Shemspeed just got back from the Israel Rally in front of the Israeli consulate where Dov Rosenblatt led the massive crowd in the American National Anthem followed by the Israeli one. He is becoming the Jewish Bono. Ok maybe not but we told him we would print that despite his plea to not have that written. Anyway. The highlight of the rally was when the head of Fuel for Truth stood up and spoke about standing with Israel and eradicating Hamas towards having peace for both sides. He then said something that has often been yelled out at Rallies just not generally on the Israel side. He yelled out “FREE PALESTINE.” The place went quiet and people looked around in shock and confusion and right then he finished his thought…. “from Hamas”. It was a brilliantly timed moment. It’s not often that shemspeed gets political and that’s because we are easy going peace lovers. For that reason we want to make sure that our readers keep up with the facts. We support Israel in its reactionary actions to defeat the terrorism that Hamas continuously causes with an enormous escalation in the last few months. We pray that innocent “Palestinians” do not get hurt and hope that Hamas stops their cowardly use of the innocent to protect themselves. Palestinians and all those left wing white ass confused Jewish kids that are anti Israel should be focusing their efforts on being anti Hamas so that the innocent Palestinians could start a a revolution to destroy the terrorists that are keeping them from peace as well.

* more photos at www.flickr.com/shemspeed

Thousands of rockets have been launched by the terrorist organization Hamas into Southern Israel since Israel left Gaza for peace. Israel has the right to defend itself. Show your support for Israel. Dov Rosenblatt of Blue Fringe will be performing his new hebrew solo material tomorrow at the Israel Rally. There will be some ofther special guests. Be there to show your support and stand with Israel in these scary and tough times. - 12:30 PM across from the Israeli Consulate (42nd Street and 2nd Avenue).
p.s. This HAS to be a Yossi Belkin flier. It’s just so on point.

If you are all about Twitter and Matisyahu then you too would know what’s going on tonight in NYC. Aaron Dugan is performing at Rockwood Music Hall tonight. The Music Hall part of the name makes it sound massive, but it’s actually quite the opposite. The place holds less than 80 people in the performance space. In fact when I saw Fools for April there with 35 of my closest friends, I couldn’t picture one more friend in the place to be. For that reason it is ultra cool (I hate the term supercool), that Matisyahu is performing there right after his guitarist Aaron Dugans’ set. Aaron at 8, Matis at 9. info at rockwoodmusichall.com

p.s. I saw this on the Brooklyn Vegan site:
If Matisyahu interests you at all, this recent interview/article at The Jewish Daily Forward is pretty interesting.

- Guy Emanuel

Shivi Keller is the front man for En Od Milvado and I can’t count the amount of times we have been approached to book this musician for his short trip in NY. The only problem is that all those times were around the SMF and Matisyahu shows and se we had our hands full, but if you scroll down you could see that he is getting around, so check out one of the shows and respond ot this post with what ya think.

p.s. check out this video because there are little Chassidic kids playing percussion.
SHOW INFO
Read the rest of this entry »

Y-Love and Diwon are performing in Chicago this Thursday in conjunction with Spertus Museum’s current exhibition, Twisted into Recognition: Cliches of Jews and Others. Spertus is proud to host a one-night-only concert by “hip hop revolutionaries,” Brooklyn-based Y-Love and Diwon (pronounced Dee-wan). The pair will perform their signature global hip hop sound at Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, 610 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Thursday, January 8, 2009, from 7:30–10:30 pm. Y-Love and Diwon will perform together at 8:30 pm; hour-long deejay sets by Diwon will begin and end the evening.

Please mark your calendars. In addition to the performance, there will be a cash bar and an opportunity to check out Spertus’ beautiful, new architectural space during evening hours. This is a really fantastic event and is a special time to support a museum that is working to open its doors to new audiences and programming. It is not to be missed! Also, earlier in the day listen into National Public Radio for an interview with Y-Love.
* Buy Tickets in advance- only $10. Click HERE.
* RSVP at the facebook event HERE.
* Our tweet alerts we found, “Wine Tweet-up w/ Ortho-Jewish Rapper Y-Love”
Matilda’s Wednesday $5 wine with Guest of Honor Y-Love
7pm / 3101 N. Sheffield Ave.

* BONUS: Back in the day when Diwon went by dj handler he introduced Y-Love to the world with the “dj handler presents; Y-Love the mixtape. It’s really an amazing and revolutionary mix and we feel that you should have it, if you somehow do not already, click here for a free download.

