Erran Baron Cohen: The _Heeb_ Profile

Being the sibling of four Hollywood personalities isn’t ideal for one’s self esteem. Yet, Erran Baron Cohen—brother to Borat, Ali G, Bruno and Jean Girard—is proving that there’s room for one more multi-faceted character in the family.

Though still relatively unknown in the U.S., Baron Cohen has begun to make a name for himself in the UK, not only as a musician and composer, but also as a DJ who can get even the most stubborn wallflower on the dance floor.

As a musician, he started the ambient cultural fusion group Zohar, named after the mystical Kabbalistic text. Though he doesn’t share religious practices with Madonna and Britney Spears, Baron Cohen found the name appropriate since many of the group’s early track samples consisted of traditional Jewish cantorial songs.

“I grew up in a synagogue with a very good hazzan and I always loved hearing that; it made [services] interesting for me,” says Baron Cohen of his childhood. This fascination with Hebrew songs and a deep-rooted interest in soul music spawned Baron Cohen’s unique style. “In voices like Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, I heard that quality that’s also in Arabic music and Jewish cantorial stuff—all the types of music that have a religious connection… an extra dimension.”

While the albums exude an electronic sound, Zohar’s show at the new “Highline Ballroom”:http://www.highlineballroom.com/ this Saturday, July 14 will bring their music to life. “It’s a slightly different sound because a lot of the tracks weren’t produced with live instruments,” Baron Cohen explains, “It’s going to start quite chill and then get more clubby as it goes on.”

With their Middle Eastern electro-soul fusion, Zohar seems to be more successful at finding a middle ground between Arabs and Jews than any plan that’s come out of the White House in a decade. “Not that it’s going to make peace, but there are more similarities than there are dissimilarities.” -SARAH FREEMAN

What do you think?

About The Author

Josh became an editor-at-large after accruing exorbitant legal fees as the publisher of Heeb in his efforts to trademark the word "irreverent." Follow him on Twitter @joshuaneuman.

7 Responses

  1. mrnhghts

    “Not that it’s going to make peace, but there’s more similarities than there are dissimilarities.”

    Well, at least these artists have (relatively) more reasonable ambitions. If one more film maker or hip hop group acts like they are going to establi

    Reply
  2. Hesed

    The guy who mows my lawn could do a better job of setting international policy than the ass-clowns who are fucking it up now.

    Not that I necessarily think that the artists who promote peace are the ones who are gonna do it, but one thing for certain is

    Reply
  3. mrnhghts

    “but one thing for certain is that the frat boys won’t. ”

    And you feel that is who I want setting policy? My friends the frat boys? Bush and co?!? WONKS, Hesed — I want WONKS. Nerds with graphs, formulas, projections, theories…not frat boys.

    “peac

    Reply
  4. Hesed

    I didn’t mean to infer that you were advocating the frat boys, I know you weren’t. I was just simply stating as fact that they are the ones in charge.

    I don’t place any more importance on what an artist has to say, they are no more qualified than anyon

    Reply
  5. mrnhghts

    I think this goes back to WWII, with Chamberlain and all the appeasers. The containment policy of Truman/Eisenhower was a way to at least avoid war without giving away the stores. But I would guess it has something to do with fear of appeasement to some d

    Reply
  6. geo8rge

    Any similarity between the Basterds and Dich Cheney’s secret assassination teams are coincidental and are not evidence of Inglorious Basterds being a propaganda movie.

    “a little less in sync with history’s drum beat.” The WWII fantasy genre occurred i

    Reply
  7. Puck

    I find the concept that the deaths of 6 million Jews can be ‘avenged’ by the random murder of a few Nazis to be a bit trite, personally.
    Tarantino should stick to what he does best…reminiscing about good movies he made 10 years ago.
    miaow.

    Reply
  8. boychik

    Tarantino simply doesn’t have the burden of the six million resting on his shoulders like many of us. I can’t wait to see this film.

    Reply
  9. Hungry_Jew

    How dare you guys depict Hitler pointing a gun at someone? Do you know how many people die of gun violence each day? That’s just plain insensitive. Yup, you’ve definitely crossed a line.

    Reply
  10. Hungry_Jew

    Yes, but very unfair to Alexander Hamilton, Phil Hartman and Plaxico Burress’ left butt cheek.

    Reply
  11. HLund

    ..The author forgot the Three Stooges short “You Nazty Spy! ” (1940) where Moe Howard played a Hitler-ish character.

    Reply
  12. katyusha

    Dear Idiot,

    In the future, you may want to actually WATCH the movie before you write an article about it. Nearly everything about your summary of this movie was wrong. You can have a go at guessing what the movie’s about again if you can’t be bothered t

    Reply
  13. Anonymous

    It’s a dream to see that.” It’s taken more than half a century for one of the most cinematically rendered periods in history to represent Hitler getting his comeuppance.
    business intelligence software

    Reply
  14. Anonymous

    It’s a dream to see that.” It’s taken more than half a century for one of the most cinematically rendered periods in history to represent Hitler getting his comeuppance.
    business intelligence software

    Reply

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