[MusicRatty] tag: barbes

globalFEST Brings 13 Artists from Around the World on 3 Stages at Webster Hall in New York City

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:20:05 +0000

The 2009 edition of globalFEST will introduce audiences to established artists they have not heard before, striking yet unheralded traditions, wild young innovators playing with centuries-old forms, and funky global revivalists of 1970s musical activism.

Many international artists who are the musical toast of their communities remain virtually unknown to the broader U.S. audience. Kailash Kher, a sensation in the Bollywood film world with his Sufi inflected popular songs, a judge of "Indian Idol," and a household name on the Subcontinent, will finally blast onto the American scene, with his band Kailasa in tow. Though most everyone knows calypso, few Americans outside Caribbean communities know Calypso Rose, the grand dame of calypso, who has spent decades writing over 800 songs from fun-loving party numbers usually associated with Carnival, to politically and socially conscious anthems.

Along with unheralded international icons, globalFEST has always made a commitment to bringing lesser-known genres to U.S. stages too. Paris-based Shanbehzadeh and his son dive deep into the trance-like vocals and compelling rhythms of Boushehr in Southern Iran, a neglected corner of the Middle East, where Persian, African, and Indian sounds have merged for 500 years. Shanbehzadeh's roots go back to the East African island of Zanzibar; his hip-swinging dances, unique bagpipe, striking double flute, and stirring percussion reveal an unexpected side of Iranian music, one steeped in traditions from around the Persian Gulf.

Tradition is never static, and globalFEST has launched numerous young innovators into the limelight. This year's lineup highlights North America's vibrant roots scene from the far north of the Arctic Nunavut to the sultry south of New Orleans. Canadian First Nations vocalist Tanya Tagaq taught herself Inuit throat games out of homesickness as a young woman, but went on to take tradition in a radical new direction, collaborating with artists as diverse as the Kronos Quartet and Bjork.

The young musicians-all under 25-of Hot 8 Brass Band started off playing their mix of hip hop, R&B, and traditional jazz on the mean streets of New Orleans, where several members died due to gun violence, until Hurricane Katrina and Spike Lee launched the group into the national spotlight with an appearance in Lee's film When the Levees Broke. The Occidental Brothers Dance Band International reflect the Windy City's musical past and cosmopolitan present in their NYC debut, bringing a blend of Ghanaian highlife and Congolese rumba with the avant-garde jazz, house, and indie rock vibes that have put Chicago on the musical map.

Europe is also bursting with new takes on old sounds. France's L&O, led by violinist Oliver Slabiak of klezmorim Les Yeux Noirs, (a standout group in globalFEST's inaugural edition), will make the US debut of a new project with his operatically trained vocalist wife Laure, bringing their swinging and cosmopolitan update of French chanson.

Scandinavia has been jumping in recent years with a roots revival scene, epitomized by the young Norwegian hardanger fiddle trio, Valkyrien Allstars, who add a rock intensity to the songs of Eastern Norway in their first US appearance. In the mestizo spirit of their compatriots Manu Chao and Ojos de Brujo, La Troba Kung-Fú stays true to the Catalan roots of one of Spain's most popular musical exports, the infectious flamenco-inflected rumba catalana, while gleefully adding elements from cumbia to salsa to dub. Fronted by a be-dredlocked Algerian Jewish singer born in Marseilles, the tribal electronica of Watcha Clan turns the Mediterranean Basin into one big rave, uniting Balkan and Berber beats, four languages, and one mean sampler.

While some emerging musicians find inspiration in older forms, other young, hip artists are rediscovering the brash and bold sounds of the global seventies. More than a stylistic pose, this vintage vamp reengages with that decade's themes of struggle and rebellion while keeping it distinctly funky. Femi Kuti, son of the iconic Fela Anikulapo Kuti, keeps Afrobeat alive with his band The Positive Force by incorporating the club sounds of today with the politically involved ethos of yesteryear; Femi is committed to combating AIDS and other vital causes.

Performing for the first time outside of Brazil, Rio's Marcio Local extends the legacies of influences like Jorge Ben and Banda Black Rio, standing at the crossroads of two great traditions in modern Brazilian music, Afro-Brazilian samba and'70's soul, to create an undeniably cool and funky ode to political change and carioca life.

Led by Olivier Conan, French imigri and owner of the influential nightclub Barbes, New York's Chicha Libre keeps the spirit of Amazonian psychedelic surf-cumbia alive, playing Peruvian gems alongside funky originals in the era's care-free, syncretic style.

Drawing on the bounty of sounds, styles, and approaches exploding around the world, globalFEST has opened minds and doors for outstanding international artists and contributed to this goal. "What we've done is successfully demonstrated the full range of styles that fall under this rubric of 'world music,'" Bragin notes. "We helped open up the definitions of the genre, and helped presenters and artists come together to discover exciting new booking horizons, all the while bringing music fans in New York City one of the annual concert highlights of the year."

globalFEST is a volunteer-run co-production of World Music Institute, Joe's Pub at the Public Theater, and Acidophilus: Live & Active Cultures. Support for all six editions has been provided by The Cultural Services of the French Embassy with additional support from the French Music Export Office and Cultures France, recognizing France's pre-eminent role as a hotbed of global music activity. globalFEST is presented in association with Bowery Presents.

