After arriving in New York City from Israel and catching the attention of Wynton Marsalis and Wyclef Jean, hip-hop violinist Miri Ben-Ari soon became an Apollo Legend.  Not long thereafter, a Grammy winner for her work on Kanye West’s hit "Jesus Walks".  Since then she has composed and arranged violin tracks for everyone from Patti LaBelle to Britney Spears, as well as releasing her own Universal Records album, Miri Ben-Ari, The Hip Hop Violinist.

In a time when mainstream hip-hop lyrics and images are considered by many to be negative, Miri Ben-Ari stands tall and defiant as a shining example of hip-hop’s unlimited potential for growth and positive messages.  She’s known for working her magic on the violin strings but now she’s also interested in the strings of the heart as she aims to raise awareness about the Holocaust and the power of music to heal our world. 

Miri Ben-Ari spoke to Sixshot.com about her special project, Gedenk, why today’s artists need to be more responsible, her upcoming album [untitled], and the power of music to inspire change.

What inspired you to collaborate with Israeli rapper Subliminal on the song Adon Olam Ad Matai (in English: “God Almighty, When Will It End?”) which is the first ever commercial hip-hop single and music video about the Jewish Holocaust?

This song is part of a very big project titled Gedenk.  Gedenk is a movement or a campaign that I’m the chairman of and I established and founded [it] a year ago.  Gedenk in Yiddish means “remember.”  Our goal is to raise awareness about the Jewish Holocaust and other genocides and to tie them together to make sure that we don’t repeat the same mistakes.  I think that this is a great opportunity that we have as artists to make a difference.  We would like to remember this horror and make sure that the young generation will know about it and never forget it.  I learned this year something that really bothered me.  Fifty percent of the kids graduating high school in the United States don’t know what the Jewish Holocaust is and the ones who do know don’t actually understand why it’s relevant.  We think that history is very relevant to what’s going on today since history repeats itself.

What do you think is music’s role and responsibility in society?

You know I really love this question.  I think that artists carry a responsibility of how they appeal to their fans.  They should make a choice about how they choose to present their values, their philosophy, and everything that they have to say.  There are a lot of young kids out there looking up to us and we have the opportunity to be role models.  So what do you want to tell them?

When you first arrived from Israel to America you were homeless, on your own, and you couldn’t really speak the language.  You credit your music education as helping you to overcome those obstacles.  Was that experience the first time you became aware of the healing and transformative powers of music?

It actually took me some time.  I’m a third generation Holocaust survivor and my family got killed because of racism by the Nazis.  I kept my silence about it for years and I was afraid to talk about it.  It’s something that you don’t want to bring up.  You don’t want to remember it [because] it’s so horrible.  When I came to the states my circle was the jazz and hip-hop/R&B circle which was mostly African-American.  They shared with me their family’s struggles, how they are related to slavery, what was going on in the history of America, how it influenced them, and how they feel today.  I looked at them and I was like that is the way we are supposed to be.  We’re supposed to talk and we’re supposed to remember.  By talking and remembering that is how we make sure it will never happen again. 

You are certainly remembering the past with your other single, "Symphony of Brotherhood" which features Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with his speech, “I Have a Dream.”  The song recently made history as the first instrumental song ever to hit on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop charts.

It was almost a miracle because that is an instrumental song.  When we put out this song we did not expect for it to hit the Billboard charts and we definitely did not expect the major network support of MTV and VH1.  I know that it touched many hearts.

What can fans expect from your forthcoming album? 

M:  Well this album is all about a musical movement.  I would like to bring live music and the glory of playing an instrument back to the scene.  Not everything needs to be sampled.  You can actually get on-stage and play.  This is what I do as a hip-hop violinist and the hip-hop world loves music.  I work with some of the greatest hip-hop artists and every one of them loves music.  This is why they give me so much respect and big me up as the one and only hip-hop violinist on the scene.

And for those who love your earlier jazz work is there a chance you’ll go back to that or incorporate it into your upcoming album?

It’s a part of who I am and if you listen to me playing you can always find jazz and classical influences.  When I arrange music I arrange it like a jazz musician or a classical musician.  This is my experience, my education, and who I am as an artist.

So it’s a fusion.

Completely, and it’s a very special fusion.  For some reason you find your own personality or identity as an artist when you write your own music.  When I write my own music it’s not jazz or classical.  It’s more like instrumental.

Are there any other social issues you plan to address either musically or in your everyday life?

I’m very much into education.  I think that playing instruments should be a very big part of kid’s education.  I’m also the face of VH1 Save the Music and I am constantly performing for kids and schools.  I want the parents to know that when their kids play an instrument they become better kids.  [Laughs]  They are more disciplined, they have more time to focus on themselves, and they’re more confident because they are good in something.  The parents are proud of them because their math and literature is better.  They can utilize that discipline anywhere they want to later on in their life.

For more information please visit:
www.gedenkmovement.org
www.miribenari.com
www.myspace.com/miribenari