Socalled - Di Frosh (feat. Kaiser Quartett) (2018)

Accompanied by the award winning classical Kaiser Quartett, known for their string-work alongside Gonzales, Jarvis Cocker, Boy, or Gregory Porter, the musician from Montreal sings Yiddish folk songs ? the original versions of songs he has sampled in the past for his own tracks or those of rappers like Samy Deluxe.

Having worked with the Kaiser Quartett from Hamburg, Germany, for his musical "The Season" and a host of collaborations with his friend Gonzales, he approached the classical string quartet about writing and recording string arrangements for nine of his favorites from the old repertoire ? plus "Di Hoif", a new song Socalled wrote for the album, as well as the aptly titled "Tsum Shtam" (to the tree trunk), which the late Arkady Gendler, "a paragon of the Yiddish revival movement", dedicated to Socalled. "And through song, so much history and culture can be exposed, given new life. The quartet arrangements give the music the harmonic respect it deserves, an integral and often overlooked element in presenting this material. The program is funny, sad, beautiful, dark 8230;"