The Soul Rocker – Gabriel Chason
He abandoned his successful career in music abroad to do teshuva, but as a born musician he never even considered giving it up...
He abandoned his successful career in music abroad to do teshuva, but as a born musician he never even considered giving it up. After slightly changing his style he became one of the pioneers of original Jewish music.
Gabriel Chason refused to submit to the styles of mainstream Jewish music, and was the first to mix lyrics from the sources with rock. He knows without a doubt that if his music were to be aired on secular radio stations, listeners would be hooked; just ask the music critic from "Maariv Newspaper" who refused to believe that Chason is Charadei. I started off the interview with a risky statement "You know, if you don't listen closely to the words of your songs, they can easily be mistaken for songs by the popular secular rock bands." Chason laughs, "That's where I came from, although my technique and approach to music have slightly changed, I still have basically the same style." Bingo! I thought to myself with his album playing through my head at that very moment. There's the secret to his success, he is filling the void of great Jewish music.
His second album, "Now or Never" was named one of the most successful Israel albums by the secular Israeli newspaper "Maariv." The music critic wrote an amazing review. "He didn't believe that I live in Betar Illit (a Charadei city)." Chason says smiling. I guess when the music speaks to you, the stigmas stay quiet.
You don't meet musicians like Gabriel Chason (44) everyday. Even now that there is more original Jewish music on the market, Chason has not fallen from his place on top.
If you haven't heard of Chason until now, it is only because his music is not mainstream. His last album, "The Chamber of Changing Colors" proves that fact. It includes six tracks, four of them instrumental and two original songs. You may not love it the first time, but listen twice and you're hooked.
Chason was born in Beer Sheva to a secular family, "We didn't even make Kiddush on Friday night." And as far back as he can remember music has been a part of his life, "I was born a musician." From the ripe age of 11, Gabriel would talk to Hashem, and had already begun the process of Teshuva. "I started to go to the synagogue, and I would ask the old men there questions about Judaism. They didn't have good answers for me and this pushed me away," he remembers. "Even afterwards, the feeling always stayed with me. Starting to do teshuva was an amazing experience that I'm unable to describe. I always knew I would go back and do complete teshuva, it was just a matter of time."
The right time came when Chason was 27. By then he was highly accomplished. He had studied at "Rimon" an upscale music school; he came out with two popular rock albums and was even the private music teacher of one of today's leading Israeli rock musicians. He now felt it was time to do teshuva.
You were part of the music scene in Israel and abroad, and highly successful, but you did teshuva and left it all behind. That wasn't hard for you?
"After everything I had experienced, the experience of doing teshuva when I was young always stayed with me, the amazing feeling that I found the real truth. At one point when I was performing abroad I had enough. How long could I wake up feeling empty every morning, so I slowly started the process of teshuva."
When asked if he planned on giving up his music, the answer was a definite no. He understood that his music can do teshuva along with him. "I knew that I wouldn't give it up, that I would continue to perform. For me music isn't a hobby, it's life."
A short while later he came out with his first album "Maase Etzbaotov" which contains mostly psalms, sang to the rock music he knows and loves. He was unfamiliar with the religious world, so he took the lyrics straight from the sources. By the time his next album "Now or Never" came out he was more confident, and wrote most of the lyrics himself. His last album, mostly instrumental, he says is "above words."
"Each album reflects a stage of my life" Chason explains the reason for the vast differences in the albums. "A musician must always tell the truth, and Rebbe Natan says that the truth changes according to the circumstance." Chason modestly adds that he "tries to be a Breslover."
In his free time he produces albums for other musicians such as Sinai Tor, Yermiyahu and Rav Yehoshua Engelmann. But before coming out with his fourth album, he is working on another project, an animated album of Rebbe Nachman's stories. "We work and happiness, and in poverty." Chason summarizes with a smile.
8/04/2009
fabulous music I have 2 of Gavriel’s CDs and they are absolutely fabulous. Full of energy and depth. My suggestion to him is to market them more widely, I first borrowed one from a friend but it took me 2/3 years till I actually saw it sold somewhere- and that was at breslov world actually, at a very reasonable price!!
Keep producing them, they’re great.
8/04/2009
I have 2 of Gavriel’s CDs and they are absolutely fabulous. Full of energy and depth. My suggestion to him is to market them more widely, I first borrowed one from a friend but it took me 2/3 years till I actually saw it sold somewhere- and that was at breslov world actually, at a very reasonable price!!
Keep producing them, they’re great.