When I purchased my tickets to see Matisyahu play in Sayreville, NJ (on February 13th), I had no idea of this story. All I knew of him was that the guy was a superb beatbox, who occasionally gigged with Kenny Muhamed, and I was curious to see and hear more. After a fun opening act, Matisyahu took the stage, and though the crowd cheered, you could feel a new and different vibe. Matisyahu’s set was flanked with lessons to be learned, both within his lyrics (which require you to either know Hebrew, or know how to google up English translations later), and also through talking with the audience, and helping them to understand his messages of peace and love.
In short, you cannot come away from a Matisyahu show without a great amount of respect for the man, some food for thought, and at least $30 in Matisyahu CDs and other paraphernalia.
So how does all of this enter into the realm of a cappella? Well, eyes up to the first set of fragmented sentences, cowboys and girls. First off, the man does a mean beat-box. His technique is down, but he barely even breaks a sweat while churning out some amazing beats and keeping his eyes steady on the audience. It is very rare for one to see someone with a solid technique as well as a commanding stage presence. Truly a sight to behold.
Point two; for anybody who is into the technology aspect of a cappella, you know what the art of looping is (and if you don’t, shame on you). If you want to talk about a pure, natural, and very successful application of this kind of technology, look to Mr. Yahu here. At first, I honestly couldn’t tell he was even using it, until my show date pointed it out to me. Very subtle, natural, and easy.
Lastly, though his set itself was performed with a 3-piece band, there were a cappella break-downs, and a great deal of his music could be adapted into an arrangement for any daring a cappella group looking to put something new, different and interesting into their repertoire. And though he draws his musical influences from people like Bob Marley and Shlomo Carlebach, there were melodic patterns that were reminiscent of rock and roll, and R&B. Or, as the guy near me put it, “Hey, isn’t that from a Police song?” There was literally something for everyone to hone into and connect with.
I would be curious to see if the man works himself into the delicate song-covering art that we all know and love (in a cappella), now that he’s gone mainstream. To me, infusing this kind of powerful music, from someone truly inspirational, would fall very heavily into the “Upgrade” column for a cappella.
[Editor's Note: Before becoming signed, Matisyahu appeared at CASA's 2003 East Coast A cappella Summit with Adam Matta performing a full set of beatboxing and singing, completely a cappella.]
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