Escape from Hamas airs Saturday at 9 p.m., with repeats at 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. EST, and Sunday at 9 p.m., with repeats at 12 midnight, 2 a.m., EST.
“As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other world leaders try to broker a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, one former member of the militant Islamic organization said there will never be lasting peace between the two groups.

“There is no chance. Is there any chance for fire to co-exist with the water?” said Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of one of the group’s founding members.

Yousef added: “It’s not about Israel, it’s not about Hamas: it’s about both ideologies.”

Yousef, son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of the most influential leaders of the militant group, said the organization betrays the Palestinian cause and tortures its own members.
Read the rest of this entry »

What happens when a Jewish magazine (Heeb) tries too hard to be a non Jewish magazine (Vice). Well, first, people come to view the magazine as a less original version of a magazine that already exists. I mean, yes, this one has more Jews in it, but even that seems to not be true anymore. Second, websites like Shemspeed have to crop the front cover of the magazine just to post it, because it’s just far too inappropriate for a Jewish website. Anyway, Is Courtney Love Jewish? G-d I hope not. Leave it to Heeb to promote that fact.

- Guy Emanuel

Finally, Change is coming. The BBC, Italy’s La Repubblica, and XXL magazine have all featured Brooklyn-based MC Y-Love and his multilingual approach to hip-hop. Y-Love’s 2008 debut album This is Babylon is still garnering praise for its mix of hip-hop, reggae, and r&b with global accents, but Y-Love isn’t resting. Now, he’s teaming up with Crown Heights collaborator DeScribe to give a fresh musical take on the most powerful word of 2009. Their new single “Change” mixes Y-Love’s militant mysticism with the plaintive urgency of DeScribe’s singing. Combining a driving, radio-ready beat, produced by Prodezra, and subject matter few dare to touch, “Change” truly stands out on the path from old to new.

“Change” is the first in the series of four songs that comprise “The Change EP”, by
DeScribe &
Y-Love, to be released on Modular Moods/Shemspeed. One song will be released per month beginning with “Change”, produced by Prodezra. Pick up each song on iTunes and catch the music video for “Change” on youtube beginning January 20th.

LISTEN NOW:
myspace.com/describeylove
shemspeed.com/change

* be on the look out January 20th.

This is just strange…although I feel like if he sang less hesitantly, he could be on to something. A little more than one minute into it, he starts with the doo-wop moves…so thats nice… oh, and I can’t forget the claps at the end. priceless!

“music during wartime”

This is a somber first post for me on Shemspeed, noting that for millions in Israel and Gaza 2009 will not begin happily. Missiles are reaching farther into Israel from the Strip, and the damage to Gaza is tremendous. Before this latest outbreak of violence, a European video documentary crew has been following the lives of people in Gaza and Sderot, and you can see all of their videos here: http://gaza-sderot.arte.tv/

It’s amazingly well done and there is no commentary, just the residents of Gaza and Sderot speaking for themselves as you follow their lives for a bit.

To keep it pertinent here, there are several videos on the project website dealing with musicians and performers on both sides and how the chaos affects their artistic lives. In a war zone, I don’t know how much solace music provides, but I can hardly imagine living without it. Khalaf Qassim and Avi Vaknin are both musicians.

This series was last updated on Dec. 23, and you can feel that the people in these clips on both sides felt something bad coming as the cease-fire ended. I hope they are safe. Please really listen to their stories, pass the video along, and pray for peace.

- Sam Balagan

(note: the image above was drawn by Okan Arabacioglu and first appeared in my Baltimore City Paper article on Iraqi music called Fables of the Reconstruction, linked here)

Shemspeed fam, Matthue Roth just wrote up a pretty cool piece on one of our favorite old schools sisters on Nextbook.
Today, Yiddish versions of popular songs have been condemned to the pop-cultural bargain bin—email forwards and hammy YouTube videos.

But once upon a time, the Barry Sisters fused the Jewish language with then-popular music (songs by Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach, and Perry Como), creating covers that, at worst, were convincingly swinging versions of the originals and, at best, reinterpreted the lyrics to songs like “Cabaret” (“Put down the knitting / The book and the broom / Time for a holiday / Life is a cabaret, old chum / Come to the Cabaret”), providing a fresh and distinctive take. Now, thirty-five years later, label Reboot Stereophonic is reissuing their album Our Way (Tahka-Tahka) as part of an ongoing revival of milestone recordings in Jewish culture.

