An Act of Faith
By Kurt Bruder
vervegirl: You’ve seemed to have gone in one direction in terms of your spiritual path and another direction as a reggae and hip hop musician. What is a good fit between the music you sing and the Hasidic Judaism you practice?
Matisyahu: It wasn’t a preconceived thing. I think that in the times that we live in, people are exposed to so many different cultures, religions, music, art and so many different types of things. It was just the nature of the way my life has turned out. I was growing up listening mostly to reggae music and then right after that phase, I became religious and im-mersed in the lifestyle of the Hasidic culture. I was separated from the reggae culture, but then at a certain point I began feeling that I still wanted to express myself in music. I just take the concepts and the ideas and the philosophy that I’ve been learning for the past few years and use that as fuel in my songs.
vervegirl: You touch on the fact that it’s pos-sible today for people to learn about so many different cultures and so on. We’re living in an age when everything is cross-pollinating with everything else. Stuff that our parents would’ve thought would have to be kept separate are now blending. How is this affecting today’s gener-ation of teens?
Matisyahu: The whole concept of space and time is completely different than it was 100 years ago or even 50 years ago. The amount of people that can be reached and the amount of things that can be done in a short period of time is much greater.
vervegirl: You’re finding your depth on a particular path. But from listening to your music I wouldn’t say that you believe that it’s the only true path. Can you comment on that?
Matisyahu: First of all, there’s truth everywhere and there’s falseness everywhere. Even paths that are set up—most people that set up these paths were extraordinary people who were able to follow in a very truthful way and get very deep and gain a lot. For the majority of people, they don’t have the time, patience or ability to really get it. I try not to box myself in. People are always changing, and that’s really what I feel is my bottom line. To be open as much as possible.
vervegirl: You made a pretty strong distinction between sharing your faith and preaching your faith. How does that sort out for you? What’s the distinction?
Matisyahu: I don’t know what the actual definition of preaching is. In my understanding, it’s the idea of telling someone to do exactly what I say. Like, me saying that “I have my truth and now I’m going to give it to you. And if you know what’s good for you…or I’m going to convince you of something.” And that’s not something that sits right with me—as opposed to just put-ting yourself out there and letting the audience take what they can get.
vervegirl: How have things changed for you now that you’re experiencing some success and some celebrity?
Matisyahu: I’m a lot busier than I ever was. And I’m enjoying it so far. I enjoy performing, I enjoy the process of writing and creating and interacting with different people.
vervegirl: In the song “The Warrior,” you say that human beings need to take the darkness of this life and make it light. How does somebody, of any age, do that?
Matisyahu: It starts in your personal perception of the world and your personal perception of darkness. What a person feels like. Y’know, if you see the world as just chaos with bad things happening, then it’s gonna be very hard. Every-thing comes from God, everything has one source, so even the darkness and the negativity in this world has a purpose. The key is finding out what the purpose of that bad thing that’s happened. When someone asks that question and they expose that bad thing for what it truly is, they expose that negative thing then it’s not really negative anymore.
photography: courtesy of sony/BMG
