Diwon (ne Erez Safar) is a musical mystic, multi-genre producer who travels the globe performing, producing and researching sounds. His styles range from Yemenite music blended with electro hip hop beats to cinematic psychadelia. Throughout Diwon's albums, remixes, singles, and mixtapes, one can hear the influence of his family that migrated from Yemen to Ethiopia finally settling in Israel. It has been rumored that Diwon reaches a state of synesthesia throughout the writing and recording processes.
As a prolific producer, Diwon releases a wide range of albums a year. This past year, he released "The Beat Guide to Yiddish," the "Rarities & Remixes" series, the "I Heart Mixtape," and "Shir Ha Shirim" (The Song of Songs) - an hour long meditation mixing emotive Moroccan singing with hypnotic hip hop, rock, and mizrahi sounds. Meanwhile, he is finishing up his "Dreams in Static" album, a cinematic record with guitarist Dugans, as well as working on a revolutionary hip hop record, "This is Unity" with Y-Love.
Diwon has performed with Lou Reed, Anthony Coleman, Matisyahu, DJ Spooky, and Idan Raichel, along with countless others. URB MAGAZINE listed Diwon amongst their NEXT 1000, London Radio's 104.4 FM called him, "one of New York's hottest Jewish musicians;" the Jerusalem Post dubbed him, "Jewish music's multimedia mogul;" Forward listed him as one of the Top 50 "most influential Jews of 2007;" and The Village Voice stated that his work "as producer and DJ is among the most adventurous and banging on the new Jewish music scene." Diwon's live sets include a diverse mix of singers and live musicians, creating a lively blend of world music, hip hop, and jazz. His music, style, and presence get famous US clubs to resemble the craziest festivals abroad.
* Erez Safar (Diwon) is the founder and director of Shemspeed (largest, most diverse Jewish music site), Modular Mood Records (an independent record label), Hip Hop Sulha, and The Sephardic Music Festival. Erez resides and maintains his many companies, within the auditory heart of Brooklyn.
"Diwon is something else …in a profound kind of way. The New Yorker gets crafty when it comes to beats by extracting world music—mainly traditional Yemenite music-- and fusing it with electro hip hop; creating a titillating sound that’s juicy and for the ears." - URB Magazine
Selected PRESS:
JPost Cover (click to read)
LIVE PHOTOS
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SELETED PRESS:
* Jpost feature (read)
* Urb.com (read)
* Jewish Week feature (read)
* Jewcy feature (read)
* Jerusalem Billboard cover story (read)
* Forward Top 50 (read)
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Washington City Paper review of Diwon's Shemspeed launch (read)
(for more press, click here)
QUOTES:
"Diwon is something else …in a profound kind of way. The New Yorker gets crafty when it comes to beats by extracting world music—mainly traditional Yemenite music-- and fusing it with electro hip hop; creating a titillating sound that’s juicy and for the ears. - URB Magazine
"one of New York's hottest Jewish musicians;" - London Radio's 104.4 FM
"as producer and DJ is among the most adventurous and banging on the new Jewish music scene;" - The Village Voice
"Jewish music's multimedia mogul;" - the Jerusalem Post
"Top 50 most influential Jews" - Forward, 2007
HI-RESOLUTION PRESS PHOTOS
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