A Feb. 19 Arts article about the reggae singer Matisyahu incorrectly identified Aaron Dugan as the bass player/keyboardist and co-writer in Matisyahu's band. Josh Werner is the group's bass player and co-writer.
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Funny, He Doesn't Look Jamaican
Young man, control in your hand
Slam your fist on the table and make your demand
  Matisyahu has fused music and religion in a highly unorthodox -- er, make that orthodox -- way. (By Helayne Seidman For The Washington Post) Save & Share |
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Take a stand . . .
Got the freedom to choose
Better make the right move
-- "Youth"
For Matisyahu, God is to be found in the details. Literally. Each order, each mitzvah, is a way to connect with God, and as an Orthodox Jew following the strict Lubavitch Hasidic tradition, Matisyahu is all about connecting with the One on most high.
The physical and the spiritual are one. So if that means turning down a Friday night gig, so be it.
If that means not touring with Shakira on a stadium tour through Latin America because his rabbis say performing with a female singer is forbidden, so be it.
If that means subsisting on turkey sandwiches on tours because finding kosher restaurants in Finland or Jamaica is tough, then turkey sandwiches it is.
Matisyahu does this because, as he sees it, he has what he has because he's put God first.
"It's an amazing thing, a phenomenon, when a person is willing to give themselves over to something else," Matisyahu says softly, in a lilting voice that reflects both his White Plains roots and the accent of the rabbis he studies with. "That's what real passion is . . . and that passion comes through a divorce of self. . . . And the way to do that is to give yourself over to something greater."