Jewish rapper Kosha Dillz (Rami Matan Even-Esh) was supposed to attend Coachella this past weekend to celebrate with fans and reprise his famous seder event “Matzahchella.” But then the biggest music festival in the country was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
But that didn’t stop Kosha Dillz and Bay-area nonprofit Value Culture —a group that specializes in curated Jewish events at giant public gatherings including the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW. In less than a week they created Seder Stream, a one-stop streaming Facebook page where Jews of all observances can find meaningful virtual seders including a Passover-themed music festival.
Kicking off April 14, the nine-hour festival will feature an array of artists who will perform live from their social media pages. To date, Seder Stream has more than 1,000 members and continues to grow.
“I love being Jewish on Passover. It’s a very symbolic holiday. It reminds me of my life and what I’ve been through,” Kosha Dillz told the Journal over the phone. “This is a great way to create awareness for nonprofits, for artists to make extra money and for people to discover new music.”
Seder Stream Music Festival will feature a handful of artists Jewish as well as non-Jewish artists, including Grammy-nominated Southern Avenue, Howi Spangler of Ballyhoo!, L.A. pop star Flavia, L.A.-based hip-hop artists Verbs and Devmo, Mikey Pauker, Hip Hop Haggadah Seder, San Francisco-based singer Bud. E. Luv, Ray Goren, Uruguayan DJ Vala Nirenberg, Black Crystal Wolf Kids and of course Kosha Dillz himself.
Kosha Dillz also created a Spotify playlist for fans ahead of the festival. Tracks include his latest collaborations with Matisyahu and Grammy-nominated electronic producer Kaskade.
Kosha Dillz isn’t just invested in enriching Jewish life through music. He also wants to support artists whose tours and festival gigs were canceled. Each act will raise money for a specific cause of their choice in addition to taking donations from fans.
“Everyone is suffering during these times,” Kosha Dillz said. “Artists can’t perform, now there is zero live music. Now is the time to give to a musician, an artist. I’m trying to make the best of it. I want to be remembered during this time as someone that was doing creative stuff and helping other people and not just checking out completely.”
Seder Stream Music Festival takes place on April 14 from 12 p.m.-9 p.m. PT. Click here for more updates on the festival.