Visa services are provided courtesy of Tamizdat. La Troba Kung-Fú's performance is supported by the Institut Ramon Llull. Tanya Tagaq will appear at globalFEST thanks to support from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Foundation for Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR).

Tickets, which go on sale on November 10, cost $40 for general admission, with a special early-bird price of $35 for general public (18+) through November 30, and are available online at www.ticketmaster.com, or via telephone at 212-307-7171.

Tickets can be purchased with no service charges, cash only, at the Mercury Lounge 217 East Houston Street, Manhattan, Mondays - Saturdays, 12 noon - 7pm. For additional information, contact the World Music Institute box office at 212-545-7536. The artist line up is subject to change.

CALYPSO ROSE - The legendary Queen of Calypso
CHICHA LIBRE - Psychedelic surf cumbia from Brooklyn
Femi Kuti & The Positive Force - Afrobeat rebel torchbearer
HOT 8 BRASS BAND - New Orleans street party
KAILASH KHER'S KAILASA - Bollywood's Sufi pop idol
La Troba Kung-Fú - Barcelona's rumba catalana mestizos
L & O - Swinging French chanson
MARCIO LOCAL - Brazil's samba soul innovator
OCCIDENTAL BROTHERS Dance Band International - Chicago's Kings of Highlife
SHANBEHZADEH - Trance music and dance of Southern Iran
VALKYRIEN ALLSTARS - New dimensions in Norwegian hardanger fiddling
Tanya Tagaq - Canada's Inuit vocal experimentalist
WATCHA CLAN - Electric Mediterranean diaspora dance party

Photos:1 - La Troba Kung-Fu photo credit: Jep Brengaret;Photo 2: Shanbehzadeh Ensemble, photo credit Leraf

CD Review: Juaneco y Su Combo Masters of Chicha Vol. 1

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:52:06 +0000

On May 2, 1977 five members of Peruvian chicha band Juaneco y Su Combo died in a plane crash. Compounding the tragedy was the fact that the band were at the time the country’s most popular practitioners of the style, a wildly psychedelic, danceable blend of Colombian cumbia, Brazilian and Latin dance music and American surf rock with reverb guitar and trebly electronic organ. Over 20 years later, small but influential Brooklyn label Barbes Records has made a full album of the group’s work available for the first time ever outside Peru. It’s about time.

During its initial heyday in the 70s, chicha – like bachata in the Dominican and jazz here in the US – was strictly the province of the lower classes, scorned by the elite. Because of this, Juaneco y Su Combo were a regional band in the purist sense of the word. They adopted the traditional dress of the Shipibo Indian majority of their native city of Pucallpa and frequently made use of imagery from Shipibo mythology in their lyrics (such as they were – most of their songs were instrumentals). Perhaps what’s most striking about the band’s success is that the various elements of their music were all foreign. The latin rhythm is anchored by traditional Cuban percussion; bandleader Juan Wong Popolizio traded in his accordion for a Farfisa organ, and lead guitarist Noe Fachin – known as El Brujo (The Wizard) was a fan of the Ventures and the Shadows. Like most other bands of the era, another major influence on the group’s music was drugs. Fachin – among those killed in the plane crash - was a devotee of ayahuasca, a psychedelic common to the region. Perhaps as a result, this is the best high-velocity stoner music you’ll ever hear. As his nickname implies, Fachin had great speed on the fretboard, but his playing can be sloppy and sometimes either he or the band are noticeably out of tune. On much of the material here, all of them sound stoned, which only adds to the band’s woozy mystique. Like a lot of south-of-the-border music from the 70s, the overall sound is tinny, likely because much of this was recorded on the fly using low-budget gear.

The cd’s best songs follow a formula common to salsa, two minor-key chords alternating on the verse and building to a big crescendo on the chorus which Fachin would typically make the max of. Un Shipibo en Espana (famously covered by Chicha Libre, Barbes Records’ owner Olivier Conan’s band and perhaps the best chicha band ever) is a prime example. The single best song on the cd - written by their late bassist Walter Dominguez – is La Patadita, a deviously murky, minor-key blend of surf and salsa. Fachin’s Vacilando con Ayahuasca (High on Ayahuasca) isn’t the hallucinatory sidelong suite you might expect, but a ripoff of the Ventures’ version of Caravan (a Duke Ellington tune: what a fun and unexpected game of telephone this turned out to be!). On the cd’s last cut, Recordando a Fachin (Remembering Fachin), his replacement does an enviable job of emulating his trademark frenetic, hanging-over-the-cliff style. This cd’s closest relative, in spirit anyway, is German film composer Manfred Hubler’s legendary 1969 Vampiros Lesbos soundtrack. Except that you can dance to it.

Barbes Records – who have a franchise on chicha music outside Peru – have also played a substantial role in building renewed interest in the style’s originators right where it originated, with the latest version of Juaneco y Su Combo (still fronted by original singer Wilindoro Cacique) currently one of the country’s hottest live acts. It’s probably only a matter of time before these songs start getting picked up by American surf bands (how’s that for irony?) One can only hope for continuing releases in the Masters of Chicha series; for now, several other bands, including Los Mirlos, Los Destellos and Los Diablos Rojos are included on Barbes’ seminal anthology The Roots of Chicha, released last year.

