SoCalled
“...trying to make sense of this time now, it’s a post-genre and we’re not part of these ghettoized racial groups anymore. “
Yiddish hip-hop guru, photographer, magician and writer, Josh Dolgin aka SoCalled, has appeared on a dozen recordings as a pianist, singer, arranger, rapper, writer and producer.
As one of the only Jewish kids growing up in small-town Chelsea, Québec, SoCalled’s love for hip-hop collided with his roots to create his own genre, as a form of klezmer rap. Living in Montréal since the 1990s, SoCalled mixes beats of pop, soul, jazz, blues, klezmer and old Yiddish niggunim.
Rhyming in English and Yiddish, SoCalled’s lyrics explore the profound and personal. His music reasserts the rediscovery and vitality of the Yiddish song while creating something that is catchy, hip, original and new.
SoCalled is also a member of David Krakauer’s Klezmer Madness! and frequently performs with world renowned musicians such as Fred Wesley, Gonzales, Susan Hoffman-Watts, Frank London, and Irving Fields.