Socalled transforms the gallery into a recording studio to compose Pink Hamentashen, a collection of queer-themed party music inspired by Purim, the holiday that celebrates the heroics of Queen Esther who hid her Jewishness and then revealed it in order to save Persian Jewry. Purim is a carnival in which revelers honor Esther’s feats by masquerading to blur identity lines—a notion that resonates with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people. Socalled premieres these holiday sounds at the Pink Hamentashen Purim Party on the evening of March 20 at The Jewish Museum.

Socalled samples from an eclectic mix of genres that includes hip-hop, electronica, klezmer, Yiddish theater, and liturgical music. He remixes these disparate beats into a rich and layered soundscape that celebrates Judaism’s cultural reinventions. Samples of his tracks are on the mp3 players in the lounge.

Socalled, born Josh Dolgin, is a Montreal-based musician, photographer, magician, and writer. In 2000 he independently produced The Socalled Seder: A Hip Hop Haggadah. Since then Socalled has released several albums on JDub Records, scored films, and performed in festivals and venues around the world, including the South by Southwest Festival, Apollo Theater, and Carnegie Hall. Socalled’s album Hiphopkhasene won the 2002 German Record Critics’ Award for Best World Music Album of the Year.