CD Review: Brooklyn Rider Passport

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:37:56 +0000

Adventurous string quartet Brooklyn Rider have just released one of the year’s finest albums, Silent City (reviewed here recently), with brilliant Iranian composer/kamancheh (spike fiddle) player Kayhan Kalhor. In addition, this strikingly original, melodically rich and beautifully recorded collection showcases the group playing arrangements of dark Armenian folk songs as well as an original and two brief pieces by noted violist/composer Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin (also very recently reviewed here). It should resonate equally well with rock and world music audiences as well as classical fans: there’s literally something for everyone here.

The Armenian pieces are all brief, some to the point of being fragmentary. All but one of them are very dark. Vagharshabadi Dance kicks off the cd on a fast and somewhat furtive note. If the slow, sad, 6/8 Harvest Song is to be taken on face value, it’s a bitter harvest. It’s Cloudy is appropriately nebulous, punctuated by gentle pizzicato plucks. Festive Song isn’t exactly festive, although it’s upbeat, the cello walking a bassline as the strings weave a path overhead. Only on the aptly titled The Partridge does a sprightly arrangement manage to push the clouds away.

Brooklesca, by violinist Colin Jacobsen begins frenetic over a tricky time signature, with a darkly anticipatory edge much in the same vein as the group’s work with Kalhor that blends a latin feel with the crescendoing intensity of their ventures into Persian territory. The percussion lets the strings get ambient without ever losing sight of the piece’s underlying tension. It winds up to the very end on a delirious Balkan note.

La Muerte Chiquita is an imaginatively intense, fast instrumental reworking of Café Tacuba’s hypnotic, wah-wah guitar-driven mariachi-rock hit. The cd wraps up with the two Ljova compositions, Plume ranging from dark and nocturnal to atmospheric, Crosstown a beautiful, heartfelt tango that goes absolutely pitch-black before a remarkable transformation into a spiritual. Brooklyn Rider’s next New York performance is Dec 10 at 7 PM at Barbes, a rare and marvelous opportunity to see this magically rustic, haunting and pioneering group in an intimate setting.

New York City Live Music Calendar November-December 2008 Plus Other Events

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:10:05 +0000

Let’s be upfront about this: with the depression and all, lots of people aren’t going out. But good news: a lot of the stuff here is free and will take your mind off your troubles. Plus you won’t have to fight the crowds as much. Look – somebody has to support good music in this city. It might as well be us.

If you don’t recognize the place where one of these shows is taking place, click our venues page. As always, weekly events first, followed by the daily schedule:

First the weekly stuff, then the daily calendar.

Saturdays 11/8, 11/15 and 11/22 organiast John Scott continues a marathon of the complete organ works of Messiaen at St. Thomas Church, 4 PM. He’s done the complete works of Buxtehude not once but twice; his recording of the complete Mendelssohn organ sonatas is probably the best extant. Of all the great performances of the Messiaen centenary, these could be the most exciting.

Sundays from half past noon to 3:30 PM, bluegrass cats Freshly Baked (f.k.a. Graveyard Shift), featuring excellent, incisive fiddle player Diane Stockwell play Nolita House (upstairs over Botanica at 47 E Houston).

Every Sunday, Michael Arenella & the Dreamland Dance Band play sly yet boisterous oldtimey hot jazz during a brunch set at Bar Tabac on Smith St. in Brooklyn Heights from about half past noon to 4 PM.

Sundays Sean Kershaw & the Terrible Two (that’s the New Jack Ramblers minus a couple fingers & toes) play the upstairs roof deck at Rocky Sullivan’s, 34 Van Dyke St at Dwight St in Red Hook, 1-4 PM. Free ferry from Manhattan (pier 11,Wall St.) and free shuttle buses from the F&G trains at Smith-9th St, the F,M,R at 4th Ave, and the 2,3,4,5,M,N,R at Borough Hall.

The 2008-09 series of organ concerts at St. Thomas Church kicks off on September 14 and continues most every Sunday (certain holidays excepted) at 5:15 sharp, featuring a whole slew of world-renowned performers. Concerts continue through May 17 of next year.

Every Sunday the Ear-Regulars, led by trumpeter Jon Kellso and (frequently) guitarist Matt Munisteri play NYC’s only weekly hot jazz session starting around 8 PM at the Ear Inn on Spring St. Hard to believe, in the city that springboarded the careers of thousands of jazz legends, but true. This is by far the best value in town for marquee-caliber jazz: for the price of a drink and a tip for the band, you can see world-famous players (and brilliant obscure ones) you’d usually have to drop $100 for at some big-ticket room. The material is mostly old-time stuff from the 30s and 40s, but the players (especially Kellso and Munisteri, who have a chemistry that goes back several years) push it into some deliciously unexpected places.

Sundays at 8:30 PM Sasha Dobson plays Pete’s Candy Store. Jazz chanteuse on the serious Brazilian tip: musically, she’s where Snorah Jones should hope to be in five years.

