Matisyahu
Matisyahu (* June 30, 1979 in West Chester, Pennsylvania; actually Matthew Miller ) is a Reggae-/Hip-Hop-/Rock-Musiker.
Life
The son of Jewish parents was secular educated in the U.S. and found as a teenager after a stay in Israel his way to Hasidic Judaism. As a singer he is trying to create in the tradition of Shlomo Carlebach a synthesis of modern and traditional Judaism, by linking metaphors of classical Judaism with hip- hop and reggae and for the term " Hasidic reggae " coined. He is regarded as a phenomenon with the deal, the general public and the media to Time Magazine or the Wall Street Journal in the United States. In late November 2005, he made her first appearance in Germany.
Through his song King Without a Crown Matisyahu managed a breakthrough in Switzerland.
Family and private life
Matthew Miller was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, his family moved shortly after his birth to White Plains, New York. As a child, his parents sent him a few times to Jewish teaching, a kind of Sunday school, which he refused. Overall, however, he was not brought up religiously.
At 14, Miller began the life of hippies to live, wore dreadlocks and learned the beatboxing in the schoolyard. But soon he felt a great emptiness in his life. He decided to take a camping trip to Colorado. The scenery there impressed him so much that he started to believe in God and ultimately went in search of spirituality, to Israel. In Jerusalem, he began to build a deeper connection to God and his Jewish faith.
Back in White Plains, it was hard for Matisyahu to maintain his faith there. He left school and followed the band Phish on their tours. During this time he thought a lot about his life and his faith. When he returned home, his parents sent him for two years in a school in the wilderness, to bring him back order in his wild life. There Matisyahu took the opportunity to work on his musical abilities, especially in reggae and hip-hop.
Later Matisyahu attended the New York School, where he mitmachte among others in the theater. In the Carlebach Synagogue he learned finally know Hasidism and began thus to pray during breaks on school roofs.
However, it was an encounter with a rabbi of the Chabad movement, which eventually Matisyahu made from Matthew Miller. He became a follower of Chabad Hasidism and moved to Crown Heights.
Matisyahu studied in the Hadar Hatorah Yeshiva Torah. During this time he began to write on his first album and record it. Among his musical influences he counts Bob Marley, Phish, and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach.
2007 Matisyahu announced that he was looking for alternative ways of worship in the Hasidic movement. He currently has on the community of Pinsk - Karlin in Jerusalem particular interest. Matisyahu is married to Tahlia and together with her two sons. He lives with his family, who accompanied him on his tours, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. He also has a younger sister named Julie.
In December 2011, he presented himself clean-shaven on his facebook profile and announced that he will no longer be a Hasid. The picture was captioned: "No more Chassidic reggae superstar. " Now he wants to " reclaim himself " and announced " an amazing year filled with music of rebirth " to.
Career
During his teenage years Matisyahu joined under the alias MC Truth for MC Mystic 's Soulfari tape. Eventually, he began about 2000 to live religiously on their own initiative and began with the Jewish band Pey dalid occur. During this time, Matisyahu was a supporter of the Chabad movement. When he got the consent of a rabbi, he stepped back from 2003 as a musician, this time under the name Matisyahu on. Together he is touring with his band, which he sometimes still knows from high school.
Topics
In an interview with Chabad.org, Chabad -Lubavitch of the website, Matisyahu says: "All of my songs are influenced and inspired by the teachings that inspire me. I want my music to have a statement that it reaches the people and makes them think. Hasidism says that the music, spring of the soul ' is. The music touches us at a very low point and speaks to us in a way as it can not normal words. "
Language
Most of his songs are completely in English, some partially or completely in Hebrew ( as T'zama L' Chol Nafshi ) or Yiddish (Father in the Forest ).
Prices
Matisyahu got the Esky Award for Most Lovable Oddball ( the " lovable oddball " ) took place at the 2006 Esky Music Awards. The Esquire magazine called him the most intriguing reggae artist in the world. 2007, his album Youth was nominated for a Grammy.