Moshe Hecht Band

Last updated

Moshe Hecht Band
Origin Brooklyn, New York City
Genres Jewish rock
Indie folk
Reggae rock
Years active2010–present
LabelsAderet
Members Moshe Hecht
Schneur Menaker
Evgheni Goncear
Bryan Hershkowitz
Paul Alpert
Josh Henderson
Website moshehecht.com

The Moshe Hecht Band is an American Hasidic folk rock band based in Brooklyn, New York. Formed in 2010 by eponymous frontman Moshe Hecht, the band also consists of several local musicians and has toured throughout New York. In 2011, they released their debut album, Heart Is Alive.

Contents

History

In 2010, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Moshe Hecht gathered together several local musicians to form the Moshe Hecht Band. Since forming, the band has played at venues throughout New York such as the Knitting Factory and the Canal Room, [1] as well as events like the 2012 Celebrate Israel Parade [2] and a Shemspeed showcase at the CMJ Music Marathon. [3]

Their debut album, Heart Is Alive, was recorded in Seattle and New York City with producers Steven Ray Allen, Alon Cohen, and Jake Antelis, [4] [5] and was released through Aderet Music on October 18, 2011. [6]

Musical style

The Moshe Hecht Band's music is primarily derived from rock, folk, and reggae, as well as traditional Hasidic melodies. [4] Hecht himself has expressed his affinity for secular artists such as Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, and Bob Marley, [1] as well as Jewish musicians such as Shlomo Carlebach and Isaac Bitton. [5] Lyrically, Hecht's songwriting tends to be overtly religious, with Heart Is Alive mixing traditional Hebrew prayers with English lyrics about the life of the soul and man's relationship with God. [7] Despite this, he has stated that he feels his music to be universal: "Any person of faith will find power and inspiration in my music." [4]

Members

Discography

Albums
Singles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mordechai Ben David</span> American Hasidic Jewish singer (born 1951)

Mordechai Werdyger is an American Israeli Chasidic Jewish singer and songwriter who is popular in the Orthodox Jewish community. He is the son of cantor David Werdyger and uses the stage name Mordechai Ben David or its initials, MBD. He is known as the "King of Jewish Music" and has released over 40 albums while performing internationally. He headlined the HASC and Ohel charity concerts for years. On February 27, 2022, he was inducted with the inaugural class of the Jewish Music Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lipa Schmeltzer</span> Jewish singer, entertainer and composer

Lipa Schmeltzer is an American singer, entertainer, and composer. He is a headliner in Hasidic as well as modern Jewish communities worldwide and "the Lady Gaga of Hasidic music". As of 2022, Schmeltzer has released 18 solo albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matisyahu</span> American musician

Matthew Paul Miller, known by his stage name Matisyahu, is an American reggae singer, rapper, beatboxer, and alternative rock musician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Soul Rebels</span>

The Soul Rebels are an eight-piece New Orleans based brass ensemble that incorporate elements of soul, jazz, funk, hip-hop, rock and pop music within a contemporary brass band framework.

Shtar is an Israeli Jewish rap rock band based in Beit Shemesh. Formed in 2006 by American rapper Ori Murray and English guitarist/songwriter Brad Rubinstein, the band released their debut album, Infinity, in Israel in 2010 and in the United States through Shemspeed Records in 2012. They have received considerable media attention, much of it focused on the contrast between their traditional Jewish dress and modern-sounding music. A second recording, Boss EP, was released through the band's own Heatseat Records in December 2012. In 2015, they were announced as contestants on the Israeli reality singing show HaKokhav HaBa.

Moshiach Oi! is an American Hasidic hardcore punk band from Long Beach, New York. Formed in 2008 by lead singer Yishai Romanoff and guitarist Mike Wagner, they released their debut album, Better Get Ready (2009), on Shemspeed Records, followed in 2011 by This World is Nothing. They were prominently featured in the 2012 documentary Punk Jews.

<i>Infinity</i> (Shtar album) 2010 studio album by Shtar

Infinity is the debut studio album by Jewish hip hop band Shtar. Produced by then-drummer David Epstein, the album was originally released by the independent Shemesh Music label on May 2, 2010. After the band was signed to the larger indie label Shemspeed a year later, it was re-released by that label on March 5, 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yitzchak Meir Helfgot</span>

Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot is an Israeli-born Hasidic Orthodox Jewish cantor, known for his vocal dexterity and range. Like some operatic tenors he is capable of sustaining long passages in the difficult uppermost tessitura, while also possessing overt technical facility in executing ornate melismas.