Every Sunday, hip-hop MC Big Zoo hosts the long-running End of the Weak rap showcase at the Pyramid, 9 PM, admission $5 before 10, $7 afterward. This is one of the best places to discover some of the hottest under-the-radar hip-hop talent, both short cameos as well as longer sets from both newcomers and established vets.

Monday nights Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, a boisterous horn-driven 11-piece 1920s/early 30’s band play Sofia’s Restaurant, downstairs at the Edison Hotel, 221 West 46th Street between Broadway & 8th Ave., 3 sets from 8 to 11, surprisingly cheap $15 cover plus $15 minimum considering whaat you’re getting. Even before the Flying Neutrinos or the Moonlighters, multi-instrumentalist Giordano was pioneering the oldtimey sound in New York; his long-running residency at the old Cajun on lower 8th Ave. is legendary. He also gets a ton of film work (Giordano wrote the satirical number that Willie Nelson famously sang in Wag the Dog).

Also Mondays the Barbes house band, Chicha Libre plays there starting around 9:45. Chicha Libre are the sole American practitioners of chicha, a style popular in the Peruvian Amazon ghettos in the late 60s and early 70s. With electric accordion, cuatro, surf guitar and a boisterous rhythm section, their hypnotic, reverb-drenched mix of obscure psychedelic surf/cumbia/rock classics and originals is one of the funnest, most danceable things you’ll witness this year. Lately they’ve been expanding their repertoire to include not only their often hilarious, hypnotic originals but also covers of period pieces as well as chichafied rock songs. If you get lucky they’ll play their amped-up version of the Clash classic Guns of Brixton.

Mondays in November (and pretty much every month, when he’s not on tour), Rev. Vince Anderson and his band play Black Betty in Williamsburg, two sets starting around 10:30 PM. The Rev. is one of the great keyboardists around, equally thrilling on organ or electric piano, an expert at Billy Preston style funk, honkytonk, gospel and blues. He writes very funny, very politically astute, frequently salacious original gospel songs and is one of the great live performers of our time. Moist Paula from Moisturizer is the lead soloist on baritone sax.

Tuesdays El Ritmo Southside plays Rose Bar in Williamsburg, 11 PM. Instrumental covers of classic, Fania-era salsa, mambo, cha-cha, rhumba etc.: Palmieri, Puente, Barretto, et al. featuring superb vibraphonist Tommy Mattioli and a rotating rhythm section.

Also every Tues in Nov. beginning 11/18, the boisterous and very popular brass-heavy gypsy jazz band Slavic Soul Party plays Barbes at 9. Get here as soon as you can as the opening act is usually popular as well.

Every Wednesday, Will Scott and drummer Wylie Wirth play mesmerizing, hypnotic, completely authentic Mississippi hill country blues along with Scott’s own melodic, tuneful blues originals at 68 Jay St. Bar in Dumbo, starting around 8:30 PM. Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside and Asie Payton are sadly gone but Scott continues their tradition of music that is as danceable as it is trance-inducing, and does his influences justice.

Also every Wednesday, the Nat Lucas Organ Trio plays jazz at Lenox Lounge uptown, sets from 8 PM to midnight.

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Sat Nov 1 the Mark Whitfield Quartet at Cachaca, sets 7:30/9 PM, $10 + $15 at tables. Purist jazz guitarist: clean tone, fast precise playing, tons of melody, he can cool it and play straight blues if he’s in the mood.

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Also Sat Nov 1 keyboardist/singer Greta Gertler plays the Bell House in Gowanus, Brooklyn, 8 PM. Artsy, classically inflections along with blues and ragtime. Quirky and funny but often dark as hell, and she’s a badass player.

Also at the Knit, 8ish, “3 floors of ska” incl. the Toasters, Pietasters, Hub City Stompers, Deals Gone Bad, Sonic Boom Six, Kofre, Warsaw Poland Bros., Void Union, Green Room Rockers, Los Landrones, Unlikely Alibi, Jonny Meyers, adv tix $17 at the box office

Also Sat Nov 1 Girl Friday plays a rare acoustic duo show at Pete’s, 9 PM. Melodic, minimalist, garage-inflected songs with imaginative structures, unaffected vocals from frontwoman/guitarist Amanda Dora

Also Sat Nov 1 the French Exit plays Maxwell’s, 9 PM. Darkly spiky duo, guitar, percussion and vocals. Soul music is the main influence although they sound like the Dirty Three backing Cat Power albeit without Ms. Marshall’s unfortunate Sarah McLachlan fixation.

Also Sat Nov 1 Greek rebetika hellraisers Magges play Mehanata, 10 PM, free adm before 10:30. Soaring ouzo ballads, hypnotic hash-smoking anthems, psychedelic and gripping interplay between guitar, electric bouzouki and Susan Mitchell’s evil, gypsyish violin. Good choice of Saturday night party band.

