Joshua Dolgin (born December 28, 1976), better known by his stage name Socalled, is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

rapper and record producer, known for his eclectic mix of hip hop, klezmer, and other styles such as

drum & bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-b ...

and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

. A

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and accordion player, he has taught the latter at Klezfest London, where he has also run workshops in "hiphopkele". He has played with

clarinetist This article lists notable musicians who have played the clarinet. Classical clarinetists * Laver Bariu * Ernest Ačkun * Luís Afonso * Cristiano Alves * Michel Arrignon * Dimitri Ashkenazy * Kinan Azmeh * Alexander Bader * Carl Baerma ...

David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness!, and has also worked with artists such as rappers

C-Rayz Walz Waleed Shabazz (born August 3, 1975), better known by his stage name C-Rayz Walz, is an American rapper from the Bronx, New York. He has been a member of the collective Stronghold. Early life Waleed Shabazz was born and raised in the Bronx, New ...

Chilly Gonzales Jason Charles Beck (born 20 March 1972), professionally known as Chilly Gonzales, is a Canadian musician, songwriter, and producer. Currently based in Cologne, Germany, he previously lived for several years in Paris. Gonzales is a musical polymat ...

, funk trombonist

Fred Wesley Fred Wesley (born July 4, 1943) is an American trombonist who worked with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s and Parliament-Funkadelic in the second half of the 1970s. Biography Wesley was born the son of a high school teacher and big band lead ...

, and Sophie Solomon. Dolgin has Ukrainian, Romanian and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

roots.

Life and career

Dolgin's Socalled collective and guests celebrated the Jewish Festival of Lights with the seasonal concert "Hip Hop

Hanukkah or English translation: 'Establishing' or 'Dedication' (of the Temple in Jerusalem) , nickname = , observedby = Jews , begins = 25 Kislev , ends = 2 Tevet or 3 Tevet , celebrations = Lighting candles each night. ...

" in 2007. He is the subject of ''The "Socalled" Movie'', a documentary released in 2010 by Garry Beitel for the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

, which also features Krakauer and Wesley. The documentary includes footage of the first "Klezmer Cruise", in which a boatload of klezmer fans sailed down the

Dnieper River } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine an ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. In 2013, his remix of

Moe Koffman Morris "Moe" Koffman, OC (28 December 1928 – 28 March 2001) was a Canadian jazz saxophonist and flautist, as well as composer and arranger. During a career spanning from the 1950s to the 2000s, Koffman was one of Canada's most prolific musician ...

's "Curried Soul" became the new theme music for

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of C ...

's ''

As It Happens ''As It Happens'' is a Canadian interview show that airs on CBC Radio One in Canada and various public radio stations in the United States through Public Radio Exchange. Its 50th anniversary was celebrated on-air on November 16, 2018. It has bee ...

''. His 2011 recording "Work With What You Got" was co-written by and features vocals by calypso legend The Mighty Sparrow."Work With What You Got" (official video)
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Discography

Albums

* ''HiphopKhasene'' (with Solomon) (2003) * ''Consensus: Live in Concert'' (with Beyond the Pale) (2005) * ''The So Called Seder: A Hip Hop Haggadah'' (2005) * ''Ghettoblaster'' (2007) * ''SleepOver'' (2011) * ''The Season'' (A musical presented during the

Pop Montreal POP Montreal is an annual music festival occurring in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the early fall, usually at the end of September or the beginning of October. More than 400 bands are scheduled to play in more than 50 venues across the city, most ...

festival with Yves Lambert, Katie Moore, Rich Ly, Josh Goldman, Yassin "The Narcicyst" and Josh Dolgin) (2013) * ''Peoplewatching'' (2015) * ''Isaac Babel's Tales From Odessa: A Socalled Yiddish Musical'' (2017) * ''Di Frosh'' (with Kaiser Quartett) (2018) * ''The 2nd Season'' (2019)

Singles

*"(These Are The) Good Old Days" (2007) *"You Are Never Alone" (2007) *"(Rock The) Belz" (2007)

Self

*''The Socalled Movie'' (2010)

References

External links

Socalled
official site
''The "Socalled" Movie''
at NFB.ca
Exclaim.ca September 2007 Interview with Socalled
{{DEFAULTSORT:Socalled 1976 births Living people Anglophone Quebec people Canadian hip hop record producers 21st-century Canadian rappers Canadian people of Romanian-Jewish descent Canadian people of Russian-Jewish descent Canadian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Canadian gay musicians Jewish Canadian musicians Jewish rappers Klezmer musicians LGBT Jews LGBT rappers Musicians from Montreal Musicians from Ottawa Jewish hip hop record producers Canadian male rappers Label Bleu artists