Rejoicer

The name Rejoicer comes from how people in India talk about weed/marijuana. They call it the rejoice.

I grew up listening to the 90s hip hop coming from the US and UK and I was always drawn more to the instrumentals, def the more chill ones in Mos Def and A Tribe Called Quest albums.

It’s really nice! We did a few shows in Europe with it, and I just did six shows in Japan. I really enjoyed working with Mathias from Circus Company. I did a big show in Paris with Amadou and Marium (a couple from Bali). We did a show in Paris for his label, and it worked out really well.

What is reasonable? To be a good human being, loving and caring. The album title was something referring to the political situation in Israel. I started producing it before the war, before the occurrences on October 7th. We were already in the process of putting the album out, so I didn’t feel like changing something. I guess I refer to the music being visible, like, this is something reasonable. A calm within the storm.

No, I guess it's very different. People react differently to it. Also, I have a few styles of shows I'm doing. So, for instance, in Europe, we played the trio live with Daniel Dor on drums and Nitai Hershkovits on keys. I play keys also, and I DJed in a club in Japan with audiovisuals which my friend did the 3D animations for. Then also in Japan at another venue, I played the solo piano which, obviously, gathers different feedback. So, yeah, it's kind of different I feel. People react differently to shows everywhere.

Yeah, I am. I didn’t really enjoy playing as a kid, but I did play a lot. But even though I’m classically trained, I play in a different style. I’m playing my compositions and I'm kind of improvising. So, it's not that I don’t play classical pieces, it’s just that I play weird melodies. I do enjoy doing something with my left hand as the background compared to something that I'll do with my right hand. It’s fun, it's kind of like having two personalities that I can switch up meaning I can do something simpler with my right hand and improvise with my left. And then sometimes, even improvising with both hands! That’s a very special zone.

I guess I kind of go with the flow. Just the frequency of something that has happened when I'm doing something, I don’t need to sweat too much to get something that I like. I feel like I usually wanna do something that’s a bit more energetic, or something that has a softer sound. I kind of have two things that I’m working on at once. So, I know whether that that piece is going be more intense or very chill and then I take it from there, to be honest.

I’m not really trying to recreate something. This is what comes out when I play with synths alone high in the studio.

Stones Throw and Peanut Butter Wolf were the main inspirations for me to start Raw Tapes as I felt I wanted to also have a community of artists releasing their music under the same label. Bruno Guez from Revelator later gave me a lot of help and guidance.

This title and song were made way before the war. It’s actually referring to my friend who said that my music is for graveyards, to be listened to in graveyards. Then I was like, okay well this is the party on the graveyard. But yeah, definitely not referring to anything to do with the war.

Yeah, I am very left-wing. My grandparents have been shouting “free Palestine” since 48. Everyone in my family is very left-wing. Both of my parents haven’t lived in Israel for many years and I, myself, have spent a lot of time in California and Los Angeles. The movement and culture we have here in Tel Aviv is something that I worked very hard for the last 20 years. We have created something very special in Tel Aviv and this is the only reason that I still come to Israel. Growing up, I had the feeling that Israel was the worst country. That it had the worst governments and was the most violent. But after spending a few years in London, a few years in Berlin, and more than 10 years in Los Angeles, I kind of learned that all governments are bad. Especially when you look at how the US is supporting these terrible attacks on Gaza, as well as the UK and German governments amongst some other supporters. So yeah, I refuse to blame myself for the Israeli government’s actions, and it has taken me years to understand and deal with this shame. I just want there to be peace.

Well, there have been changes since October. The whole place is different. The terrible situation in Gaza is so bad that I can’t even begin to talk about the changes that have happened in Tel Aviv. It’s minor in comparison. Yeah, everything changed here. It’s very sad, but I can’t even complain.

I know. I just had two shows cancelled in Japan because the club got so many hate messages from different people asking them not to host an Israeli artist.

Huge, huge impact. Even for me. I’m releasing labels from Los Angeles to Paris to London, and they still recognise me as an Israeli artist. I really think that this situation in Gaza is so bad that I can’t even complain. The fact that I can go in and out of the country and not be scared for my life. I can still do shows. They have cancelled more than a few shows for me. Sweden cancelled shows for us and even Turkey. I was supposed to have many shows in the last few months, but they have been cancelled. And also, we used to do yearly fests here with international artists, like Alchemists, which a lot of my friends from LA would visit every year to play shows in Tel Aviv or Israel. But these festivals and such are not happening anymore. It’s just the reality now. And what is happening in Gaza now is so much worse that this is small compared to the devastation there.

I love Avishai! He is like a brother to me and I’m so happy to make music with him on our weekly sessions. You should definitely hear Itzhak Ventura's new album and Yummi Wisler.