Also Sat Nov 1 the Disclaimers and then Jerry Teel & the Big City Stompers at Spikehill, 10 PM. The openers – one of the half-dozen best rock acts in town right now - blend guitar, organ and violin for a powerful and sometimes hauntingly artsy garage rock feel, and the two women in the band who sing have terrific pipes and charisma. The headliners feature the LES noir legend returning to his dark and sometimes hypnotic roots, mixing in plenty of garage, some Stonesy riff-rock, a little country and stuff from his previous project Knoxville Girls. That’s Jerome O’Brien from the Dog Show on bass, pushing the juggernaut along.

Also Sat Nov 1 Johnny Allen plays Terra Blues, 10 PM. Chicago blues guitarist/singer. One of the city’s finest vocalists, a real soul man, and a dangerous player especially when he hits the volume pedal and cuts loose with a smartly incisive solo.

Also Sat Nov 1 Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad – who do dub reggae as hypnotically and imaginatively as Lee Scratch Perry albeit with better equipment - at Sullivan Hall, 11 PM

Also Sun Nov 2, 8 PM Love Camp 7 at the Habeas Lounge, 8 PM, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave. Jangly, literate, two-guitar psychedelic throwbacks. Beatlesque (as in Sgt. Pepper), funny, politically aware and with perhaps the best rock drummer around (who also sings).

Also Sun Nov 2, 8 PM at Spikehill Mark Sinnis followed by Royal Pine. The Ninth House frontman’s solo stuff is the closest thing to Johnny Cash’s Rick Rubin albums you’ll ever see live; headliner Royal Pine is irrepressibly charming oldtimey chanteuse Robin Aigner’s ukulele act.

Also Sun Nov 2, 8 PM Meg Okura’s pretty much self-explanatory Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble plays at Drom, $15

Mon Nov 3 Manze Dayila plays her innovative, bouncily captivating Haitian reggae/downtempo chanteuse stuff at Joe’s Pub, 7 PM, $15, download her free Barack Obama tribute here

Tues Nov 4 you’re voting for Obama. Right? If your boss doesn’t give you the day off, take the next day off and we’ll all celebrate.

Tues Nov 4 Whiting Tennis of the Scholars at Lit, 10 PM. The Pacific Northwest gothic artist is also a Pacific Northwest gothic songwriter: talk about consistency of vision. Electric Neil Young is the obvious influence, but Tennis is far darker and more sardonic, and an excellent wordsmith as well. He’s also at Pete’s on Nov 6 at 9.

Also Tues Nov 4, Mr. Lif is at the Knit, 11ish. Smartly literate, politically aware hip-hop

Also Tues Nov 4 through Sun Nov 9 it’s the Django Reinhardt festival at Birdland, sets at 8:30 and 11, $35 gen adm feat. Samson Schmitt, Andreas Oberg, Ludovic Beier, Jean Baptiste Schmitt, Kruno Spisic, Timbo, Brian Torff

Weds Nov 5 Witches in Bikinis play Kenny’s Castaways, 10:30 PM. A meticulously choreographed, wickedly funny parody of all things ghastly and ghoulish from pop culture – bad horror movies, monsters, stalkers, surf music etc. Great fun and completely original, and the band isn’t bad either.

Also Weds Nov 5 Kreisor (ex /Aytobach Kreisor) with the always reliably good George Porfiris on bass at Ace of Clubs, midnight. Like fast Deep Purple but not stupid.

Thurs Nov 6 the NY Scandia Symphony is at Trinity Church, 1 PM, free, program TBA.

Also Thurs Nov 6 at Banjo Jim’s 7:30 the rousing Jamie Lyn and the Redtail Hawk Band playing country and bluesgrass followed at 9 by self-described “big city hick” and Minnie Pearl soundalike Lindy Loo’s Country Cuzins with many special guests

Also Thurs Nov 6 the New Millennium Ensemble play Messiaen’s The Blackbird and also Quartet for the End of Time at Symphony Space, 8 PM, tix $35. With pianists pianists Ursula Oppens and Jerome Lowenthal performing Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen

Also Thurs Nov 6 pioneering early 80s reggae/hardcore hybrid the Bad Brains (original members? dunno) at Irving Plaza, 8:30 PM adv tix $26.50

Also Thurs Nov 6 Little Annie & Paul Wallfisch play songs from their new cd When Good Things Happen to Bad Pianos at Santos Party House, 10ish, $10 adv tix available at the club. Smoky-voiced chanteuse Little Annie is an underground legend, a former dub reggae siren who’s finally grown into her current specialty, September songs: there is no one more affecting, more haunting or beautifully funny at it. Botanica frontman Wallfisch is the only rock pianist who belongs in the same sentence as Steve Nieve, an absolute master of menace.

Also Thurs Nov 6 speaking of menace, Rachelle Garniez is back at Barbes, 10 PM. But she’s a lot more than menace. One of the two or three most charismatic live performers in town, along with Tammy Faye Starlite and Rev. Vince Anderson, she plays mainly accordion (but also piano and guitar), has effortless and often very funny command of every retro style of music (jazz, saloon blues, noir cabaret, ska, psychedelic rock, you name it) and is an extraordinary lyricist.

Also Thurs Nov 6 John Brown’s Body at Bowery Ballroom, 10ish, $15 adv tix at the Mercury. Long-running upstate reggae band, equally skilled at dub. Good vibes and great atmospherics – and an electric pianist with a wah-wah pedal.

