Seriously. If you have not heard of this guy, here are some links:
First of all, one of his older videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9Kf4esMvdE
And then one in-between: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRmBChQjZPs
Then, off of his latest album (and my personal favorite song): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_Vt4MlbM0c
Sorry for all the links, but instead of recounting his entire life story in my own words, here’s a link to his Wikipedia bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matisyahu
This guy is seriously amazing. You may notice, or read, about the beard shave. Now, when this happened, I was shocked, too. I was afraid my very own Matthew Paul Miller had sold out. But then I watched an interview with him talking about the beard shave, and read some stuff. He said that he felt like ‘if he didn’t have all the rules (of Hasidic Judeaism), he would fall apart’. And the beard was supposed to be a symbol of God’s mercy. But he figured that, if God was really merciful, he wouldn’t care about a beard. So he shaved it.
And when he appeared in the Sunshine video with no beard and bleached-blond hair, people freaked out. But I personally thought he looked absolutely amazing. This guy is seriously cool. My favorite thing about him? His substance.
You may have noticed that a lot of popular music nowadays has an incessant lack of meaning. It is absolutely sickening to me. I mean, you may like it, and I won’t judge you. You can listen to it all you want. But I like me my Matisyahu.
Another incredible quality to his music is the way it calms me down. It doesn’t matter how bad of a day I’m having, how spiritually upset I am, one song, usually Sunshine, instantly m akes me feel SO much better.
I was first introduced to him when me and my family went to a concert of his. It was part of the ‘Youth’ tour, when that CD came out. We got Youth at the concert, and for the following months, that was ALL we listened to. I got really, really, really tired of it, ‘Jerusalem’ especially.
But a couple years later, I started listening to him again. And I discovered that he is really, really amazing. His music keeps getting better and better. My (awesome) parents got me ‘Spark Seeker’, his latest album, for Christmas/Hanukkah, and it is my favorite so far.
Now, keep in mind that even the oldest video I posted a link for is not THE oldest. Here’s a song off of his very first album, ‘Shake Off The Dust…Arise’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc46EXMd0kg
You may notice that that’s really, really reggae. Which reminds me:
http://www.cafepress.com/+i_love_heart_hasidic_reggae_large_mug,50373835
Do we not all need one of these?
But at any rate, this guy is the best. And guess what is the best of the best? Matisyahu will be in Missoula, MT in August and…drumroll, please…I GOT TICKETS!!! You probaboy don’t care, but I needed to tell someone about that.
And, whoever is reading this (probably nobody), listen to the songs and let me know what you think. Because I really do care.
Erithil, the One Moon 