From NPR's The World ...
Their name is
Hadag Nachash, a nonsensical Hebrew phrase that literally means "Snakefish." But they are using it in another sense:
It's also a play on the term in Israel for a newly licensed driver, someone just entering the gladiatorial combat of Israeli streets. And that, says Hadag Nachash front man Shanaan Street, is how he feels. "There's all these cultures and they're all thrown into a country where busses explode and you can't finish the month with the salary you make. It's small, it's tense and it's multicultural."
This Israeli hip-hop act plays its own instruments and has taken their country by storm. Already this year, they've nabbed "Band of the Year" and "Song of the Year" awards at the Israeli version of the Grammys. And their biggest song is -- get this -- a mix of
bumper sticker slogans. Israeli bumper stickers, no less.
Shanaan Street: "Our life consists of all these stickers at very high volume all the time every day. And that's the problem as I see it, you know. Of course I agree with some and hate others, but the real problem is that we're living at maximum capacity all the time."
It's worth a listen, unless you hate hip-hop or confine your musical experience to only bands that sing in English (or some version thereof).
Full Story at
THE WORLD:
PostScript: This entry's title is something of a nod to Groovelily's "Screwed Up People Make Great Art" from their latest release, Striking 12.It's track #28 (Windows Media) if you want to check it out -- and I know you do!
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