Fri Nov 7 at Barbes the Carducci String Quartet plays at 8 followed by smartly literate, tongue-in-cheek, rootsy guitar/lapsteel-and-drums duo Kill Henry Sugar at 9:30ish.

Also Fri Nov 7 Cordero plays BAM Café, free, 9 PM. This jangly, female-fronted rock en Espanol band (led by the former Bee & Flower drummer, now on guitar) just gets better and better.

Also Sat Nov 8 LJ Murphy plays a rare duo show at Banjo Jim’s, 7 PM accompanied by talented Dutch blues pianist Robert Bosscher. An intensely charismatic, defiant, wickedly literate performer, Murphy is as acerbic and spot-on a chronicler of the here-and-now as James McMurtry and a whole lot louder.

Sat Nov 8 Des Roar plays Arlene’s, 8 PM. Loud, savagely satirical, punkish two-guitar rockers, the missing link between the Dead Boys and the Jesus & Mary Chain. Best singer in the band is their drummer, who takes a turn or two behind the mic. Their song Ted Bundy Was a Ladies Man is a strong contender for best of 2008.

Also Sat Nov 8, 8 PM Above the Fold at Ace of Clubs, 8 PM – vox not their strong suit but their melodic jangly meandering gives them a feel something akin to the American Frames – lots of melodic fills, like Built to Spill might sound like if Doug whatsisname wasn’t such a self-indulgent bozo

Also Sat Nov 8 Those Darlins at Southpaw, 10 PM. Absolutely charming, completely authentic and disarming group of women playing oldtimey country stuff.

Also Sat Nov 8 Jesse Bates’ Flying Guitars at Lakeside, 11 PM. Basically a bar band (including members of the Fleshtones) with funny lyrics. Bates is a big guy and looks like the last person you’d ever expect to see fronting a band. But when he asks you if you’ll be his neighbor of course you can’t resist. Always a good time with this crew.

Also Sat Nov 8 Meta & the Cornerstones at Joe’s Pub, 11:30 PM. Real authentic 70s roots reggae, Peter Tosh/Burning Spear style with guitars, keys, horns and an appropriately conscious lyricism.

Also Sat Nov 8 a super expensive but worthy black tie benefit at Soho Dance Center, 598 Broadway at Houston, Sixth Floor, $150, 100% of proceeds go to the Tattoo Scholarship Program for Breast Cancer Survivors. Open bar, chef April Bloomfield of the Spotted Pig provides hors d’oeuvres, “eclectic silent auction,” bellydancing by the graceful Layla Isis, fashion show by cutting-edge couture duo Anie Rexe (Edina S. and Heather Jordan) and live show by the flamingly divaesque, completely over-the-top glam band Semi Precious Weapons. You know that silly song Her Hair Is On Fire? That’s them.

Also Sun Nov 9, early afternoon, 1 PM Reverend Billy’s “Hot & Holy Highline Revival” w/The Stop Shopping Gospel Choir + Not Buying It Band at Highline Ballroom playing the cd release for the new one Shopocalypse, tix $12

Also Sun Nov 9 in the afternoon, 3 PM the Turtle Island String Quartet plays Coltrane’s A Love Supreme at Merkin Concert Hall, tix $30

Also Sun Nov 9 a cool jazzy evening at Barbes with the Four Bags at 7, playing imaginatively jazzy and bluesy reworkings of everything from oldtimey stuff to the Beatles, followed by Django Reinhardt scholar Stephane Wrembel – who’s been redefining Roma guitar jazz in all sorts of exciting new ways – around 9:30.

Also Sun Nov 9 the Second Fiddles at Spikehill, 10 PM. Bracingly upbeat oldtimey hokum blues and ragtime with violin and guitars.

Also Tues Nov 11 Natacha Atlas and her acoustic Middle Eastern ensemble playing songs from her career-best, heavily Fairuz-influenced new cd Ana Hina at B.B.King’s, adv tix $27 at the box office.

Tues Nov 11 Custard Wally and their self-described, deceptively intelligent “sexually explicit three-minute songs” and similar satirical fare at Trash Bar, 9 PM

Also Tues Nov 11 Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3 – the best straight-up rock band in the world right now, with their noisy guitar duels and vast back catalog of classic noir rock songs at Lakeside 10ish, early arrival a MUST

Upcoming (we’ll try to get the whole month up before the election so we can all celebrate):

11/12 at Kennys’ Castaways starting at 7: Whisperado, the Shithouse Lilies, Survival Suit and Tokyo Tramps

11/12 Susan Tedeschi at Irving Plaza, 9ish, adv tix expensive $31.50 at the box office

11/12 the Ukuladies at the Stone, 10 PM

11/13 Mascott at Union Hall, 7:30 PM

11/13 Tarras Band at Barbes 8 PM

11/13 Carol Lipnik & Spoookarama at the Zipper Theatre, 8 PM

11/13 at Symphony Space, 8 PM Ankush Bahl conducts the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra on a bill featuring Smetana’s The Moldau, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with pianist Gabriela Martinez, and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7

