Zusha is an American

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

band from

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

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

. Formed in 2013, Zusha consists of lead vocalist Shlomo Gaisin and guitarist/vocalist Zachariah Goldschmiedt. Their music pairs traditional Hasidic ''nigunim'' (wordless vocal melodies) with elements of

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

, and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

. They have performed at venues including the

Bowery Ballroom The Bowery Ballroom is a New York City live music venue located at 6 Delancey Street in Manhattan's Bowery neighborhood. The venue has enjoyed a fabled reputation among musicians as well as audiences. In 2013, industry insiders polled by ''Roll ...

and the

Knitting Factory The Knitting Factory is a nightclub in New York City that features eclectic music and entertainment and is co-owned and co-operated by Knitting Factory Entertainment. After opening in 1987, various other locations were opened in the United Stat ...

. Their 2014 self-titled debut EP reached No. 9 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'''s

World Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart, while their debut album ''Kavana'' (2016) reached No. 2 on the same chart. Their song "Pashut" appeared in trailers for the 2017 film ''Menashe'', while another song, "Yoel's Nigun", was sampled by rapper

JID Destin Choice Route (born October 31, 1990), better known by his stage name JID (also stylized J.I.D), is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Atlanta, he signed with J. Cole's Dreamville Records, an imprint of Interscop ...

for his 2022 single " Dance Now".

History

Origins (2013–2014)

Zusha was formed in 2013 by Shlomo Gaisin, Elisha Mlotek, and Zachary Goldschmiedt. Gaisin had previously led the Jewish rock band JudaBlue, while Goldschmiedt had sung and produced for the electronic funk band Ch!nch!lla. He and Mlotek met at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

's Chabad house, and both were later introduced to Goldschmiedt through their mutual friend and first manager Dani Bronstein. They began rehearsing in friends' apartments, recording their sessions via

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

, until Bronstein and Rabbi Avram Mlotek encouraged them to share their music publicly.

''Zusha'' EP (2014–2016)

Zusha's self-titled debut EP was recorded and produced by Mason Jar Music and released on October 28, 2014, two days after the band's first show at the

Mercury Lounge The Mercury Lounge is a live music venue on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Like its brother venue The Bowery Ballroom, The Mercury Lounge is celebrated as an iconic indie venue due to its acoustics, its fostering and even la ...

with Levi Robin. The EP subsequently reached No. 9 on ''

'''s

chart. In December, they performed at the

and opened for

Soulfarm Soulfarm (formerly known as Inasense) is an American Jewish rock band based in New York City. They were founded in 1991 by C Lanzbom and Noah Solomon.

at the

Highline Ballroom The Highline Ballroom was a music venue and nightclub located at 431 West 16th Street in the neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Description Primarily featuring musical acts, its capacity was approximately 700 people hosting divers ...

. The EP features cover art by Hasidic

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

artist Chezi Gerin. In 2015, they gave a

Purim Purim (; , ) is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jews, Jewish people from Genocide, annihilation at the hands of an official of the Achaemenid Empire named Haman, as it is recounted in the Book of Esther (u ...

concert with

G-Nome Project G-Nome Project is an American-Israeli livetronica group formed in Jerusalem in 2012. History The band was formed in November 2012 in Jerusalem. Guitarist Yakir Hyman and bassist Zechariah Reich grew up together in Teaneck, New Jersey, and played ...

at the

which featured a surprise guest appearance by

Matisyahu Matthew Paul Miller (born June 30, 1979), known by his stage name Matisyahu (; ), is an American singer, rapper, beatboxer, and musician. Known for blending spiritual themes with reggae, rock and hip hop beatboxing sounds, Matisyahu's 2005 sin ...

