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January 14, 2005/Tevet 4 5765, Vol. 57, No. 20
Israeli hip-hop band rocks U.S.
LOOLWA KHAZZOOM
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
I can't believe we're here!" Sha'anan Streett exclaimed, standing before a screaming, sold-out crowd in a large hall at George Washington University. "More importantly, I can't believe you're here!"
Streett - lead rapper for Hadag Nahash, a popular Israeli hip-hop group - and his bandmates were making their first appearance in the United States last October.
"They were floored by the energy of the concert," recalled Simon Amiel, executive director of George Washington's Hillel.
"We barely did any publicity for this," he said. "Tickets sold right away, by word of mouth. Selling out close to 600 tickets by word of mouth for an Israeli event is really incredible."
For Claudia Santangelo, 21, the Hadag Nahash concert wasn't just a rocking good time - though she did dance enthusiastically throughout the group's third U.S. performance, at a San Francisco night club. It also was a learning experience.
"I hadn't read widely enough about the issue between Israel and Palestine," she said. "It was important for me to come, because these guys are a voice that is pro-Israel."
The nexus between quality hip-hop and Jewish identity, community leaders across the country agree, has two main benefits: It reaches out to Jewish students who otherwise might not be interested in Israel, and it provides a bridge-building opportunity between Jewish youth and youth of other ethnic backgrounds.
After opening for Hadag Nahash at GWU, Juan Calvin Turner, a senior at Howard University and a hip-hop artist, stuck around for the Israelis' show.
"Hadag Nahash was really hot," he said. "I was impressed with them. Being a Jewish band, I didn't know what to expect.
"I was surprised. They really opened my eyes to Israeli hip hop."
Jason Benkendorf, officer for public and academic affairs at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, one of the many co-sponsors of Hadag Nahash's tour, said the embassy had reached out to Howard because "we thought this was an appropriate opportunity to build bridges with a traditionally black university in Washington."
"There is not usually a lot of interaction between Jewish students" at GWU "and students at other campuses. We are looking for these opportunities," he said.
Hadag Nahash's tour, Benkendorf adds, also has provided "a great opportunity to reach Jewish students who are uninterested in the political side of what's going on in Israel, or are interested but it's come to the point that enough is enough.
"Some of them," he added, "are hip hop fans, which has brought together their Jewish identity with their interest in music - which they have never really perceived as being connected to their Jewish identity."
During another sold-out show - at the Knitting Factory in New York - a long line extended down the block even after the nightclub was packed.
"I wasn't that surprised by the turnout," said Yossi Fein, the band's producer, who opened the evening with an electric bass solo. "They had such a good buzz that not only Israelis came to see it."
Numerous Israeli-Americans were in the New York audience, singing along with the band at full volume.
"The whole show was one big sing-a-long," Fein said.
Yaya Cohen Harounoff, bassist for the seven-member band, said the band's reception had been surprising.
"It's like that a lot of the time in Israel, but here they didn't even know the language, yet they had such great energy," Cohen Harounoff said.
Gabriel Salgado, youth director at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, Calif., incorporated Hadag Nahash's music into his curriculum because "my goal is to teach about Israeli reality - politics, culture, society - in a way that students will connect to and feel personal identification with," he explained. "Young Jews need to understand that Israel is theirs, and that they have a crucial stake and role in its fate. What better way than through top-quality Israeli music that articulates this reality?"
Seventh-grader Allison Blumenfeld was one of numerous children who responded as Salgado had hoped. Learning about the band, she said, was "a lot more fun because I really like music," adding, "I think it gave me insight into Israel.
"One of the songs says, 'Israel is the only place where I feel safe when someone is standing outside with a gun.' It made me realize how different Israel is from America," she said.
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