Klezmer music, which is generally associated with old-world Eastern-European Judaism and Yiddish culture, manifests itself as a revived repertory in the work of DJ Sophie Solomon and DJ SoCalled (Josh Dolgin). By creating a fusion of klezmer with hip-hop performance and production techniques (including sampling), the duo constructs a contemporary “Hip Hop Khasene,” or hip-hop wedding, musically reenacting one of the ritual components of the wedding on each track of their 2003 album HipHopKhasene. In doing so, Solomon and SoCalled question concepts of musical and cultural authenticity in the face of changing cultural worlds, and create a sonically constructed contemporary Yiddish identity.

Works: Solomon and SoCalled: HipHopKhasene.

Sources: Abe Schwartz: Sadugerer Chusidl (256).

Index Classifications: 2000s, Popular

Contributed by: Nathan Landes