# Dalia Shusterman

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{{short description|Canadian-American musician}}

{{Infobox musical artist
| name             = Dalia Shusterman
| image            =
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| alt              =
| caption          =
| birth_name       = Dalia Garih Shusterman
| native_name      =
| native_name_lang =
| alias            =
| birth_date       = 
| birth_place      = [Montreal](/source/Montreal), [Quebec](/source/Quebec), Canada
| origin           = [Crown Heights](/source/Crown_Heights%2C_Brooklyn), New York
| death_date       =
| death_place      =
| genre            = [Alternative rock](/source/Alternative_rock)
| occupation       = Drummer
| instrument       = Drums, vocals
| years_active     =
| label            = Priapus, [Burnt Hair](/source/Burnt_Hair_Records)
| associated_acts  = New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars, Blood 'N' Grits, Casa Samba, Cirque de Ville, Michigan Impossible, 7 Mile Ford, [Timo Ellis](/source/Timo_Ellis), [Hopewell](/source/Hopewell_(band)), [Bulletproof Stockings](/source/Bulletproof_Stockings), The New Moon All Stars Party Band
| website          = 
}}
{{Chabad (Rebbes and Chasidim)|Other notable figures}}
'''Dalia Garih Shusterman''' is a Canadian-American musician, best known as the drummer and backing vocalist for the bands [Hopewell](/source/Hopewell_(band)), [Bulletproof Stockings](/source/Bulletproof_Stockings), and the New Moon All Stars Party Band.

== Biography ==
=== Early life ===
Dalia Shusterman was born in [Montreal, Quebec](/source/Montreal), Canada to a French [Modern Orthodox](/source/Modern_Orthodox_Judaism) Jewish family. She grew up in [Potomac, Maryland](/source/Potomac%2C_Maryland).<ref name="Times of Israel" /> She played piano as a child, but discovered her talent for drums at an [Earth First](/source/Earth_First) New Year's Eve party when she was 16, after playing the hired band's [hand drums](/source/hand_drums) while they were on break and getting a positive response from the people in attendance. Inspired by this, she soon started [busking](/source/Street_performance) in [Washington](/source/Washington%2C_D.C.), and then after [hitchhiking](/source/hitchhiking) across the country, in [New Orleans](/source/New_Orleans).<ref name="Times of Israel" /> The street playing there got her access to several local stages, [Mardi Gras](/source/Mardi_Gras) parades, and even onstage at the [New Orleans Jazz Festival](/source/New_Orleans_Jazz_Festival).<ref name="Times of Israel">{{cite web|title=Ladies (and not gentlemen): The Bulletproof Stockings!|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/girls-just-want-to-have-fun/|publisher=[Times of Israel](/source/Times_of_Israel)|accessdate=April 9, 2013|author=Ghert-Zand, Renee|date=October 2012}}</ref>

Shusterman briefly attended the [State University of New York at Purchase](/source/State_University_of_New_York_at_Purchase), where she studied philosophy and literature. While still an [undergraduate](/source/undergraduate_education), a friend convinced her to play a full-on drum kit in the [opening act](/source/opening_act) for the band [Boss Hog](/source/Boss_Hog).<ref name="Times of Israel" />

=== Hopewell ===
{{Main|Hopewell (band)}}
In 1993, Shusterman and bassist [Jason "Whip" Merrit](/source/Whip_(musician)) joined brothers [Jason](/source/Jason_Sebastian_Russo) and [Justin Russo](/source/Justin_Russo) of [Mercury Rev](/source/Mercury_Rev) to form the [psychedelic rock](/source/psychedelic_rock) band [Hopewell](/source/Hopewell_(band)). The group recorded a series of [7" singles](/source/gramophone_record) before releasing their 1998 debut album ''Contact'' on [Burnt Hair Records](/source/Burnt_Hair_Records). The record was promoted by a small string of shows until the band went on hiatus, during which time the Russos toured with Mercury Rev and Merrit recorded a solo album, ''Song Song''.<ref name="Hopewell AMG">{{cite web|title=Hopewell|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/hopewell-mn0000218158|publisher=[Allmusic](/source/Allmusic)|accessdate=April 9, 2013|author=Nicholls, Dale}}</ref>

