Northampton hosts new music, great stories

Formed in Jerusalem in 1996 Hadag Nahash has released four albums, produced three number one hits and has achieved platinum status in Israel. By the end of 2004 they had won "Band of the Year" and "Song of the Year" awards from the Israeli version of the Grammys. At the same time, Hadag Nahash was being praised critically by almost every newspaper, internet site, radio station and television show.

Hadag Nahash is gaining popularity in the United States regardless of one large inconvenience. The bands lyrics are sung in Hebrew making it impossible for the American fan base to understand them. "The main difference about touring here in America is that our fans do not understand what we are saying," lead singer Sha'anan said. "When we play shows outside of Israeli we try to put more emphasis on songs that are more musical."

Lyrically Hadag Nahash writes about living an "honest life" and because they grew up in Israel its music often talks about the struggles living there. Hadag Nahash has been known for making leftist political statements in its songs. "Everyone in politics is an asshole," Sha'anan said, joking around.

Musically Hadag Nahash incorporates elements of hip hop, funk, rock, jazz, ska and Middle Eastern music into its songs. In an Aaron Schachter interview Sha'anan spoke about Hadag Nahash's music, saying "It's more than two turntables and a microphone for us. You've got seven people in the band and every instrument you can imagine and maybe a few you won't even imagine and we try to, like, push Israeli pop culture forward in terms of lyrics and in terms of music to show that there's no limitations and that we can do whatever we want and whatever sounds good. We mix it all together and create a new sound."

One of Hadag Nahash's most popular songs "Shirat Hasticker" (in English called "The Sticker Song") was written by Israeli novelist David Grossman. The song is unique in that all the lyrics are comprised of Israeli bumper stickers that express an angry and ironic description of political life in Israel.

Sha'anan previously commented on the song saying "Our life consists of all these stickers at very high volume all the time every day. And that's the problem as I see it, you know. Of course I agree with some and hate others, but the real problem is that we're living at maximum capacity all the time."

The band has been on tour for three weeks so far this year. "All of us like being on the road; if we didn't like it, we would have stopped years ago. It's fun to meet new audiences but is even more fun when we come back to places where we have had successful shows in the past."

The atmosphere of a Hadag Nahash concert is known to be upbeat, positive and extremely fun. "It is all about peace and freedom; it will be fun and groovy. I think UMass students will definitely enjoy it," Sha'anan said enthusiastically "Hey, if we weren't any good we wouldn't have come back to tour the states several times."

Tickets are on sale at the UMass Hillel and the Northampton box office, $10 for students and $15 for the general public. Tickets will also be sold at the door.