The music drips with so much sap and sentiment that it’s practically sweating. It begs for a backdrop of dancers in shiny polyester dresses, men in tweed suits, and mixed drinks named after once-famous celebrities. The Sisters captured the self-conscious glamour of the era in such a smart way that it almost seems like they planned for this kind of revival (which extends beyond the rerelease to include such tribute bands as the Sisters of Sheynville).

In hindsight (something many artists wish they had while churning out their holiday albums and grandparent-ready gift books), the Barry Sisters did a remarkable job of picking songs with staying power. “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head,” played totally straight, is kooky and enjoyable. The showy but stylish twists in their voices as they launch into their full-throttle, Jewish-woman-empowering version of “My Way” feel like a seductive wink at the listener.

The difference between old-time borscht-belt acts and the new crop of irony-laden Jewish comedians, a friend of my grandmother’s told me, is that the old guys, even when their jokes fell flat, still seemed like they were putting in the effort to be funny. True to form, the Barry Sisters are unapologetically kitschy, from their photo sessions in the extensive liner notes (both the original and an expanded version are included with the reissue) to the loungetastic feel of the songs. But theirs is a finely-tuned, ageless kitsch—here’s hoping it sticks around this time.

Listen to “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” by the Barry Sisters

Listen to “My Way” by the Barry Sisters

Read the full article at nextbook.org/cultural/feature.html?id=2375

The moment we have all been waiting for! the footage of Matisyahu, C-Rayz Walz, & Kosha Dillz performing “Childhood” with Matis’ full band as part of his Festival of Light series at Williamsburg’s Music Hall. C-Rayz and Kosha joined Matis for the last 3 nights reppin their “Freestyle Vs. Written” album which hit stores to a few months ago to rave reviews, in SPIN magazine among others.

* to pick up a copy of the “Freestyle Vs. Written” album now from iTunes (here) or off the Modular site (here). Or you could get 1990’s on it and leave your computer to pick it up in stores!

I think I finally understand the stereotype correlating Black people and superior dancing skills; that because of some hereditary, corporeal connection with their musical roots from sub-Sharan Africa, African Americans are able to move more organically than the rest of us to the sounds of modern day beats.  The theory might be oversimplified (and possibly racist) but after last night’s Gogol Bordello concert, I agree that perhaps there is a genetic aptitude to inherently “know” how to dance to certain types of music, over others.   Without knowing who Gogol Bordello (my friend Boris, already a fan, schlepped me to the show ) and without making a conscious decision to wild-out, my Ashkenazi ass moved in a way one could only describe as, “it was in me.”

Gogol Bordello is loud.  They are joyously loud, hyped beyond words, out of their skulls. The 8 person group sings in Russian and English and plays all sort of instruments, including accordion and washboard.   Playing as if they were possessed, front man Eugene Hutz whom Heeb Magazine named an Honorary Jew (other Jews in the band include the guitarist and drummer) writes on Gogol Bordello’s MySpace page, “Often you will hear people talking about a concert they’ve experienced for years! Why? In Gypsy mythology they say it is memorable because the devil visited that room; others say the other guy was there. But one way or another they all link it to supernatural.”

Since forming in the Lower East Side in 1999, Gogol Bordello has written original music for films like Wristcutters and Everything Is Illuminated.  But, don’t get it twisted: Gogol Bordello is dance music.  As in raise your palms to Hashem and hora in circles, dance music.  Which I most certainly did, moving like I was put on this earth to move that way.  In fact, the music was most likely danceable for everyone with a pulse, flaunting a pre-crescendo build up (in songs like “Supertheory of Supereverything” and “Super Taranta”) followed by an eruption of kinetic sonorous energy resulting in a musical climax.

Gogol Bordello has an encore performance at the same venue tonight in NYC, Webster Hall.   They are then continuing the tour in major US cities and really, this is one “it feels so Jewish” cultural experience you won’t want to miss.

- Margaret Teich

The Shemspeed crew got down guerilla style, with their video camera, at the Hillel International Conference this past month in Baltimore’s Fells Point. The 40 team showcased a bit of what college campuses could expect to see when they bring the 40 to their towns. The 40 brings its workshops, concert & party around the nation from February to March. watch the clip to the left to get a bit of a taste of some of the performers and visit www.shemspeed.com/40 to find out much more. photos and such are at flickr.com/shemspeed.

