 Darshan, the musical midrash project of rapper Eprhyme and singer/songwriter Shir Yaakov, have just released a five-song EP entitled To Zion. Fans of Darshan’s live show have been clamoring for recorded versions of these songs, which creatively combine Eprhyme’s penetrating lyrics with Shir Yaakov’s evocative melodies.
To Zion, the album’s title track, is based on a quote from Rebbe Nachman, “everywhere I go, I am going to Jerusalem,” which Shir musically transforms into an anthemic chorus. Eprhyme then lyrically twists and turns the quote in a myriad of different directions and perspectives, squeezing out every last drop of symbolic substance and poetic possibility of metaphor and meaning. Other songs from the EP include the haunting, fast-paced mystical tour de faith, “Praying In the Fields” and a hip hop version of the old Passover favorite “Chad Gadya.”
The EP includes a Shemspeed favorite, the emarkable story of the “Ghetto Nightingale” which is a Kaddish of sorts, based on the life of Marysia (Miriam) Eisenstadt- a young, extremely talented female singer from Poland who was interned in a concentration camp with the rest of her family and tragically killed at age 22. This song is Darshan’s attempt at achieving a small sliver of poetic justice for a fellow artist and includes melodic instrumentation and vocals sampled from talented singer/songwriter Chana Laila.
* Full record available, here.
* Free Download of “Ghetto Nightingale” available, here
p.s. catch Eprhyme speaking this Friday night on the Upper West Side (click for details)
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