Monday's mp3: The Jewish Exodus, in Dub

As a person of faith, I respect and admire the traditions of most other faith traditions. And you know I love sacred music from pretty much all over. And I forgot to wish you a happy new year (happy 5770!) recently and while I don't know my Simhat Tora from my Shavout, I'm totally down with the music of David Gould. Actually, his new album revolves around one of the better-known Jewish holidays, Passover. You know, back when Yahweh sent ten plagues to smite the Egyptians, and the Jews were given a special mark to put above their doors, so that the plagues would, yes, pass over their families.

One thing the Hebrews were lacking at that time, though, was good reggae. And that's where David Gould comes in. An alumnus with John Brown's Body, Gould knows his reggae as well as his spiritual history. He first put the combination together in 2001 on his debut album Adonai and I (remixed as Adonai in Dub). Now he's back with 12 original pieces that on the surface sound like great, fresh reggae & dub tracks. Listen closer and you can hear snippets of the trek of the Hebrews, as well as some klezmer/Jewish melodic bits. All along with classic, righteous reggae beats. Perhaps nowhere is this combination more evident and interwoven than on "Next Year in Jerusalem."

[mp3] David Gould: Next Year in Jerusalem
from the album Feast of the Passover

Gould isn't the first or only one performing Jewish reggae, of course. Matisyahu, Klezska, King Django, Ron Wiseman, and others have contributed to this ... well, let's be honest ... micro-genre. Gould's reggae chops set him apart, and Feast will feed "secular" reggae fans just as it will adventurous Jews. Highly recommended.

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