Official Bio

This is Messianic Roots Reggae from Jerusalem. Say "Shalom" to Israel's premier
Messianic reggae band and their groundbreaking first album.

Yerubilee eases onto the Praise & Worship scene with a fresh look & sound: Roots reggae with 10-string Davidic harp, varied vocalists, live horns, & string section.

Anointed delivery of pop praise tune covers and originals, reggafied UB40-style with a
fun, unique vibe.

* Contains more 10-string Davidic harp than any other Messianic or Reggae album.

* Retro-modern Israeli and international praise tunes sung in English and Hebrew.

* If King David were here today—might he play his harp in a reggae praise band?

"...Unique, outstanding... it's a NEW SOUND!"� - Daniel Hsu, H.E.A. Judaica, Hong Kong.

"...The dynamic between the elements of powerful brass shouts and the chilled out reggae riffs is utterly delectable... much respect for making such a fresh approach to Messianic and reggae worship." - Martin I Smith, Cross Rhythms, London.

"..Refreshingly unique rootsy sounds and message".� - DJ Mike Roots, WAPJ 89.9 & 105.1 FM in Torrington, CT, USA.

Fan Mail
"HOT!! Best version I've heard of 'Roni, Roni.' Hands down." - Fogs Davis

"Blazing music, feelin" the vibes. More love, more life!" - Junya Be

When we first told people we were in a Jerusalem studio, recording Messianic and Christian praise tunes in a melodic, rootsy reggae style; they began to get curious and excited about how it might turn out. They have been pleasantly surprised.

Yerubilee is a praise & worship band from Jerusalem, with a new sound and a vision for lifting up the name of Yeshua (Jesus) worldwide. Their music could be described as Messianic Hebraic Christian praise and worship; with heartfelt singing, Davidic harp, and pop orchestra supported by island/reggae rhythms.

The group's name combines "Yerushalayim" (Hebrew for Jerusalem) with "Jubilee" to evoke scenes of celebration in David's city. Yerubilee's musicians and guest singers were culled from various congregations and ministries in the capital city, including the 24/7/365 worship and prayer movement in Jerusalem.

Yerubilee powers thru popular covers such as "We Want to See Jesus Lifted High" (by Doug Horley), "Call on Jesus" (Nicole C. Mullen) and "Roni, Roni, Bat Zion" (David Loden) along with choice originals "By Your Wounds," "Strong and Mighty" and "Wait on the LORD" (by Teddy Chadwick). With such great songs set to live reggae, one drop, and rocksteady riddims, Yerubilee stands to simultaneously become the UB40 of Messianic and Contemporary
Christian Music.

Yerubilee's instrumentation is traditional bass-drums-guitar-keyboards, supplemented with jazzy horns, a super-sweet string section, and electric Davidic harp whose design is based upon findings from archeological digs.

Exclusive Interview with GospelReggae.com

GR: Tell us about yourself, where were you born and grow up, what your family is like, etc...

Yerubilee: I was born in Philadelphia and grew up around the northeast USA, mostly New England. My dad is a pastor and we moved around pretty often in the ministry. He would often take churches with problems, issues, and pain – and help get them on the right track again with solid Biblical teaching, counseling, and worship. My dad is an amazing man of God. My parents are also worship musicians and my three sisters play instruments, and sing beautifully. My grandparents on both sides are also believers and living lives of prayer. I lived in Los Angeles for a season, including Venice Beach. Recently, I've been living overseas in Israel the past few years, among the community of believers in Jerusalem.


GR: How did you begin doing music?

Yerubilee: I was hopeless. I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. Sometimes I still think I can't sing. Finally my mom convinced my dad to start teaching me piano for my 9th birthday and I fell in love with music instantly.

GR: Tell me, how did your name come about? Any obstacles with it--funny mispronunciations, etc?

