Jewish Afrobeat

An experimental photo (SLOW shutter speed) to (hopefully) give a sense of the e/motion of this Zion80 performance.

Zion80 arranges Jewish melodies with the polyrhythmic intensity of Afrobeat - a marriage of the melodies from Rabbi Carlebach with the funkiness of Fela Kuti.

“This world is a world of higher forces, and people must realize it. You do it by yourself in your home, by knowledge of your culture or the background of your family or your people. Higher forces give you the gift of music, of musicianship. It must be well-used, for the good of humanity.”
Fela Anikulapo Kuti (1938 — 1997)

“It has to be so strong, this Jewishness, that nothing in the world should move them, to ‘un-Jewish’ them. On the other hand, it has to be completely connected to every human being in the world.”
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (1925 — 1994)