Matisyahu set to join closing events at J’lem Sacred Music Festival

Matisyahu said The Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival was proof that “music should and can always rise above conflicts and disputes.”

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Matisyahu (photo credit: ETHAN MILLER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
Matisyahu
(photo credit: ETHAN MILLER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
Jewish-American reggae artist Matisyahu is scheduled to attend this month’s Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival for a sold-out concert on September 4 at the Tower of David at 12:30 p.m., following the completion of his European tour, festival organizers announced on Tuesday.
“Matisyahu will join us to celebrate the closing of the festival, to sing together with us and with local musicians of all faiths from Jerusalem,” the festival organizers announced.
Matisyahu said The Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival was proof that “music should and can always rise above conflicts and disputes.”
“It is proof that, in practice, people everywhere are looking for similarities and commonalities. It is proof that music is free and has no limits,” he said.
According to the conference organizers, Matisyahu will be joining a festival of “musicians that believe in music’s ability to unite all people, who echo and support the right of all people and all religions to come to Jerusalem and celebrate themselves, and who will change Jerusalem, at least for one week, to a place where utopia has a chance to become reality.”
“The vision of this festival fills me with hope and faith that from Jerusalem the answer will come forth against all those who choose the path of violence and boycotts. I am excited to join this musical prayer coming forth from Jerusalem,” he added.
Matisyahu, who fuses reggae, hip-hop and rock with Jewish influences in his songs, performed at the Rototom Sunsplash festival in Spain at the end of August. He was re-invited to the festival after it faced extreme international backlash after uninviting him when he failed to reply to a demand to clarify his position on Palestinian statehood.