stimulating, promoting and producing the next generation of Jewish Expression

Break the Fast with Beats and Funk of Socalled & Vertikal

Event Details

Time: October 10, 2011 from 8pm to 11pm
Location: Martyrs, Chicago IL
Street: 3855 N. Lincoln
City/Town: Chicago, IL
Event Type: music, concert, hip, hop, socalled, vertikal, sea1112
Organized By: KFAR Jewish Arts Center
Latest Activity: Oct 5, 2011

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Event Description

Armed with his Akai MPC, heritage and love for genre-bending music, Socalled, aka Josh Dolgin, is a Yiddish rapping, accordion wielding hip-hop maestro. Heralded by Klezmer and hip hop musicians alike, he builds Jewish music from the bottom-up. Previous albums Hiphopkhasene (Piranha), Socalled Seder (2005, JDUB), Ghettoblaster (2007, JDUB ) and now Sleepover (2011, Dare to Care) reached into the past to mine an amalgamation of traditional and contemporary influences.

"Hip hop is all about representing who you are, your crew. I'm this little white Jewish dude living in the country. It doesn't make sense for me to rap about guns, cars, and hos. I'm not going to rap about hos. What should I make music about? I should try to represent who I am. When I began digging for samples, I found these old Jewish records, and they were a clue about this funky, old tradition that had been forgotten. Yiddish theater, Cantorial music...all kinds of weird sounds…and the records had the most amazing breaks! And I realized that I could make my hip hop - my music from them." -SoCalled

His list of collaborators knows no generational, social, cultural or religious boundaries, having played with, featured, produced, recorded and arranged for Chilly Gonzales, Fred Wesley, Boban Markovic, David Krakauer, Mighty Sparrow, Roxanne Shante, Irving Fields, Killah Priest, Matisyahu, Theodore Bikel, Katie Moore, Enrico Macias and Derrick Carter…

Vertikal is a 9-piece group bridging the gap between hip-hop and jazz, drawing influence from funk, soul, latin, rock, and blues. Their live shows are dynamic, fusing soulful female vocals and hip-hop lyricism with DJ tracks, horn hits, and a grooving rhythm section. Expect to hear anything from rocksteady reggae rhythms and soothing, socially-conscious vocal ballads to funky deep house grooves--and everything in between.

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