Yerubilee: Funny you should ask. I have friends in Jerusalem with an email address which I thought was very clever. It contains Jerubilee (with a "J"�). For them, Jerubilee is a combination of Jubilee, Jerusalem, and Jericho – but I only knew about the Jubilee & Jerusalem part. So I thought it would be a good name for my praise & worship reggae project. Jubilee (from the Hebrew "yu-VAL") means rejoicing and praise, and Jerusalem, well, our musicians all live in Jerusalem. For the recording, I was booking time in a believer's recording studio in the heart of Jerusalem. So Jerusalem is central to where we are. We focus on praise and exalting the name of Yeshua (Jesus), and rejoicing in His presence, celebrating His victory, doing a victory dance, so the jubilee part resonates with that. It just felt like the right name.

Just to be on the safe side, I approached these friends and said "Hey, I think your email address sounds cool I"d like to make it the name of my praise band "what do you think?""� Well, to my surprise, it wasn't just an email address. It's actually part of the name of their ministry. They had received it in a prayer meeting with their pastor (actually it was a slip of the tongue that stuck). With all that in mind, they weren't too keen on sharing this name with another ministry in Jerusalem because of the confusion it might cause.

I was totally dumbfounded; I didn't know what to do. You have to understand, the name seemed perfect to me at the time, and no other names really captured the essence in the same way. At first, I didn't see it as an issue if we both use the same name because we're in very different ministries they're not musicians. After a lot of prayer I committed to submit to their wishes even though I did not agree. Then I realized: Jerusalem in Hebrew is pronounced "Yerushalayim"� (ye-RU-sha-LAI-iym). So if I begin the name with "Yeru" instead of "Jeru", it would actually sound more Hebraic. Hebrew doesn't even have a letter "J"� as English does. It's actually a big improvement, in my opinion. The jubilee part sounds like celebration, combined with Yerushalayim, the Hebrew pronunciation of our city of our LORD. Speaking it out with the accent on the 2nd syllable: "yah-RU-bi-lee" it has a fun, happy vibe to it - even slightly silly--which ends up very reggae-sounding.

So I went back to them with the idea of changing the spelling and pronunciation of the project by using a "Y"� instead of the "J"� making it "Yerubilee" for the band, and their ministry spells it Jerubilee like they originally set it up. After some thought, they agreed, and we drew up a simple legal contract explaining that as we are brothers and sisters in the Body, yet, our ministries are different from each other, with different spellings. We formalised our commitment to different spellings: they keep the original with the "J"� and I commit to spell our name with a "Y"� in both the English and the Hebrew alphabets. So everyone's happy. We signed off on it together, with a witness, and then we all hugged. So that's how our band came to be called "Yerubilee".�

GR: I know that you have written a whole heap of songs in the past, but what's your favorite one? Now, if that is too hard for you to answer, then tell me this; if you spent 5 minutes with an avid reggae fan and only had enough time to play them one of your songs, which one would you play them?

Yerubilee: I'd have to say "Wait on the LORD"� feat. Emmanuel Murillo & Emily Schiavi (Psalm 27). That song always encourages my spirit in the LORD. Verse 14 in the text doubly emphasizes the point when the Psalmist sang, "Wait, I say, on the LORD".� That melody really sticks that scripture into my brain.

GR: Is there any song that you wrote in the past that you are embarrassed about? Anything that you wish you could make disappear?

Yerubilee: My first recording of a song called "Do You See That Cloud".� It's pretty embarrassing, sound-quality-wise. Also I think the arrangement is kind of beatlesque, but in a cheesy way. Fortunately it's not under the Yerubilee name. For Yerubilee's second CD, we're releasing a remake of the song in a reggae arrangement and of course, pro sound engineering.

GR: What were the last 5 CDs that you put in your disc changer?

Yerubilee: Ana Mendez, "The Power of HIS Blood".� Donnie McClurkin, "Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs". Benjamin Dube, "For Every Mountain . . . Thank You".� Hillsongs, "Extravagant Worship".� David Van Koevering, JoAnn McFatter, Ray Hughes, and Bob Jones, "Quantum Physics, Music, and the Prophetic".�


GR: What Bible character do you most identify yourself with?

