Shtetl Superstars: Funky Jewish Sounds by Various Artists
Cross-cultural Jewish/Klezmer music. Ska Mitzvah, anyone?
Sometimes you listen to an album that just makes you grin — this is one of those albums. Almost impossible to classify, it is a collection of work from artists who are Jewish and whose music mixes traditional Jewish sounds with those of the country they live in or modern musical styles. Thus, we have have Jewish hip-hop/rap, Jewish reggae and ska, and Latino-Jewish music.
However, the mere cross-cultural aspect isn’t the cool thing about this album, and it certainly isn’t a ‘novelty’ album. All of the artists produce rip-snortingly fresh, vibrant, living music, that makes me want to get up and dance. It’s all excellent, but if I had to single out a few of the tracks, I would choose Hip Hop Hoodios’ brilliant Latio-Jewish track ‘Havana Nagila’, the irrepressibly bouncy ‘Hassidish’ by Solomon and So-Called (you might notice a common punning theme in the titles), the reggae influenced ‘Shtiklakh’ by King Django’s Roots and Culture and the laid-back and loping ‘Adir Alam’ by Balkan Beat Box.
It’s not all light-hearted. Remedy’s rap about the Holocaust, ‘Never Again’ is angry and sombre at the same time, and Lemez Lovas’ ‘2nd Train Meditation’, with its looped train track sounds, piano and gentle, mournful vocals is a quiet requiem for so many lost lives.
If you’re sick of bland, manufactured rock and pop, have a listen to this album and remind yourself that music should be an expression of life.