The Festival has finally come to a close and the evenings were packed with really diverse and talented Sephardic artists. Check the photos and videos below. The shows are not over though, we still got two more Matisyahu shows as part of the Festival of Light series and just like last night we will have Shemspeed fam, C-Rayz Walz & Kosha Dillz rapping along with Matis mid set…Hope to see you all there and as always info below:

Check out photos from the 2008 Sephardic Music Festival events HERE.
Check out photos from the Matisyahu, C-Rayz Walz & Kosha Dillz set last night, HERE.
Check out video from select shows at the Shemspeed youtube, HERE.

p.s. download “Childhood” by C-Rayz Walz, Matisyahu & Kosha Dillz
by clicking HERE.

SHOW INFO:

Festival of Light
12/29 - Mike Doughty & Matisyahu joined by C-Rayz Walz & Kosha Dillz

12/30 - Brett Dennen & Matisyahu joined by C-Rayz Walz & Kosha Dillz

@ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY
BUY TICKETS

Listen to C-Rayz & Kosha @ myspace.com/freestylevswritten

Just picked up the Wall Street Journal only to see an article titled, “They Don’t All Sound Familiar: Debut albums are among those making the cut in a field filled with talent”. I had no idea that I was going to find one of my fav punk jew jazz groups in there. Pitom indeed!

“On “Pitom” (Tzadik), guitarist Yoshie Fruchter mixes grunge, jazz, Zappa, noise-rock and a dollop of surf music with Jewish modes and scales to create a loud, raucous album full of noise and virtuosity. The rhythm section can explode with heavy-metal thunder, and when Jeremy Brown enters on viola or violin, you’ll hear echoes of the Mahavishnu Orchestra. A dazzling debut.”

The boys who dropped the amazing, “Freestyle Vs. Written” album a few months ago to rave reviews, in SPIN magazine among others, will be joining Matisyahu tonight as part of his Festival of Light series at Williamsburg’s Music Hall.

to pick up a copy of the “Freestyle Vs. Written” album now from iTunes (here) or off the Modular site (here). Or you could get 1990’s on it and leave your computer to pick it up in stores!

Happy Last Nacht of Chanukah!

Was awesome seeing all you all this past week…watching over 1000 people get down to Sephardic music over Chanukah has been amazing. We have one last event and if you would like to get in for only 10 bucks email tickets@shemspeed.com with your name and we’ll put you on the reduced list. Each email gets two $10 tickets. See you all there. Happy Chanukah!

Sunday Dec 28, 2008
• Anath, Miriam Zafri & just added, Diwon, Eyal Maoz & Elie Massias.
@ Drom
7pm | $15
85 Avenue A (between 5th St & 6th St)

BUY TICKETS

If you would like to see photos from the past nights click - http://tinyurl.com/smfphotos08

and info at http://www.sephardicmusicfestival.com

Electro Morocco is a unique mixture of energetic electro beats, middle eastern flavor, with a retro rock and pop edge. Their live performance combines live music with synced video clips that creates an unforgettable visual and musical experience. “Electro Morocco is what I would imagine would happen if Gwen Stefani met Balkan Beat Box or JUSTICE”. They perform tonight at Joe’s Pub on the seventh night of the Sephardic Music Festival/Chanukah 5769.

December 27, 2008
• Electro Morocco
@ Joe’s Pub
425 Lafayette St., NYC
11pm | $15 adv
(buy tickets)

Last night’s Shemspeed/Sephardic Music Festival show was something for the books. To see such a diverse line up of artists and an even more diverse crowd, was great. Eden Mi Qedem set off the night with Sephardic Rock which was a great opener for the Sephardic Psychedelia that Piamenta lunges right into with the crowd right there with him. He called up Avram Pengas to do some classic Israeli tunes which he got the crowd to sing on with him. Right after Piamenta fnished up their set, Rabbi Lein from N. Williamsburg Chabad lit the Chanukia and got the crowd to sing some old school jams which led up to Y-Loveand DeScribe taking the stage along with Yemenite DJ, Diwon. Was seriously amazing to see a semitic hip hop crew who could hold their own and not sound like some cheesy Jewish version of rap music. The crowd danced liek crazy and wouldn’t let them or Kosha Dillz, Ephryme or DJ Balagan leave the stage. We are most definitely going to do a follow up show in February. Thanks to all 500 plus of you who came out. We have two more fesitval shows, so see you there!