11/13 Willie Nile solo at the Cutting Room 8 PM

11/13 Jolie Holland at Highline Ballroom, 10ish, adv tix $17 recommended at the box ofc

11/13 Sonny Rhodes at Terra Blues, 10 PM

11/14 horn-driven ska/punk the Avon Junkies and the more oldschool ska band Royal City Riot at Bowery Poetry Club, early 6 PM

11/14 James McMurtry at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, 10 PM, tix $20 available at the Mercury

11/14, 21, 28, 12/5, 9 PM Katie Elevitch residency at Banjo Jim’s

11/14 8:30 PM Nicole Atkins & the Sea at Bowery Ballroom, adv tix $16 at the Mercury

11/14 12:30 AM (actually 11/15) Squidda at Ace of Clubs – good imaginative band – a litt;e reggae, funk, surf, dub, ska, plus they do a stoner pro-Obama song.

11/15 Quavers/Jack Grace Barbes 8 PM

11/15-16 Rev. Horton Heat at the Gramercy Theatre, adv tix $26 at the Irving Plaza box office

11/15 Tower of Power at B.B. King’s, 8 and 10:30 PM, adv tix $30 at the box office

11/15 and 11/21 Black 47 at Connolly’s, 10 PM

11/16, 3 PM the Greenwich Village Orchestra plays Saint Saens - Cello Concerto; Dvorak - Silent Woods, and Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique at Washington Irving HS Aud., tix insanely cheap, $15

11/17 Dasvibenbass at Rose Bar/Smalls on 11/18

11/17 Iron & Wine at Terminal 5, adv tix $28 at the Mercury

11/18 the Tim Kuhl Group play melodic, tuneful jazz at Lakeside, 10 PM

11/18 a good Sephardic band night at le Poisson Rouge, $10 with Electro Morocco, ska man King Django, Israeli jam band Piamenta, Diwon, terrific Middle Eastern/gypsy rocker Smadar Levi, gentle and somewhat ethereal Israeli janglerockers Blue Fringe and a bunch of rappers

11/19 AA Bondy at the Mercury, 10:30 PM, $10

11/19 Ansambl Mastika at Rose Bar, 9 PM

11/20 Liu Fang (Chinese pipa virtuoso) at Symphony Space, 7:30 PM, adv tix $28 at the World Music Institute boxoffice

11/20 Andy Statman followed by Matt Munisteri at Barbes 8 PM

11/21 Prima Ballerina (Tammy Faye Starlite’s hilarious NY Dolls cover band) at the Cutting Room, time TBA

11/21 the Coffin Daggers at Branch Brook Park Roller Skating Center, 7th Ave & Clifton Ave, Newark, time TBA

11/21 Purple K’nif at Lakeside, 11 PM

11/22 Rasputina at the Bell House, 8:30 PM, adv tix $18

11/22 at Barbes 8 PM: Brian Carpenter’s Ghost Train Orchestra

11/22 Simon & the Bar Sinisters at Lakeside, 10ish

11/22 Tri-State Conspiracy at Bowery Poetry club 10 PM

11/23 Huun Huur Tu at le Poisson Rouge, adv tix $25 at the box office

11/28 Mr. Action & the Boss Guitars play surf music at Lakeside, 11 PM

12/5 Squirrel Nut Zippers at Southpaw, 9 PM, $25

12/6 punk/hardcore the Blackout Shoppers at Passout Records, 131 Grand St. (near Berry) 4 PM, free

12/12 Jan Bell and Steve Earle at the Brooklyn Lyceum, 8 PM

12/16 and 12/31 Black 47 at Connolly’s, 10 PM

12/20 the Slackers at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, 9 PM, adv tix $15 at the Mercury

12/27 the False Prophets (or what’s left of them) and others at ABC No Rio

1/7/09 Robert Gordon & Chis Spedding BB King’s 8 PM $25

CD Review: The Roots of Chicha

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:50:37 +0000

What the soundtrack to The Harder They Come was for reggae, what the Nuggets anthology was for garage rock, The Roots of Chicha promises to be for chicha. Like Australian country music, Japanese salsa or British rock, chicha is a quintessentially urban kind of alchemy, in this case a creation of the oil-boom cities of Peru beginning in the late 60s and continuing throughout the 80s where musicians raised on sounds from south of the border picked up electronic instruments and started mixing in surf music and psychedelic rock. Like bachata in the Dominican Republic or blues here in the US, the ruling classes in Peru scorned it. The radio didn’t play it and it was largely confined to the slums. Where it thrived.

The 17 tracks here are hypnotic and incredibly fun. Some of this sounds like scary surf music. Some sounds like salsa played by a psychedelic rock band (think early Santana without the 20-minute jams), with tinny guitars using all kinds of cheap effects. The beat is like ska but slower, and it swings more, but not as much as reggae. The feel is raw, direct and lo-fi; some would call it primitive. A labor of love created by Barbes Records’ Olivier Conan (leader of the sole American chicha band, Chicha Libre, whose intoxicatingly good debut cd just came out this year), this is the anthology that brought chicha out of Peru for the first time. None of the tracks here have ever been released outside the country, which is more surprising than it is tragic because these songs are so delightful. This is party music, after all (chicha is to Peru what malt liquor is here), and you don’t need to speak Spanish to appreciate it.

