everything from brass wedding tunes to Moroccan rai to create utterly infectious dance music.
Kaplan and Muskat got their early musical training in Israel, but it’s in New York that they began to put forth their own distincitve ...

MusicRitual & Observance

Melody Maker

The true story of a White Plains boy who found both God and reggae
By Mike Rubin | 10:25 AM Feb 20, 2006

Walking through Brooklyn last summer, some tattered advertising on a scaffolding stopped me dead in my tracks. Peering out from the upper left corner of a red, yellow, and green poster for the annual Reggae Carifest, the giant showcase for the top stars in Jamaican music, was a photo of a bespectacled young man in ...