Shtar (, "contract") is an Israeli Jewish

rap rock Rap rock is a music genre that developed from the early to mid-1980s, when hip hop DJs incorporated rock records into their routines and rappers began incorporating original and sampled rock instrumentation into hip hop music. Rap rock is co ...

band based in

Beit Shemesh Beit Shemesh () is a city council (Israel), city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District. A center of Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodoxy, Beit Shemesh has a population of 170,683 as of 2024. The city is named afte ...

. Formed in 2006 by American rapper

Ori Murray Rory Murray, known by his stage name Ori Murray () is an American-born Israeli rapper, best known as the co-founder and rap vocalist of the band Shtar. Early life Murray was born in Seattle, Washington to an Irish father and a Jewish mother, ...

and English guitarist/songwriter Brad Rubinstein, the band released their debut album, ''

Infinity Infinity is something which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is denoted by \infty, called the infinity symbol. From the time of the Ancient Greek mathematics, ancient Greeks, the Infinity (philosophy), philosophic ...

'', in Israel in 2010 and in the United States through Shemspeed Records in 2012. They have received considerable media attention, much of it focused on the contrast between their traditional Jewish dress and modern-sounding music. A second recording, ''

Boss EP ''Boss EP'' is the debut EP by Jewish hip hop band Shtar, released on December 5, 2012. It follows the band's debut ''Infinity'' (2010), and is the first of two EPs meant to precede their second album. The EP was promoted with two singles, "Overl ...

'', was released through the band's own Heatseat Records in December 2012. In 2015, they were announced as contestants on the Israeli reality singing show ''

HaKokhav HaBa ''HaKokhav HaBa'' (; ) is an Israeli interactive reality singing competition, created by Keshet Media Group and broadcast on Channel 2 (from 2013 to 2017) and on Channel 12 (since 2017). It is the basis of the ''Rising Star'' franchise. The ...

''.

History

Founding members

and Brad Rubinstein met at the

Aish HaTorah Aish, formerly known as Aish HaTorah (Hebrew: אש התורה, lit. "Fire of the Torah"), is a Jewish educational organization. The focus of Aish is the spread of traditional Jewish religious teachings and culture to Jews around the globe, util ...

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, after having led largely non-religious lives. Upon discovering that they both had musical backgrounds they had abandoned in favor of their religious studies (Murray had previously been an MC in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

scene, while Rubinstein had been the guitarist and songwriter for a short-lived

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

-based

trip hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

outfit called

Lisp Lisp (historically LISP, an abbreviation of "list processing") is a family of programming languages with a long history and a distinctive, fully parenthesized Polish notation#Explanation, prefix notation. Originally specified in the late 1950s, ...

), the two started encouraging each other to return to making music and ultimately formed Shtar in 2006, taking the name from a tractate of

Gemara The Gemara (also transliterated Gemarah, or in Yiddish Gemore) is an essential component of the Talmud, comprising a collection of rabbinical analyses and commentaries on the Mishnah and presented in 63 books. The term is derived from the Aram ...

they were learning at the time. Originally a duo, they gradually added a full band to their lineup to be more interesting live. In May 2010, the band released its debut album ''

''. The band was signed a year later by Shemspeed Records, who re-released the album on March 5, 2012. In October, the band played the Israeli

independent music Independent music (also commonly known as indie music, or simply indie) is a broad style of music characterized by creative freedoms, low-budgets, and a DIY ethic, do-it-yourself approach to music creation, which originated from the liberties aff ...

festival InDNegev and gave a Halloween concert at Mike's Place in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. December 5, 2012, saw the independent release of a second Shtar recording, the ''

''. Shortly afterward, the band announced plans for a second EP, ''Beauty Queen EP'', to be released in early summer 2013, as well as a UK tour the same year. On April 9, 2014, Shtar released a '' Prince of Egypt''-inspired

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

single called "So Decide". On December 10 of the same year, they released a

Hanukkah Hanukkah (, ; ''Ḥănukkā'' ) is a Jewish holidays, Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem and subsequent rededication of the Second Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd ce ...

single, "Lights", through Aish.com. The band auditioned for the 2015–16 season of the Israeli reality singing competition ''

'', which offers winners a spot in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. Their audition song was a cover of "

In the End "In the End" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. It is the eighth track on their debut album, ''Hybrid Theory'' (2000), and was released as the album's fourth and final single. "In the End" received positive reviews by music critics, ...

" by

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

. They were awarded ninth place, while singer Hovi Star was declared the winner with " Made of Stars".

Musical style

Over the course of their career, Shtar's music has combined

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

with elements of

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

, rock, pop,

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

, and

Sephardic music Sephardic music is an umbrella term used to refer to the music of the Sephardic Jewish community. Sephardic Jews have a diverse repertoire the origins of which center primarily around the Mediterranean basin. In the secular tradition, material is u ...

(co-vocalist Dan Isaac comes from a line of Sephardic cantors), with influences including

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

The Roots The Roots are an American Hip-hop, hip hop band formed in 1987 by singer Black Thought, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and drummer Questlove, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''T ...

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol, England, by Robert Del Naja, Robert "3D" Del Naja, Daddy G, Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, Tricky (musician), Adrian "Tricky" Thaws and Andrew Vowles, Andrew "Mushroom" ...

Mos Def Yasiin Bey ( ; born Dante Terrell Smith; December 11, 1973), formerly known as Mos Def ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. A prominent figure in conscious hip hop, he is recognized for his use of wordplay and commentary on social an ...

, and

Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...

. Max Elstein Keisler of ''

The Forward ''The Forward'' (), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ''The New York Times'' reported that Set ...

'' described the formula of the songs on ''Infinity'' as "a melodic, live-band beat, a smooth vocal hook, usually in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, and a sophisticated 'smart guy' rapping." In contrast, the ''Boss EP'' included more pop and electronica elements, and featured completely English lyrics and less overtly religious themes.

Band members

Current members

– MC,

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

* Brad Rubinstein – guitar, songwriting,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

*Dan "Zaki" Isaac – vocals *Avi Sommers – bass guitar *Tzvi Solomons – drums

Past members

*Alex Lopez-Dias – bass guitar *David Epstein – drums

Discography

Studio albums

*''

'' (2010, 8th Note, Israel; 2012, Shemspeed, U.S.)

EPs

*''

'' (2012, Heatseat)

Singles

*"Modeh (Restoring My Soul)" (2010; ''Infinity'') *"Infinity" (2010; ''Infinity'') *"Overload" (2012; ''Boss EP'') *"So Decide" (2014) *"Ma Nishtana" (2016) *"Gone Again" (2016; ''Boss EP'') *"Ma'oz Tzur" (2016) *"Echad Mi Yodea" (2017)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Israeli hip-hop groups Jewish hip-hop groups Shemspeed Records artists Musical groups established in 2006 Jewish rock groups 2006 establishments in Israel Rap rock groups