Monday Music: Haredi Hip-Hop Rocks Tel Aviv
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Crossposted from Haaretz
The mostly secular crowed at Mike’s Place in Tel Aviv had a religious experience last week when the five-piece Haredi Hip Hop band Shtar took to the stage, traditional wardrobe intact. It wasn’t long before the crowed began to sway to the rhythm of rapper Ori M’Ori’s tassels, as he hammered out lyrics even Jay-Z could appreciate.
“We’re not making religious music, our ideals are just embedded into it.” Explained M’Ori after the three set show. “Torah is just the structure for expressing yourself and being the best you.”
This theme is overtly expressed through their music influenced by hip-hop, rock and orchestral, anywhere from The Smiths to The Roots. Their gritty sound is engaging, modern and yet distinctly Jewish.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
