Singer Sha'anan Streett
Photo: Shay Param
Hadag Nahash receives activism prize
Hip hop band becomes first musical ensemble to receive prize at festival hosting 180 organizations
The hip hop band Hadag Nahash has become the first musical ensemble to win first prize at the Activism Festival, an event hosting 180 organizations for social change.
The band was started in Jerusalem in 1996, and its members, Sha'anan Streett, Guy Mar, David (Dudush) Klemes, Moshe "Atraf" Asaraf, Yair (Yaya) Cohen Harounoff, Amir Ben Ami, Shlomi Alon, and Stephen Hyde, excel in composing protest songs.
Hadag Nahash backstage (Photo: Shay Param)
The festival was all-inclusive, featuring musical performances as well as discussions on human and animal rights, social justice, equality, environmentalism, feminism, and racism.
Shay Hermon, the festival's arts manager, awarded the prize to the band. "Activist art is an art aimed at raising awareness and even making a change in the heart of the audience," he said. "As such, it never compromises or refines itself."
He said the award was intended for those who not only criticize, but also "work to create a reality in which culture is a vehicle of expression for the masses, without distinguishing between races, sexes, or social statures".
"With their songs, Hadag Nahash succeeds in raising burning issues without patronizing and through understanding of the human distress found in the hearts of many. Their music wraps in warmth and professionalism bold statements expressed uncompromisingly," said Hermon.
Special thanks was awarded to Sha'anan Streett, who founded the 'Shekel Festival'. The festival encourages local individual artists, hundreds of which take part in it every year.
"Of all the awards we received over the years for our music, this is the most exciting and closest to our hearts," Streett said in his acceptance speech.
"We as a band try to do our best for the community." He also thanked the festival's founders, "who work day and night to make others' lives better".
