If the term "Jewish music" only brings Hava Nagilah to mind, Josh Dolgin — better known as Socalled — would like a word.



As part of our ongoing q playlist series, the musician/producer/rapper joins guest host Piya Chattopadhyay to spin tracks by his favourite Jewish musicians and discuss the evolution of Jewish music over the past century.

Although he wasn't exposed to his musical heritage growing up, Socalled says he found his own way to those roots while looking for records to sample as a young DJ.



"That's when I happened upon my own cultural music," he says, adding that he found everything from Yiddish folk music to Hasidic melodies.

Socalled plays the Ashkenaz Jewish culture festival this weekend, both with his klezmer-funk band Abraham Inc. — which puts a funky spin on the Jewish standards like Hava Nagilah — and separately as a DJ.



As sampled on air, check out Socalled's playlist below.













