Matisyahu melds Marley and matzo

Some musicians request bottles of Dom Perignon or Remy Martin in their tour riders. But the only spirit making the nationwide concert rounds with Hasidic reggae artist Matisyahu is perhaps the ghost of Elijah.

The 25-year-old Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter fuses lyrics about his Hasidic Jewish culture and faith with melodies that pay homage to Bob Marley and dancehall reggae. Touring the country in support of his debut album, “Shake off the dust ... ARISE” (on indie label JDUB Records), he will stop to kibitz -- beatbox style -- for his first-ever Los Angeles show, at the Knitting Factory on Valentine’s Day.

Born Matthew Miller, Matisyahu was not much different from the average teen in having rock ‘n’ roll tastes. He followed Phish on a national tour. He started a garage band in Oregon.

But it was his chance meeting with a Lubavitch rabbi in a park in New York several years ago that sent him off on an unlikely path. He adopted the strict law of the Hasidic movement of Judaism and let it inspire him to create music.

He says of the Hasidic faith and its connection to music: “When a person is praying and can’t break through, they are supposed to sing a melody.”

Matisyahu is one who sees similarities between Hasidic Judaism and Rastafarianism. “A lot of religious Rastas adhere to laws based on the Old Testament,” he says. “Both groups are swimming against the current in their own way.”

If there’s any place to mix two cultures that swim against the current, it’s eclectic and progressive downtown Manhattan. And that’s exactly where Matisyahu got his start when his rabbi asked him to do a public performance in Union Square Park. Matisyahu called up an old musical cohort, guitarist Aaron Dugan, and Hasidic reggae was born.

“The sound was bouncing off all the buildings in that downtown area,” he recalls. “A few hundred people were gathered around with their jaws dropped.”

Almost three years later, he’s performed for young, old, Rastafarian, Jewish and everything in between from Brooklyn to Boise. For some musicians, one sign of success would be a girl in every port. But, Matisyahu says, “I’m more focused on the music and not the girls in the audience.”

His tour routine, however, does include some networking. “I get a list of rabbis in whatever city I’m going to,” he says.

A rabbi in every port -- it doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

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Shana Ting Lipton can be reached at weekend@ latimes.com.

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Matisyahu

Where: Knitting Factory Hollywood, 7021 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

When: 8 p.m. Monday

Price: $15

Info: (323) 463-0204