The band regrouped in 1999 to record their second album, ''The Curved Glass'', which was released in October 2000 by Priapus Records. The album received critical acclaim and was promoted by a performance at the English [Reading and Leeds Festivals](/source/Reading_and_Leeds_Festivals), as well as an extensive European tour.<ref name="Hopewell AMG" />

=== Return to Judaism and retirement ===
In September 2001, Shusterman, while in [Manhattan](/source/Manhattan), received a flyer for a [Sukkot](/source/Sukkot) event in the [Crown Heights](/source/Crown_Heights%2C_Brooklyn) neighborhood of [Brooklyn](/source/Brooklyn) and decided to attend. Her experience there motivated her to join [Chabad](/source/Chabad), marry a young Hasidic [rabbi](/source/rabbi) she had met at the event, and quit Hopewell. She subsequently moved with her new husband to Los Angeles, where their four sons were born.<ref name="Times of Israel" />

=== Bulletproof Stockings ===
{{Main|Bulletproof Stockings}}
After her husband's death in the spring of 2011, Shusterman and her children moved back to New York. There, a friend introduced her to Perl Wolfe, a singer-songwriter and fellow Lubavitcher, and the two formed the all-female Hasidic [alternative rock](/source/alternative_rock) group [Bulletproof Stockings](/source/Bulletproof_Stockings) in December of that year.<ref name="Times of Israel" /><ref name="JChron">{{cite web|title=Indie band Bulletproof Stockings refreshingly original|url=http://thejewishchronicle.net/view/full_story/19814790/article-Indie-band-Bulletproof-Stockings-refreshingly-original|publisher=[The Jewish Chronicle](/source/The_Jewish_Chronicle)|accessdate=March 31, 2013|author=Tabachnick, Toby|date=August 2012|archive-date=February 17, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217081339/http://thejewishchronicle.net/view/full_story/19814790/article-Indie-band-Bulletproof-Stockings-refreshingly-original|url-status=dead}}</ref> The group released their debut [EP](/source/extended_play), ''Down to the Top'', on April 1, 2012. The quartet Bulletproof Stockings (Wolfe, Shusterman, Elisheva Maister, and Dana Pestun) toured throughout New York and Los Angeles<ref name="JChron" /> with plans to expand their lineup and release a full-length album.<ref name="Times of Israel" />

On April 8, 2016, Shusterman announced that Bulletproof Stockings had disbanded and that the four band members were heading off to individual music pursuits.

=== New Moon All Stars Party Band ===
In 2017, Shusterman and former Bulletproof Stockings bandmate Dana Pestun debuted a new Hasidic all-female [jazz](/source/jazz)/[klezmer](/source/klezmer)/[cabaret](/source/cabaret) group, The New Moon All Stars Party Band.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Buhre|first=Maea Lenei|date=2017-10-03|title=A New Brooklyn Band Rocks For a Select Group of Fans|url=http://brooklynink.org/2017/10/03/55975-a-new-brooklyn-band-rocks-for-a-select-group-of-fans/|access-date=2020-09-21|website=The Brooklyn Ink|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2017-10-22|title=HevriaCast Episode 21: Dalia Shusterman Returns|url=https://hevria.com/hevria/hevriacast-dalia-shusterman-returns/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024174844/http://hevria.com:80/hevria/hevriacast-dalia-shusterman-returns/ |archive-date=2017-10-24 |access-date=2020-09-21|website=[Hevria](/source/Hevria)|language=en-US}}</ref>

== Discography ==
=== With Hopewell ===
* ''Contact'' (1998, [Burnt Hair](/source/Burnt_Hair_Records))
* ''The Curved Glass'' (2000, Priapus)

=== With Bulletproof Stockings ===
* ''Down to the Top'' EP (2012)
* ''Homeland Call Stomp'' (2015)

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shusterman, Dalia}}
Category:Living people
Category:Hasidic music
Category:American alternative rock drummers
Category:American women drummers
Category:American Orthodox Jews
Category:American people of French-Jewish descent
Category:Jewish American musicians
Category:Musicians from Montreal
Category:Purchase College alumni
Category:Jewish rock musicians
Category:Jewish jazz musicians
Category:Baalei teshuva
Category:Orthodox Jewish women musicians
Category:Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim
Category:20th-century American drummers
Category:20th-century American women musicians
Category:21st-century American women musicians
Category:21st-century American drummers
Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Drummers from Maryland

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Dalia Shusterman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalia_Shusterman) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalia_Shusterman?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.
