Every Friday, THEPOPFIX hand scoops the hottest dudes and flyest chicks of the moment. From far and wide, high and low, THEPOPFIX finds celebutants, musicians, actors, philanthropists, to normal Angelenos in the region who you as readers need to know to be “in-the-know!” So check us out every Friday, and see who’s poppin! Who knows, maybe even you or someone you know may land on our pages! Know someone who should be included in THEPOPFIX Pick? Email us at info@THEPOPFIX.com.

The Maestro- Paul Dateh

Dateh’s unique brand of soul-searching has already caught the attention of Public Enemy and Run DMC, and his violin virtuoso can be head running smoothly over tracks by Keli and resident DJ Inca. At a time when Lil Wayne is trying to break traditional genre boundaries with rock song “Prom Queen,” Dateh’s already two steps ahead, one doo-bop scat above the norm.

For his perfect pitch, vocal dexterity and undeniable passion, THE POP FIX predicts this Renaissance music man will be one to look out for in the very near future.

The best type of music is the kind that leaves listeners at a loss for classification. Hip-Hop? Funk? Jazz? Classical?  The ever-so-versatile Paul Dateh can likely stake a claim in all of the above, though he’d no doubt prefer to call what he does soul, since he’s got an awful lot of it.

Dateh, who boasts a loyal following as one of the first hip-hop violinists (Miri Ben-Ari, an Israeli artist whose violin virtuoso was featured in the 2007 film “Freedom Writers,” has already copyrighted herself as THE Hip-Hop Violinist), is no stranger to music performance, though his jaunt into this as-of-yet unnamed musical genre means that he’s seeing and hearing everything with a fresh perspective.

A list of songs are jotted down. Image via Joyce Chen, THE POP FIX/Copyright 2009

The Los Angeles local (Dateh originally hails from sleepy suburb Walnut, Calif.) grew up practicing the violin for hours on end, though he loves Run DMC just as much as he does Brahms. His life is one of balance and integration, meshing a classical foundation with an experimental twist.

Classically trained on the violin (a beat-up Tambovsky is his weapon of choice), Dateh has turned his love for hip-hop and jazz into a viable new musical genius that is just as much about defining himself as it is about defining his art.

*****

At his album release party on Jan. 31 at the Dakota Lounge in Santa Monica, Dateh stands before an audience of family and friends in the intimate space and awkwardly begins his introduction and thank you’s.

With a deep blue sweater and loose-fit jeans, his presence is more nervous bookstore clerk (he’s been there, done that - the current Little Tokyo resident works during the day shelving books at a Japanese bookstore) than burgeoning rock star (the audience whoops and erupts into chants as he shuffles onstage). He stutters and chuckles heartily after most sentences, self-effacing and excited in an aw-shucks kind of demeanor.

Dateh's violin gets some rest onstage. Image via Joyce Chen, THE POP FIX/Copyright 2009

His sound is unlike anything most music-lovers have ever heard, and for good reason. He has a voice that is at once rich and velvety, enveloping like a deep shade of maroon, and emotionally charged with the fervor of an R&B legend. His small frame carries with it the vocal prowess of a seasoned music aficionado, and his voice hops from intermittent scatting to chill-inducing murmurs to full-out belting.
“I’m not much for the talking,” he grins goofily out at the upturned faces that smile back at this boyish appearance. “So I’d much rather just start singing if I have a diddy in my head, and sometimes it goes like this …”
At this note the boy wonder belts the intro to his song “Whatever I Choose,” his feet barely hitting the floor as he earnestly leans in and croons into the mic. With Ken Belcher on the guitar, a drummer rocking out behind him, and his bass player casually plucking away to his left, Dateh is front and center.

And all eyes are glued on him.

His buttery voice melts away his previously dorky persona, and it’s clear that Dateh is in the zone. Eyes closed, body shifting, hands grasping the air like he wants to draw it all in and exhale it out in one big powerful burst. Music is his passion, his lifeblood.

Boy’s got soul.

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