 "Photo: Elexis Silverman")
Hadag Nachash rocked the Multipurpose Room for the Israeli Culture Festival at the Rutgers Student Center on the College Avenue campus Monday night. The festival also featured vendors, food, a landscape photography exhibit by Chanan Getraide and a fashion show involving representatives from various student groups.
Diversity was a huge component of the evening - from the food to the fashion show to the audience. Members of organizations such as the Rutgers Association of Philippine Students, the Association of Indians at Rutgers and the Capoeira Club modeled both casual and formal attire provided by Rosebud in Soho. Fortune cookies were abundant on one of the refreshment tables.
Rachel Rosenberg, a Rutgers College senior in charge of outreach for the festival, said a cultural exchange was one of the main goals. "We wanted it to be open to Jews and non-Jews. A lot of people are stopping in and staying, and that's great," she said.
The main and perhaps most anticipated event of the evening was a concert by Israeli hip-hop performer Hadag Nachash. The nightclub-style lighting transformed the room into a veritable concert venue. Students swayed, danced, bobbed and clapped along to the group's catchy beats and intricate instrumentation. On several occasions the front of the crowd looked very much like a mini-mosh pit.
The fact the songs - all but one - were performed in Hebrew did not seem to hinder most audience members from feeling the music. "I wanted to hear hip-hop from another culture," said Kanisha Mickens, a Cook College senior. "Everything sounds great. It's hot."
"Any band in Israel tends to touch on politics because they live politics," said Danielle Josephs, Douglass College sophomore and event coordinator. "Hadag Nachash expresses its political opinions on issues that effect everyday Israelis through music."
This was only the group's second performance in the United States. So one might wonder how the group felt performing for the University audience. Lead singer Shaanan Streett said, "It was fun. We enjoyed it a lot. It had an intimate feeling. It wasn't as loud as it sometimes gets, but I think everyone here enjoyed it - including us."
Despite the political nature of the band, Deutsch said the event was not meant to be political. This appears to have gone over well with those in attendance. Emmy Stup, a Rutgers College sophomore who was there for the entire festival, said it was amazing that the event tried to show the cultural side of Israel. "To show that it's not a war zone; it's a vibrant country with so much to offer people. Israel has talented, smart, creative people just like the [United States] and it's important to see Israel in that light."
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