Not much time to post (it's Sunday after all), so I'll steal these two interesting videos from The Reform Shuckle on Orthodox Jewish hip-hop artist Shmoolik (what does that mean, anyway?). I have this fascination for Orthodox Judaism; it's strikes a chord ... somewhere ... If I ever figure out what that chord is I'll post on it. In the meantime, check out these groovey hasidic beats:
The interview
The music:
Update: This post has reminded me of an interesting Arab-Israeli rap group called Dam. They rap in Arabic and Hebrew and integrate traditional Palestinian music. I think Arabic is probably one of the best languages to rap in. Check out their website: http://www.dampalestine.com/main.html.
6 comments:
I've never seen it spelled "Shmoolik" before but I have seen "Shmulik" (שמוליק) which if I'm not mistaken is equivalent to שׁמואל Shmuel (= Samuel). You're probably best off asking someone who speaks modern Hebrew.
Thanks! I wonder what the "ik" bit means. Maybe it's related to kibbutznik. No wait, then it would be Shmulnik, and that would be dumb.
I understand that you're a bit of a rapper yourself. Could you recommend anything else along these lines? I.e. Jewish/Israeli.
There's an interesting Arab Israeli group called Dam (blood in Hebrew, something contradictory in Arabic) who rap in Hebrew and Arabic and integrate traditional Palestinian music: go here: http://www.dampalestine.com/main.html
Shmulik or Shmoolik, not matter how you spell it, is a nickname for Shmuel. The ik doesn't mean anything in particular. Israel has strange nicknames. A nicknamed for David, for example, is Doovid.
Thanks for the link!
Doovid! Now that is cool!
Phil,
Sorry, I'm not up on Israeli/Hebrew rap. The only thing that comes close from what I've listened to is Matisyahu who is an American Chassidic Jew, but I'd describe his sound as more akin to reggae than rap.
Thanks, I've briefly looked him up on Google and mainly got endless beatboxing and one reggae/jax mix. It's amazing how much text he manages to jam into one song. But then, being Orthodox, I guess they do that at prayer time every day!
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