Yerubilee: David, because he is both a worshiper and a warrior, steppin' out in his faith in the Almighty. And, we're also similar in that I play a David-style harp! I also love to dance before YHVH the LORD, and I don't mind looking like a total fool.

GR: What do you have to say about (or to) artists that started off in the Christian industry (CBA) doing gospel music and now sing secular (mainstream) with a watered down, or ambiguous message?

Yerubilee: Why do we want to become more vague? Don't we want to become less ambiguous? Don't we want to become more specific, more hardcore? I'd love to see everyone become a total sellout! A sellout to Yeshua, the King of kings. He said, "If you are ashamed of me and my words in this wicked generation, I'll be ashamed of you when I come back in the Father's glory along with the holy angels".

My favorite lyrics quote the Bible in whatever language. My best rhymes make Yeshua's name famous. I love vocals that promote Yeshua, the Father, His attributes, and His Word. Our second CD has Psalm 91 on it--in French (Celui Qui Demeure). Our first CD has got Psalm 37 in Hebrew (Strong and Mighty), Zephaniah 3 in Hebrew/English (Roni Roni Bat Zion). Psalm 92 (It is Good), Psalm 24 (Wait on the LORD). Isaiah 53 (By Your Wounds). I mean, all our songs have scriptural inspiration; I'm only mentioning the songs with solid, direct quotes. Let's promote His Name and His Word and make it fresh for a radical generation. C'mon, His Word has power! There's power in His Name. Let's shout His Word and His Name from the sound system and on the rooftops!

* Luke 9:26 & Mark 8:38.


GR: As Christians, God is of course our true inspiration, but beyond the generic response of "Jesus," what are your muses in your life (for lack of a better word)? For example, what are the people, places, or things that trigger a fresh musical idea and ultimately a new song for you?

Yerubilee: The sights and sounds of Jerusalem, where I live. The stones where Yeshua walked. The city walls uncovered by archeologists where David and his mighty men built their houses. The Sea of Galilee is so peaceful, and the hills around are gorgeous. The Dead Sea (called the Salt Sea in Hebrew) where David hid in the caves is such a relaxing place to visit.

GR: What career goal did you abandon for music?

Artist: I left a great job in computer networking when I got the call to go into fulltime ministry in '99. That's when I became music director for a church a few years before coming to Israel.

GR: What's the most embarrassing job that you have ever had?

Yerubilee: Manning the fish fryer at Burger Mania.

GR: Name one thing that fans do not know about you.

Yerubilee: In university, I studied classical piano, music composition, literature, computer programming, and sociology. I think I confused myself, and the music department heads couldn't understand why I kept writing stuff that sounded like pop songs. Not exactly the university sound.


GR: Are you working on any future projects/releases that we should look out for?

Yerubilee: We're doing another CD release with a worshipful, rootsy sound. And a music video with some live scenery in Israel.

GR: Could you please give a message to the reggae fans that are reading this and would like to know more about your faith and who Jesus is to you?

Yerubilee: In Hebrew, Jesus' name is Yeshua. Either way, His name is not only beautiful, it carries all the power of God the Father "YHVH",� the Creator of all things. “Taste and see that YHVH is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him.� (Ps 34:8) When I first called His name, He delivered me from depression and suicide: Now I want to live to become 120 years old proclaiming His goodness all the way.

Ministry

"Yerubilee seeks to exalt the LORD Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah through our music and art, as well as through our words and deeds, and thoughts and relationships all around the world; to lay down our lives as living sacrifices to Him; and to proclaim His Kingdom till He come".
-Yerubilee

Discography

		Yerubilee Arise and Shine				Yerubilee The Green CD

Concerts

There are currently no upcoming events listed.

Contact / Booking:

Artist's E-mail address: shalom@Yerubilee.com

Artist's Booking contact:
Pastor Neil Chadwick
1-973-827-9771
Fax: +1-425-969-8303
yerubilee@gmail.com

Official EMail:

shalom@Yerubilee.com

Official Website:

www.Yerubilee.com

Photos