111110 bene r ood/ ISr(*) ca of f o 'Vers.? 1.1• Y'ou The restaurant of your dreams is now on 13 Mile at Orchard Lake Road! The CD contains 12 Passover-related hip-hop tracks. needs to use contemporary idiom to have it make sense to you. To make it resonate with you. You can make it an anarchist seder, right?" he said, clearly on a roll. "The seder is an amazing frame- work, an incredible order. It's like a canvas. Its very structure is very open. It deals with very important human issues like freedom and justice!' A McGill University graduate, Dolgin released his first Passover album, A_Hip-Hop Seder, three years ago and sold it from the trunk of his car. The new release features an addi- tional six cuts. Getting the most attention is "3rd Cup: Yahu," featuring the Chasidic reggae sensation Matisyahu singing a pretty traditional-sounding "Eliyahu HaNavi" — before it gets the beat-box treatment. Dolgin has spent five years becom- ing a professional musician, study- ing music, playing with a variety of groups, honing his own sound and adding to his music collection. He has appeared on a dozen recordings as a pianist, singer, accordionist, arranger, rapper, writer and producer. The musical artist has a creative and personal tension with tradi- tion, respecting and honoring it while - looking to change it. Its sort of like someone who tears down an old building and uses the material to build a new, more contemporary structure, with the old building blocks clearly identifiable. "I'm not religious at all. I've never been interested in religion," Dolgin said, though he respects it nonethe- less."Organized religion p me off. It is the cause of lots of strife. But without religion, without restrictions and groups, people don't develop culture!' This is where the Passover seder comes in. "I'm sort of critical of the religious ceremony a bit:' Dolgin admitted. "I'm not making fun of it, but trying to make sense of it to myself and to other assimilated and secular Jews." While certainly no traditionalist, he also is certain there is a lot of value in tradition. "There is an incredible history of Yiddish music that has been lost:' Dolgin lamented. "So much has been boiled away in the melting pot. Holocaust. Stalinism. Assimilation:' He seeks to reclaim and reuse "much of the tradition?' Friend Of Yiddish Dolgin explains his reverence for Yiddish music by telling about his friend, the Jewish actor and folksinger Theodore Bikel, whom Dolgin met at a Yiddish cultural festival a few years back. "When Bikel was asked why he sings Jewish songs, he said not because they are better than the songs of his neighbors:' Dolgin explained, "but because they're his. That's beau- tiful. I definitely identify with it?' ,A big fan of funk, Dolgin hasn't left behind influences like James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone. But he decided that instead of sampling them, "maybe I should be sampling my music. You've got to know where you've been. So I walked around with a mini-disc, recording things. "I learned about music: cantorial, klezmer, Yiddish, poetry and popular folksongs. A new generation is redis- covering this kind of music, and it's blowing their minds!' Dolgin's recent French tour was to promote the European debut of a brand-new album, Ghettoblasters, slated for release in the United States this fall. "It's international and intergenera- tional," said Dolgin, explaining that the CD includes Bikel and Krakauer among 40 artists recorded in 13 studios around the world, including those in Budapest, Montreal, New York and France. "It's where I am now," he said, explaining that the album includes a wide variety of styles, including rap, hip-hop, house, electronica, gospel, country and Yiddish. "I'm trying to bring together these worlds:' Dolgin said. "It's not just slapped together, not pastiche, which drives me crazy. It's not self- important, I hope. It's rockin' — not preaching. Who the hell am I to be preaching?" ❑ Open 7:30 a.m. Monday - Saturday Pasta, Pizza, & More for Lunch & Dinner. Dine In or Take Out! Great Coffee & Cappuccino! Featuring Breakfast Pastries from Rick Halberg - Owner of Emily's Restaurant in Northville 29429 Orchard Lake Rd. • Farmington Hills (on 13 Mile Rd. at the comer of Orchard Lk. Rd.) 248.848.6000 • fax: 248.848.6002 • www.tuttobeneonline.com HOURS: Mon.-Thurs. 7:30 am - 9 pm • Fri. & Sat. 7:30 am - 10 pm Open Sundays starting April 23rd 1102580 1 :6014-i RISTORANTE Natalie, Richard, Allan, Rachel & Danielle AND THE DORMANS Dr. Michael, Norma, Hillary, Todi, Hershel and Pearl And Your Neighborhood DETROIT BAGEL FACTORIES Main Office 586-268-8009 PRIM ANQUET FACILITIES FOR ALL OCCASIONS '2 OFF (g- ge 1092520} SLAB OF RIBS FOR TWO O R - BBQ CHICKEN FOR TWO ALL DINNERS INCLUDE: SALAD OR COLESLAW, POTATOES AND GARUC BREAD Exp. 04/30106 n „ • rass rointeP%od Ac"6, 24234 Orchard Lake Rd., N.E. corner of 10 Mile • 476-1377 April 6 • 2006 61