Josh Dolgin, a.k.a. Socalled, still plays a blend of klezmer and hip hop, it’s just better now, cleaner, more evolved into a unique sound reflected of his diverse interests and background. Socalled is coming to Toronto tomorrow for the Luminato Festival, at the Festival Hub in David Pecault Square. He’s not here coming as a saviour of Yiddish culture, or as the guy that plays goofy tunes on an accordion. He’s bringing the funk. He’s here to have a good time and connect with everyone.
“I just make music for people,” says Dolgin, on the phone from his apartment in Montreal, Que. “I’m just happier to make pop rocking-out hip hop stupid music for just anybody.”
We could talk about his drug-fetching dog Poopsie or his wall-to-wall stacks of decades-old vinyl or any number of other quirks that make up this singular Canadian artist. But, maybe it’s about time we stick to the music.
Dolgin released his fifth Socalled album Peoplewatching in April, which started out as a more stripped down group of singles, with a simpler attitude and a ragtag bunch of rappers along for the ride. But, in keeping with the Socalled style, more and more guest musicians were added and four years later, the album was finally released.
“Ya, I just started adding guests and it sort of ballooned into a crazy party,” he says.
Dolgin’s regular Montreal band is back on this album Katie Moore, Patric Agbokou, JS Williams and Michael Felber. In addition, he’s added dancehall legend Josey Wales, James Brown sideman Fred Wesley, and a slew of other talented players, none more exciting to Dolgin than Canadian jazz great Oliver Jones.
“He’s a jazz icon and an all-around amazing nice guy,” he says, of Jones. “He’s 80, so to get him in the studio with hip hop beats just jamming out was totally awesome.”
The songs that make up Peoplewatching touch a number of different musical bases, including old school funk, soul even disco. Maybe the melodies and inspiration are rooted in klezmer and hip hop, but this record is much more.
Dolgin didn’t even know much about Yiddish culture growing up, certainly not about klezmer music. His mother forced him to take piano lessons, apparently resorting to bribery at one point. As a teenager, he got into hip hop and started sampling music from old records he’d find in the bins at the Salvation Army.
“I happened upon the Eastern European music of my roots,” he says. “I found evidence of this amazingly funky cultural history in garbage bins.”
And, for a while, it was his mission to reconnect with this music and to put it in a contemporary form for others.
“I started incorporating that into the productions I was doing, and it became a thing,” says Dolgin. “It was in the right place, at the right time to be playing around with cultural identity and hip hop.”
Socalled made a name for himself in the early 2000s with a succession of albums starting with HiphopKhasene in 2003.
Now, it’s less about novelty and more about the music. But it’s not like Dolgin abandoned his roots or anything that dramatic. According to him, he’s just better at blending it all together, but it’s the same stew. And that comes with its own unique set of challenges.
“In a way, it was easier for people to understand what it was,” he explains. “I’m the klezmer hip hop guy, a novelty that people could wrap their heads around. And there was nobody else doing that at all. It was cool, sort of, in a novelty kind of way while also making cool shit that people liked. And people were grateful and relieved to see someone dealing with this amazing tradition.”
Now, the pop purists think he’s too weird, and the world music traditionalists think he’s too pop. He’s a bit of a riddle, at first and as a result our exposure to his music in Toronto has largely been relegated to regular appearances at the Yiddish cultural festival Ashkenaz. But, that’s changed. Once the riddle is solved, the walls come down, all that’s left is the music. The very funky music.
So, tomorrow night, head downtown to Luminato and check out this unique and compelling artist. It’s guaranteed to be a good time. Just be sure to bring your dancing shoes.