Electro Morocco @ Joe’s Pub Saturday night & Miriam Zafri, and Anath @ Drom Sunday eve. for info check the SMF site.

For photos from last night, taken by Nina Safar, go to www.flickr.com/shemspeed click on the Sephardic Music Fest Album and see the insanity!

For video, as always, visit youtube.com/shemspeed

What do you get when you cross Bucktown and Chanukah? Bucktownukah, of course! On Dec. 27th, Chabad of Bucktown/Wicker Park will be hosting a greasy food fest in the back room at Nick’s Beer Garden to celebrate the 7th night of Chanukah. Mmm..nothing says Happy Chanukah like latkes and PBR.

The cover charge is $15 at the door ($10 if you register in advance through jewishbucktown.com) and includes a night of free food, one complimentary drink and $3 domestic draught specials. Shemspeed.com will be providing the evening’s soundtrack, ranging from hip-hop to rock and jazz.

The party starts at 9pm, so if you’re one of the many local residents who is used to only seeing Nick’s through liquor-blurred eyes at 4am, this is your chance to walk right in the door instead of waiting in line with all the other late-night drunkards until you’re nearly sober again. 

Nick’s Beer Garden is located at 1516 N. Milwaukee Ave. For more information, call 773-772-3770 or email Rabbi@jewishbucktown.com.

On the third night of Chanukah I received my first gift of the season. My kid brother sent me the latest CD from Bloc Party -yes we still buy CDs in my family. The bro has astoundingly ill music taste, especially for a 15 year old, and again came through on the clutch with this year’s Chanukah present. If you haven’t gotten ahold of the new BP album Intimacy, get it and enjoy (check track 3 Biko, straight red velvet butter sugar cake.)

How surprised was I to receive yet another gift on the fourth night: Jewltide, a concert featuring JDUB groups The Shondes and DeLeon. And what a gift it was.

Skeptical of having to leave early from my Jew Posse’s annual Christmas Chinatown dinner, a few friends and I trekked to Brooklyn to catch these two bands. The first group, The Shondes define themselves as “hard-driving politically savvy rock n’ roll”. If I were to pepper the description with my own words, I would include tough, musically competent, and gay. One song featured the phrase, “Yeah we’re gay” repeated throughout the song. And oddly enough, it worked. The lead singer introduced a final song saying, “As Jews we are taught to ask questions and think critically and so this track is in honor of a free Palestine.” The crowd was right there with her, feeling the waltz rock jam and the message.

DELEON followed with beautiful, optimistic, danceable 15th Century Sephardic rock music that rocked our world for a few reasons:

1) The five piece band opened with the drummer standing on his drum set pounding the base with a mallet ~ George of the Jungle style. Said drummer continued his shenanigans throughout the set. Also he wore little shorts.

2)The keyboardist was a badass blonde Debi Harry dead ringer and when duet-ing with the sultry tight pants/vest combo lead singer of the group, made for a beautiful (looking and sounding) combination.

3)The music elicited palpable Jewish pride in all of us. My bestie Nicole, who came with from Chinese dinner remarked, “I can’t believe that non-Jews would want to come out on Christmas eve and play this music (two of the five musicians were not Jewish.) It makes it seem cooler: like cool to be a Jew.”

- Margaret Teich

so, i just saw this blog called the “ignoblus, for the moment” which describes itself as, “Mostly about antisemitism, other racisms, Buddhism, and perhaps sometimes football. When I was in high school, I found that Ignatius literally meant “not ignoble,” and it struck me just how pompous such a double negative can be. I’d rather remind myself that I, unlike the popes, am fallible. Even when I’m wearing my pope-hat. Yes, I have a pope-hat.” and they just posted this:

The Beat Guide to Yiddish
If you haven’t heard Diwon’s The Beat Guide to Yiddish mixtape, download it for free! It’s as disjointed as any Jewish identity -pomo collage the way it’s supposed to be- perfect for a Yiddish EP by a guy who markets himself as “That Yemenite kid.”

well, feel free to grab and pass this around as a free chanukah gift.

DOWNLOAD THE BEAT GUIDE FREE FROM WWW.SHEMSPEED.COM/DIWON