Night Magic with Socalled
at the Sala Rossa

Montreal laughs, dances, and grooves to klezmer hip-hop rhythms

By Sophie Jama

October 20, 2025

Neither quite a rapper nor quite a klezmer musician, Socalled reinvented the Montréal party with bursts of accordion, sampler, and biting humour, on Saturday, October 18, 2025, at the Sala Rossa, when he transformed the 14th Phenomena Festival into a borderless celebration, vibrant as a joyful heartbeat. On stage, the magician of sound built bridges between cultures and rhythms, blending the fervour of hip-hop with the tenderness of klezmer, in a shared surge of affection with the audience.

A vibrant concert, charged with rare intensity, where virtuosity, laughter, and total communion with the crowd came together.

Ni tout à fait rappeur, ni tout à fait klezmer, Socalled réinvente la fête montréalaise à coups d’accordéon, de sampler et d’humour décapant.

It’s impossible to confine Socalled to a single genre. A true one‑man band, the artist fuses rap, hip‑hop, klezmer, and jazz in a jubilant alchemy, lifted by a Yiddish touch that defines his signature style. Behind his instruments—accordion, keyboard, sampler—he jumps, improvises, declaims, drawing the audience into a joyful trance that transcends both style and language. English, French, Yiddish, and even Russian intertwine freely.

Surrounded by exceptional musicians—Erik Hove on saxophone and flute, Michael Felber on bass, and Katie Moore, a radiant singer and guitarist—Socalled delivered nearly twenty pieces, drawn mainly from his albums Ghettoblaster, Sleepover, and People Watching.

The concert, executed with flawless precision, still carried the spirit of constant improvisation: an impromptu magic trick, a singing puppet appearing on stage, a crowd enthusiastically invited to take part. All playful nods to the artist’s generous and whimsical universe.

Ni tout à fait rappeur, ni tout à fait klezmer, Socalled réinvente la fête montréalaise à coups d’accordéon, de sampler et d’humour décapant.

Each piece told a story of Montréal—its Yiddish roots, its boundless creativity. Between songs, Socalled chatted, joked, thanked the audience. There was laughter, dancing, emotion in the air. And when the encore arrived, the surprise was worth the wait: a deeply personal rendition of Leonard Cohen’s Dance Me to the End of Love infused with klezmer tones, followed by a moving detour through the ballad of the Springhill mining disaster. The audience, on its feet, simply refused to let him go.

‘A flamboyant celebration, a symbol of a cosmopolitan, joyful, and resolutely free Montreal.’

That night, Socalled offered more than a concert—he gave an act of love to the city and its independent music scene. A blazing, festive performance where music became a symbol of free and multicoloured togetherness.

Socalled in concert

Socalled (vocals, accordion, keyboard, sampler)
Katie Moore (vocals)
Erik Hove (saxophone)
Michael Felber (bass)

Images: Caroline Hayeur

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Sophie Jama holds a PhD in anthropology and a master’s degree in comparative literature. She has published several works in Québec and France. For the past fifteen years, she has covered Montreal’s cultural scene in theatre, dance, circus, and other performing arts.