. They played a

Havdalah Havdalah (, ) is a Judaism, Jewish religious ceremony that marks the symbolic end of Shabbat and ushers in the new week. The ritual involves lighting a special candle with several wicks, blessing a cup of wine, and smelling sweet spices (). Shab ...

concert at the

Atlanta Jewish Academy Atlanta Jewish Academy was created by the merger of Greenfield Hebrew Academy and Yeshiva Atlanta on July 1, 2014. The school is the first Infant through 12th grade Jewish day school in Greater Atlanta. It previously had two campuses, the lowe ...

during the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival and also performed at the Kulturfest Yiddish Soul concert at

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

's Rumsey Playfield, alongside Hasidic pop stars

Avraham Fried Avraham Shabsi Hakohen Friedman (; born March 22, 1959) better known by his stage name, Avraham Fried, is an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish American singer. Career Fried was encouraged towards a music career by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneers ...

and

Lipa Schmeltzer Lipa Schmeltzer (, ; born March 17, 1978) is an American singer, entertainer, and composer. He is a headliner in Hasidic as well as modern Jewish communities worldwide. He has released 19 solo albums. Family background Born March 17, 1978, Sch ...

, cantors

Joseph Malovany Joseph Malovany (; born in 1941 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli-born American tenor soloist. A world-famous cantor, serving as Hazzan of New York's Fifth Avenue Synagogue since 1973, and a Distinguished Professor of Liturgical Music at Philip and Sar ...

and

Yaakov Lemmer Yaakov ("Yanky") Lemmer (born November 6, 1983) is an American Chazzan (Jewish cantor) and performing artist. Lemmer performs traditional Hebrew liturgy, Yiddish folk, opera, Broadway, Israeli, and Hasidic music. Lemmer currently serves as Head ...

, and klezmer trumpeter

Frank London Frank London (born 1958 in New York) is an American klezmer trumpeter who also plays jazz and world music. Early life London was born to a Reform Jewish family and grew up in Plainview, New York and Connecticut. He started playing the trumpet i ...

. In May, they played at the

Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center The Edlavitch Jewish Community Center of Washington, D.C. (formerly the Washington DCJCC) is an American Jewish Community Center located in the historic district of Dupont Circle. It serves the Washington, D.C. area through religious, cultural, e ...

as part of the Washington Jewish Music Festival.

''Kavana'' and ''A Colorful World'' (2016–2019)

The band's first full-length album, ''Kavana'', was released on January 5, 2016, and subsequently reached No. 2 on ''Billboard'''s World Albums chart. A music video directed by Joe Baughman was filmed for the song "Mashiach" and the album's song "Pashut" was featured in the trailer for the 2017 film '' Menashe'', which premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. ''A Colorful World'', Zusha's second full album, was released on September 4, 2017. That same year, Elisha Mlotek left the group to pursue

filmmaking Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

''When the Sea Split'' and ''Open the Gates'' (2019–present)

Zusha's third full album, ''When the Sea Split'', released on September 1, 2019. In 2020, the now-duo were featured on the singles "Anim Zemirot" by The Portnoy Brothers and "Karvah" by Eitan Katz, and in December they released ''Likavod Shabbos'', a collaborative EP with singer

Beri Weber Shmiel Ber Weber, stage name Beri Weber (), is an American contemporary Jewish religious singer, songwriter, and educator. He has been described as "the heir to Mordechai Ben David". Early life Shmiel Ber Weber was born in 1984 and grew up in a ...

. Amid a string of singles, Zusha released the EP ''Cave of Healing'' on March 14, 2021. The following year, a fourth studio album, ''Open the Gates'', was released on January 17, 2022, featuring collaborations with Eitan Katz,

Ishay Ribo Ishay Ribo (; born February 3, 1989) is an Israeli singer-songwriter. A Sephardic Orthodox Jew, he has gained popularity in Israel among Haredi, national-religious, and secular Jewish audiences. He has released five studio albums, two of which h ...

, and Eviatar Banai. Later in the year, rapper

's single " Dance Now", from his third album ''

The Forever Story ''The Forever Story'' is the third studio album by American rapper JID. It was released on August 26, 2022, through Dreamville Records, Dreamville and Interscope Records. Recorded over a two-year period, the album features introspective lyricism ...

'', used a

sample Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

of "Yoel's Niggun" from Zusha's debut EP. The sample was the idea of teenage producer Aviad Poznansky, who had heard the original song from a counselor at

Camp Yavneh Camp Yavneh () is a 65-acre residential Jewish summer camp in Northwood, New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont ...

, and Gaisin, Goldschmiedt, and Mlotek are credited as writers on the JID song.

