Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Matisyahu and Street Performer From Viral Video Will Perform in Concert

The tale of the Hawaiian busker who got to perform with Matisyahu in an impromptu street duet, captured in a viral video, isn’t over yet. After some legal arrangements, the unlikely pair are scheduled to perform together on Friday in Los Angeles.

Last Friday Matisyahu posted a live video on Facebook in which he invited Kekoa Alama to perform with him at the Hollywood Palladium, but Alama said he was not sure he could travel due to having violated his parole.

After speaking to Alama’s parole officer and the judge on the case, the Jewish reggae star announced Monday that the “Maui coffee shop brudda” would be allowed to travel to the performance.

In the original video Matisyahu discovered Alama playing the ukulele and singing his hit “One Day” in a Maui coffee shop. The Jewish reggae star joined in, although Alama did not realize who he really was.

“Oh Jesus. What’s up, man?” the street performer told the formerly Orthodox singer, who used to sport a beard, when he revealed his true identity. “You look different.”

Watch the viral video here:

Contact Josefin Dolsten at [email protected] or on Twitter, @JosefinDolsten

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.