Global Notes: Band Zusha mixes Hasidic teaching with reggae, gypsy swing

Global Notes: Band Zusha mixes Hasidic teaching with reggae, gypsy swing
Global Notes: Band Zusha mixes Hasidic teaching with reggae, gypsy swing

Global Notes: Band Zusha mixes Hasidic teaching with reggae, gypsy swing

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.
The band Zusha borrows some of their lines from ancient Jewish liturgy, mixing them with music that’s a blend of jazz, reggae, gypsy swing and traditional Jewish soul. The band is guided by the principles of Hasidism set out by the movement’s founder, the Baal Shem Tov, which included, among other things, that every act in nature (a leaf falling from a tree), every human moment (breathing, waking up), is and should be recognized and elevated as something holy…and that music plays an important part in getting closer to the creator. The name of the band, Zusha, comes from a famous Hasidic rebbe, Zusha of Annipol, who lived in the 1700’s. WBEZ’s Tony Sarabia and Elisha Mlotek of Zusha join us to talk about the group’s music and its roots. (photo: Band Photography by Noam Chojnowski)