While Boaz Nol was in Israel this past summer, he attended a concert of the hip-hop band of the moment: Hadag Nahash. Not only did he love the music, he loved the message.
“It’s pure, good music, but also they are basically the voice of the young generation,” said Nol, 27, who serves as the campus emissary of the Israel Center of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation.
Nol thinks big, so he got his boss, Shlomi Ravid, director of the Israel Center, to come to another concert. They decided to bring the group to San Francisco.
Hadag Nahash — which means “Snakefish” in Hebrew, and is also a play on words from “Nahag Hadash,” the sign spotted in car windows signifying a new driver — will play three concerts in the Bay Area next week, in San Francisco, Berkeley and Los Altos Hills.
The Israel Center sought support from other Jewish communities around the country, as well as Israel’s Foreign Ministry. As a result, the band is playing in at least seven more cities. The group was written up in Israeli dailies last weekend as the new Israeli ambassadors.
The band went to England earlier this year, playing at two Jewish venues, but this time the musicians are playing campuses and clubs, including Ruby Skye in San Francisco.
“This is our first real tour; we’re very excited,” said Sha’anan Streett, the band’s 33-year-old lead singer, in a telephone interview from Jerusalem.
It’s somewhat ironic that the tour has received financial support from Israel’s Foreign Ministry and is being promoted by its consulates, since one thing Hadag Nahash is known for is its searing social commentary.
“We are living in Israel right now, so we have a lot to say about what’s going on,” Streett cracked.
Nonetheless, he appreciates the support, from wherever it comes. “The fact that [the government] doesn’t try and censor us, and are helping out, even though we’re so critical of them, is maybe the first good thing I can say about Israeli bureaucracy.”
Streett offered a sampling of themes the band sings about: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, violence against women, and a song called “The Suits,” whose message is: “Wake up and understand that the suits aren’t really interested in our well-being.”
Speaking of their largest hit to date, (see accompanying article) “The Sticker Song,” written by Israeli novelist David Grossman and composed mostly of bumper stickers found on Israeli cars, Streett said: “It doesn’t matter if it’s politically right or left oriented, the stickers are violent. And when you put all of the stickers together, the feeling is how can someone live like this between all these stickers? How much more can we take?”
Nol said that to him, the band’s defining song is “The Sucker Song,” which he feels defines his generation to a tee.
“The words are about how people like us represent the mainstream of the country, the people who go to school, and serve in reserve duty and we pay our taxes, and we love this country so much and yet sometimes, we feel suckered in a way.”
To ensure that those who go to hear the band will be able to understand, lyrics to most of the songs will be broadcast simultaneously.
“Popularity abroad is a new thing,” said Streett. “The fact that people are paying to have us there is amazing.”
The lyrics of Hadag Nahash will not leave anyone with an idealized version of the Jewish state, Nol said. Rather, “it’s best for our students and everyone, really, to hear and see the real voice of Israel with no B.S.”
Hadag Nahash will perform 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20, at Ruby Skye, 420 Mason St., S.F.; at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, at Smithwick Theatre, Foothill College, Los Altos Hills; and 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, at Wheeler Auditorium, U.C. Berkeley. Information and tickets: www.ticketweb.com or www.israelcentersf.org or (415) 512-6203.
Jenny Hazan of The Jerusalem Post contributed to this report.
RELATED STORY:
Israeli slogan song turns into teaching tool for area educator