Religious reggae and beyond

By Walter J. Lyng

While Matisyahu may have been appreciated initially as a novelty act, the fact that the Hasidic reggae star is now on his third album, Light, should dispel any doubts about his musical legitimacy. For those who have already heard his most recent album, however, it may come as a bit of a surprise that the 30-year-old, born Matthew Paul Miller, has begun to distance himself from the genre that made him famous. 

“This is an evolution,” he says. “This record incorporates, even more so than in the past, different genres. It still has certain elements of reggae to it but a lot less than previous records.”

A former self-professed Deadhead who was devoted to following the band Phish on tour, Matisyahu adopted Orthodox Judaism in 2001, having been raised as a Reconstructionist Jew. After releasing albums in 2004 and 2006, he rose to prominence when his single King Without a Crown became a surprise hit on the Billboard charts. Claiming Bob Marley as an early influence, he says he has since adopted a broader range of influences leading up to his current, more eclectic sound.

“The years leading up to this record, I started to hear certain singers in rock music and all different styles and so I started to hear how I could fit myself into that or how that would feel good for me or natural for me,” he says.

Matisyahu has also taken to a more diversified wardrobe than his previous trademark Hasidic garb.

“This is just a change in my style,” he says. “When those first records came out, I had recently become religious and I was very much into dressing in that style. Over the course of the last few years, I started to dress more casually and developed more of my own unique style with my clothing and my music as well.”

While he has toured primarily in the U.S. and Canada, Matisyahu has ventured to Israel several times where he experienced at least one major career highlight.

“Sting had a show in the soccer stadium in Israel and I performed Roxanne with him in front of about 30,000 Israelis, which was one of the moments of my career that I always remember,” he says.

Accustomed to a multi-ethnic and multi-religious audience, he was surprised nevertheless at a recent concert by two audience members he spotted.

“I looked down into the audience and saw two Muslim women with head coverings and everything and that was a pretty powerful moment for me. You don’t hear too much about peaceful, religious Muslims. It’s not something we hear about in society.

To see that Muslims could appreciate Judaism is very far from my consciousness at least. To see that they would even come to my show and be into my music was a unique and kind of very beautiful experience.”

Matisyahu will perform at the Olympia theatre on Sunday, Nov. 29. Tickets are available through Admission.