“My bullets are my rhymes. My M-16 is my microphone.”

Sameh Zakout, Palestinian rapper

A historic event comes to Boulder Wednesday night as we host the ‘Hip Hop Sulha’.  Sulha means reconciliation in Arabic, and Hip-Hop means telling your story with a beat.  Put them together, and you’ve got Jewish and Muslim rappers doing their thing together, on stage, telling their own stories about war and peace, about Israel and Palestine, about bigotry and tolerance, about fear and hope.

We don’t exactly know what will happen.  Some small level of reconciliation is possible but not inevitable.  Understanding?  Maybe.  Hopefully.  Honestly?  For sure.  Dancing?  No doubt.

The Sulha will feature Yuri Lane, ‘The Human Beatbox’, who will also be performing his unique show ‘From Tel Aviv to Ramallah: A Beatbox Journey’ the next night.  His partner in that show, Shariff Ezzat, will also be performing at the Sulha.  We will also hear from Y-Love, the world’s only black Hassidic revolutionary, Hasan Salaam, and Diwon.

The event is in the Glenn Miller Ballroom at the UMC at CU, at 8 pm on February 24.  The cost is $8 unless you have a CU student ID.  It is sponsored by SoulFood, a Boulder group run by Rabbis Josh Rose and Gavriel Goldfeder to stimulate dialogue about important issues that Jews face today, as well as ADL, CU Department of Jewish Studies, MOVeRs, Oreg Foundation, and Seeking Common Ground.  It is an all-ages show, and no alcohol is allowed.