Darshan is an American Jewish alternative hip hop group from

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Formed in 2008 at the

Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center is a project of Hazon that sits on 400 acres of forest and meadows in the foothills of the southern Berkshires in Litchfield County, Connecticut. Isabella Freedman hosts organizational retreats, Jewish spiri ...

, the group primarily consists of rapper

Eprhyme Eden Daniel Pearlstein (born February 19, 1980), better known by his stage name Eprhyme (pronounced "E-Prime"), is an American Jewish rapper and producer based in Brooklyn, New York. While attending The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washi ...

and singer-songwriters

Shir Yaakov Sam Benjamin "Shir Yaakov" Feinstein-Feit is an American rabbi, composer, liturgist, singer-songwriter, and graphic designer. As a musician, he has recorded several albums both solo and with the groups Darshan and The Epichorus. In his spiritu ...

and

Basya Schechter Basya Schechter is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, cantor, and music teacher. She is the lead singer and founder of the world/folk rock band Pharaoh's Daughter and has released two solo albums. She has ...

. Its debut album, ''Deeper and Higher'', was released in 2015, followed by a second album, ''Raza'', in 2017.

History

The band's debut EP, ''Lishmah'', originally released by Shemspeed Records on December 15, 2009, was re-released on January 5, 2010. The EP was produced by

and

engineered Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

by Smoke M2D6 of

Oldominion Oldominion is an American hip hop collective, consisting of more than twenty members. It was described by Casey Jarman of ''Willamette Week'' as the "Northwest's largest hip-hop crew" which "united the local underground rap scene for the first ti ...

. The group's first full-length album, ''Deeper and Higher'', was released on September 29, 2015. It was produced by

Jamie Saft Jamie Saft is an American keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist and composer. He was born in New York City, and studied at Tufts University and the New England Conservatory of Music. Saft moved from Brooklyn to the Hudson Valley around 2007, and ...

and featured accompaniment by him,

Ben Perowsky Ben Perowsky (born May 12, 1966) is an American drummer, percussionist, composer, and music producer. He is the drummer on stage in the 8 TONY award winning Broadway musical Hadestown. Perowsky leads the Ben Perowsky Trio, Moodswing Orchestra and ...

, and

Pharaoh's Daughter Pharaoh's Daughter is an American Jewish world music band from New York City. Formed in 1995 by Basya Schechter, their music is a mix of American folk, Jewish klezmer, and Middle Eastern sounds. Schechter is currently a member of the alterna ...

Musical style

In addition to hip hop, Darshan's music also contains elements of

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk music, folk and rock music, rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the American fo ...

and the

minor key In Western music, the adjectives major and minor may describe a chord, scale, or key. As such, composition, movement, section, or phrase may be referred to by its key, including whether that key is major or minor. Intervals Some intervals may ...

melodies of traditional

Jewish music Jewish music is the music and melodies of the Jewish people. There exist both traditions of religious music, as sung at the synagogue and domestic prayers, and of secular music, such as klezmer. While some elements of Jewish music may originate ...

. Ezra Glinter of ''

The Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ...

'' notes that "Eprhyme's hard-driving lyrics are tempered and sweetened by Shir Yaakov’s more melody-driven sensibilities."

Discography

Albums

* ''Deeper and Higher'' (September 29, 2015; independent) * ''Raza'' (November 1, 2017; Chant Records)

Extended plays

* ''Lishmah'' (December 15, 2009; re-released January 5, 2010;

Shemspeed Erez Safar is an American DJ, producer and songwriter who records under the names Diwon and h2the. He is CEO of Bancs Media, an American production company specializing in music and video production; Studio Bancs, a creative art space; and She ...

)

Music videos

* "Know Return" (2015; ''Deeper and Higher''; dir. Ken Ross) * "Aleph Bass" (2015; non-album single; dir. Brian Savelson and Abbey Luck) * "Remember the Future" (2017; ''Deeper and Higher'') * "Hapax Legomenon" (2018; ''Raza''; dir. Timslew and Eden Pearlstein)

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://darshanproject.com
Official Facebook page
Jewish hip hop groups Alternative hip hop groups Musical groups established in 2008 Rappers from New York (state) Shemspeed Records artists