Musical style

Zusha's music combines the wordless vocals and improvised nature of traditional Hasidic ''

nigun A nigun (, 'tune' or 'melody'; pl. nigunim) or niggun (pl. niggunim) is a form of Ashkenazi Jewish vocal music sung in group settings. ''Nigunim'' are melodic tunes, often using repetitive non-lexical vocables such as "bim-bim-bam", "lai-lai- ...

im'' with elements of

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

, and EDM. Reviewing a 2014 concert for ''Tablet'', Hillel Broder noted the band's jazz-influenced

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

and use of reggae and

surf rock Surf music (also known as surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is inst ...

rhythms. The ''St. Louis Jewish Light'' quoted a description of their 2016 album ''Kavana'' as "

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Vernon had originally formed Bon Iver as a solo project, but it eventually became a band consisting of Vernon (vocals, guit ...

and

Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released ten solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomina ...

meet the Crosby, Stills and Nash of Hasidic music". The band themselves have cited influences including

Shlomo Carlebach Shlomo Carlebach (; January 14, 1925 – October 20, 1994), known as Reb Shlomo to his followers, was an American rabbi and musician nicknamed "the Singing Rabbi". Although his roots lay in traditional Orthodox yeshivot, he branched out to c ...

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

, early

Damian Marley Damian Robert Nesta “Jr. Gong” Marley (born 21 July 1978) is a Jamaican reggae musician. The second youngest child of Bob Marley, he is the recipient of four Grammy Awards. Early life, education and family Marley is the youngest son of leg ...

Shlomo Katz Shlomo Katz () is a contemporary religious Jewish singer in Israel. Biography Shlomo Katz was born in New Jersey, the son of Cantor Avsholom Katz.Yosi Piamenta Yosi Piamenta (; 29 November 1951 – 23 August 2015) was an Orthodox Jewish singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for introducing the electric guitar to Jewish music. Piamenta played rock and roll tunes, often infused with heavy rock licks an ...

. In an interview for their 2019 album ''When the Sea Split'', Gaisin noted that they had shifted from wordless ''nigunim'' towards more lyrical songs. Speaking to ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'' in 2014,

Jon Stratton Jon Stratton is an Australian academic and scholar in the field of cultural studies, media studies and popular music studies. He has sole authored 14 books, co-edited four collections, co-edited three journal special issues and written over 80 ...

, a

Curtin University Curtin University (previously Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology) is an Australian public university, public research university based in Bentley, Western Australia, Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. ...

professor and scholar of Jewish-American music, described the band as "part of a new Jewish tradition that affirms Jewish and especially Judaic life in the

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...

while utilizing elements of the local, here American, musical tradition".

Hasidic influence

The band is often associated with

Hasidic Judaism Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a Spirituality, spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most ...

and attribute much of their inspiration to the texts of the

Baal Shem Tov Israel ben Eliezer (According to a forged document from the "Kherson Geniza", accepted only by Chabad, he was born in October 1698. Some Hasidic traditions place his birth as early as 1690, while Simon Dubnow and other modern scholars argue f ...

and his students' teachings. Early in their career, the band were frequently associated with

Neo-Hasidism Neo-Hasidism, also Neochassidut or Neo-Chassidus, is an approach to Judaism in which aspects of Hasidic Judaism are incorporated into non-Hasidic religious Jewish practice. Over the 20th century, neo-Hasidism was popularized by the works of write ...

and the Hasidic hipster movement; the band has rejected both labels, arguing their music was a return to the origins of Hasidism rather than a new interpretation. They have also shied away from being labeled as a Jewish band or religious music, hoping instead to appeal to a more universal audience.

Members

Current

* Shlomo Gaisin –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

(2013–present) *Zachariah Goldschmiedt –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, producer, vocals (2013–present)

Touring

* Chemy Soibelman – drums (2018–present)

Former

*Elisha Mlotek –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, vocals (2013–2017)

Discography

*''Kavana'' (2016) *''A Colorful World'' (2017) *''When the Sea Split'' (2019) *''Open the Gates'' (2022)

References

External links

* {{authority control American soul musical groups Folk musicians from New York (state) Hasidic Judaism in New York City Hasidic music Jewish folk rock groups Jewish jazz musicians Jewish musical groups Jewish American musicians