Bulletproof Stockings was an American Hasidic alternative rock band based in Crown Heights, New York City. Formed in 2011 by lead singer Perl Wolfe and ex-Hopewell drummer Dalia Shusterman, the group independently released its debut EP, Down to the Top the following year. They were noted for their unique sound among Jewish music, as well as their adherence to the prohibition of kol isha by performing for female-only audiences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dalia Shusterman</span> Canadian-American musician

Dalia Garih Shusterman is a Canadian-American musician, best known as the drummer and backing vocalist for the bands Hopewell, Bulletproof Stockings, and the New Moon All Stars Party Band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moshe Hecht</span> Musical artist

Moshe Hecht is an American Hasidic singer-songwriter and rabbi, best known as the eponymous lead singer of the folk rock group Moshe Hecht Band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Lighthouse and the Whaler</span> American indie rock band

The Lighthouse and the Whaler is an American band from Cleveland, Ohio. Originally a folk rock trio, they eventually became a rock quartet. The group's second album, This is an Adventure, was produced by Ryan Hadlock and independently released in 2012 and received critical praise for its genre-bending melodic folk.

Chabad hipsters are the cross-acculturated members of the Chabad Hasidic community and contemporary hipster subculture. Beginning from the late 2000s through the 2010s, a minor trend of cross acculturation of Chabad Hasidism and hipster subculture appeared within the New York Jewish community. The first printed reference to this trend was the 2007 New York Press cover story, "Hipster Hassids" by Alyssa Pinsker. Later, according to The Jewish Daily Forward, a significant number of members of the Chabad Hasidic community, mostly residing in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, appear to now have adopted various cultural affinities of the local hipster subculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benny Friedman (singer)</span> Chabad Orthodox Jewish singer (born 1984)

Benzion Hakohen "Benny" Friedman is an American Hasidic Jewish singer and a non-pulpit rabbi. Professionally trained in voice, he rose to prominence on the Orthodox pop scene with his first album in 2009. Singing mainly in Hebrew, Friedman tours extensively and also appears in music videos. He views his music as a shlichus (outreach) tool, with the goal of drawing Jews closer to Judaism.

The Diaspora Yeshiva Band was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish rock band founded at the Diaspora Yeshiva on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, by baal teshuva students from the United States. In existence from 1975 to 1983, the band infused rock and bluegrass music with Jewish lyrics, creating a style of music it called "Hasidic rock" or "Country and Eastern". The band was very popular on college campuses in the early to mid-1980s, and was well known in Jerusalem for its Saturday-night concerts at David's Tomb. It had a considerable influence on contemporary Jewish religious music, inspiring later bands such as Blue Fringe, 8th Day, Reva L'Sheva, Soulfarm, the Moshav Band, and Shlock Rock. Fifteen years after it disbanded, band leader Avraham Rosenblum revived the band under the name Avraham Rosenblum & Diaspora and produced several more albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yosef Karduner</span> Israeli Hasidic singer and songwriter

Yosef Karduner is an Israeli Hasidic singer, songwriter, and composer. His biggest hit, Shir LaMaalot, appeared on his debut album, Road Marks (2000).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zusha (band)</span> American Hasidic folk/soul band

Zusha is an American Hasidic folk/soul band from Manhattan, New York. They formed in 2013 with lead singer Shlomo Gaisin and guitarist Zachariah Goldschmiedt. The band, named after Zusha of Hanipol, combines traditional Hasidic niggunim with secular styles like jazz, folk, and reggae. Their self-titled debut EP, released on October 28, 2014, reached No. 9 on Billboard's World Albums chart, while their debut full-length album, Kavana (2016), reached No. 2.

Jewish rock is a form of contemporary Jewish religious music that is influenced by various forms of secular rock music. Pioneered by contemporary folk artists like Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and the Diaspora Yeshiva Band, the genre gained popularity in the 1990s and 2000s with bands like Soulfarm, Blue Fringe, and Moshav Band that appealed to teens and college students, while artists like Matisyahu enjoyed mainstream crossover success.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jews in punk rock</span> Overview of the relationship between Jews and punk rock

There exists a long-standing and well-documented relationship between Jews and punk rock. This includes multiple prominent Jewish musicians, promoters, and label executives who were involved in the development of punk in the 1970s and 1980s, the continued presence of prominent Jewish artists and personalities in the genre in the modern era, a small but noteworthy punk rock scene in Israel, and a more recent loose proto-scene of explicitly Jewish-themed punk bands and artists.

Shaindel Antelis is an American Orthodox Jewish singer-songwriter and actress. She has released four studio albums and has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Israel.

References

  1. 1 2 Prafder, Erika (2012). "Soul Music". New York Post . Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2013. (As archived on the band's website.)
  2. JV Staff (May 2012). "Thousands Scheduled to Line Fifth Avenue at 2012 Celebrate Israel Parade". The Jewish Voice. Archived from the original on October 1, 2015. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  3. Keisler, Max Elstein (October 2012). "Monday Music: Orthodox Hipster Hip-Hop at CMJ". The Forward . Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 Bruck, Shmuel (July 2011). "Diverse and Eclectic Moshe Hecht Releases Single". Algemeiner Journal . Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  5. 1 2 "Interview: Talking Music with Moshe Hecht". CrownHeights.info. November 9, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
  6. "Heart Is Alive". Amazon. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  7. Keisler, Max Elstein (November 2011). "Monday Music: Moshe Hecht's Spiritual Pop". The Forward . Retrieved March 31, 2013.