Malachim



Moshav Band: Duvid Swirsky (vocals, guitar, electric bass, percussion); Yehuda Solomon (vocals, percussion); Yosef Solomon (electric bass). Imagine the jamming of Phish mixed with the vocal strength of Pearl Jam and the spiritual lyrics of U2 seasoned with a Middle Eastern influence, and you can begin to describe the unique sound of Moshav. It's not typical for a band that the mainstream rock world is not yet familiar with to make their first mainstream release a Best Of compilation but, for Moshav, already well-known and hugely successful in the Judaic market, it makes perfect sense. Although their music comes from and is steeped in the Jewish culture of their upbringing, Moshav is as mainstream as any pop/ alternative band. Raised on the Moshav Meor Modi'im, a musical village in the hills between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the three young men who make up Moshav -- Yehuda (vocals, percussion), Duvid (vocals, guitar), and Yosef (bass) -- have learned and played music since childhood. The American parents of Yehuda and Duvid had come to Israel in 1972 — just in time for the Yom Kippur war. They settled on a Moshav; a similar lifestyle to a kibbutz but with more autonomy and independence for the family, where their children were born and raised. When we were growing up, explains Duvid, the only electrical appliance in the house was a record player. So, while American kids might be growing up watching television and playing video games, we were growing up listening to music. The music they listened to were the records their parents had brought with them — Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Neil Young — and that music, combined with the beat poets they read and embraced, continues to influence their songwriting. The particular Moshav that was home to the members of the band had been founded by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, himself a musician, and the young men performed with Rabbi Carelbach as well as on their own. Both performing with Rabbi Carlebach at his concerts and playing their own music brought Moshav popularity in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. As far as the music we were taught, explains Yehuda, it was primarily music of our homeland. But the music we fell in love with was the popular American music of the past 40 years. Our music is a blend of both cultures. Eventually, American students traveling in Israel heard them play and befriended the members of Moshav. Taken not only with the beauty of their music but the band members' charismatic stage presence as well, these young kids went back to the States and raised the money to bring Moshav to America for a short college tour in 1998. By 2000 Moshav had moved to Los Angeles, determined to make it in the mainstream world the way they already have in the Judaic world. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.