The hottest show in Boston this weekend isn't Gavin Degraw or even Howie Day, it's Matisyahu, the self-proclaimed Hasidic reggae superstar.
This Saturday night (after the Sabbath ends of course), Matisyahu will collaborate with the Addison Groove Project, a sax-inflected jazz-funk band and winners of a 2004 Boston Music Award at the Paradise Rock Club.
Born Matthew Miller, Matisyahu is the newest blip on the cool meter of Jewish performers. The 24-year-old singer skillfully blends the sounds of Bob Marley-style reggae with traditional Jewish music.
While his rabbis would prefer that he stay in Brooklyn and study the Torah, Matisyahu chooses instead to play to sold-out crowds in bars and lounges across the country.
Believe it or not, Matisyahu isn't just a novelty act, although the image he radiates may suggest it. With his long beard swaying in sync with his robe and thin hips, and songs that set lyrics taken from a Jewish prayer book to reggae and hip-hop music, Matisyahu doesn't quite fit in with any scene.
Born a secular Jew, and somewhat of a teenage hippie, Miller was a rebel in high school and eventually dropped out to follow the band Phish on tour. Eventually, the singer's parents sent him to find himself at wilderness school in Oregon. In the woods, he learned to beat-box and discovered the history of reggae and hip-hop.
A couple of years later, after a chance meeting with a Hasidic rabbi in Washington Square Park in downtown New York, Matisyahu decided to actively pursue an Orthodox lifestyle, changing his name from Matthew to Matisyahu, after a biblical figure.
The title of his debut CD, "Shake off the Dust ... Arise" is taken from a song sung during Friday night services to welcome the Jewish Sabbath. While the source is unconventional, it befits Matisyahu's slightly eccentric persona.
The singer's unorthodox entrance into the music world with his debut CD drew enormous crowds to his performances in Boston, New York and Montreal. While Miller plays for the love of music, his unusual look and demeanor is no doubt a major pull for much of his audience.
Matisyahu often begins his shows in a full suit, with a traditional black hat over a yarmulke. As the show progresses and the crowd gets more into it, Miller slowly removes his Hasidic attire, making sure to take off his glasses relatively early on, as many of the females in the audience normally aren't dressed modestly enough according to his Hasidic philosophy.
Last summer, Miller broke out onto the New York scene at the Unity Sessions, a concert celebrating the coming together of Israeli and Arab musicians in Brooklyn.
While Matisyahu isn't Israeli or even Middle Eastern, he stole the show. His free-styling at the end of the concert with Muslim beat-boxer Kenny Mohammed was undoubtedly the highlight of the concert for the 3,000 attendees.
Not only was the music original and beautiful to listen to, the collaboration of a Hasidic Jew and a Muslim through music was truly inspiring.
But Matisyahu is all about combining opposites in his performance and life. After all, he's a singer who inspires his audiences to engage with his Hasidic- and Rastafarian-inspired reggae music spiritually and on a personal level.