The Roots of Chicha includes song by five of the most pioneering chicha bands from the late 60s and early 70s. Los Mirlos open and close the cd on a similar note with tersely eerie, one-chord jams with the same mood as Egyptian Reggae by the Ventures, but stranger. They also contribute El Milagro Verde (The Green Miracle), another spooky, tinny reverb-guitar instrumental which is sort of the chicha national anthem, along with Muchachita del Oriente (Little Asian Girl), a party song that has nothing remotely Asian about it. Los Hijos del Sol are represented by another bouncing, incisively reverberating instrumental as well as two characteristically minor-key vocal numbers, the guitar taking off with the central catchy hook on the chorus.

Juaneco y Su Combo have three songs included here. Vacilando con Ayahuasca (High on Ayahuasca, a native psychedelic) isn’t the long psychedelic suite you’d assume but rather a catchy instrumental punctuated by a woman’s orgasmic sighs! Another faster instrumental sounds like a ripoff of Muchachita del Oriente - or maybe Muchachita del Oriente rips this off. Obviously there was a lot of cross-pollination going on. The third track is remarkably different, with a considerable Afro-Cuban influence.

Los Hijos del Sol follow what seems to be an effective and popular formula, verses that come straight out of salsa, with a lot of call-and-response to get the party going, followed by surfy guitar on the choruses. Los Destellos contribute a gorgeously hooky instrumental, A Patricia, that with a little exposure ought to be picked up by surf bands everywhere, as well as a vocal number and the world’s funniest Beethoven cover. Los Diablos Rojos manage to be both the most overtly surfy and most overtly latin of the bands here, equal parts dazzling Dick Dale tremolo guitar and third-generation Cuban son. There’s also a cut by electric banjoist Eusebio y Su Banjo, the defiant Mi Morena Rebelde (My Rebel Girl) which is more of a traditional cumbia than anything else here. Barbes Records continues to mine the rich vein of classic chicha with a brand-new anthology of songs by Juaneco y Su Combo, available for the first time outside Peru.

If the concept of seeing this stuff live intrigues you, Chicha Libre includes some of these songs in their set along with their sometimes even wilder originals. They play Barbes pretty much every Monday at 9:45ish, early arrival always a good idea.

Un, Deux, Trois

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:06:52 +0000

French guitarist Stephane Wrembel can almost play faster than ears can listen. Before the brain can really register every precisely filigreed ornamentation, every breathtaking swoop and swerve into unexpected territory, before it has time to involuntarily voice amazement, Wrembel is laying down another beautifully formed and emotionally ripe idea at light speed. Meanwhile, he’s breathing new life into the rakish repertoire of “jazz manouche ,” or traveler jazz. He's taking well-loved and well-worn staples such as “Nuages,” “Douce Ambiance” and “Minor Swing” on short trips to North Africa, Nashville, India and Spain; turning the bebop standard “Night in Tunisia” into a Djangoesque delight, and spicing his acoustic performances with riffs inspired by rock giants Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix. This weekend, Stephane Wrembel’s The Django Experiment, featuring Simon Planting on bass (with rhythm guitarist Teddy G and percussionist Richard Lee), headlines the 2008 New Mexico Django Fest. Produced by Albuquerque guitarist John Sandlin of Le Chat Lunatique, the festival takes place at various venues (see box) and offers everything from sit-down concertizing to dance workshops (the latter in conjunction with the Albuquerque Lindy Exchange). Featured performers include Le Chat Lunatique, Mango fan Django, Hot Club of Phoenix, Hot Club of Santa Fe, Zoltan Orkestar, Swing from Paris (United Kingdom) and more. From a Sedate Beginning ... Born in Paris and raised in Fontainebleau, Wrembel began his musical training in a classical manner on piano at the age of 4, and his decidedly unrakish accomplishments—prize-winning performances in the Lucien Wurmser competition and at the National Conservatory of Aubervillier—held little hint of what was to come. Wrembel picked up the guitar at age 15 because “I wanted to play ‘Is There Anybody Out There’—Pink Floyd,” he says. “Anyway, I wanted to play everything by Pink Floyd. It’s my favorite band of all time.” Wrembel attended the American School of Modern Music in Paris, where jazz entered the picture for him. “I didn’t know jazz at all, really. ... I really wanted to study jazz because I knew if I wanted to go further in music, I had to have an understanding of improvisation and jazz. When I went to school, I had to buy some jazz, so I wanted to buy a guitar player playing jazz. So it was—oh, Django Reinhardt, because it was big and he was French. “I listened to that 1949 version of ‘Minor Swing,’ and they’re like magical notes. I don’t know how to explain,” he says. “It’s like notes that I never heard before, like a way of playing that I never—that was the first time that I really sit down and listen to Django specifically, and I was blown away.” Campfires to Conservatory Inspired by the CD and by the Roma playing at the Django festival in Fontainebleau, Wrembel began teaching himself to play jazz manouche . His studies with Moreno, Angelo Debarre and Serge Krief led to an introduction to Romani musicians, and Wrembel was soon visiting Romani campsites “a few times a week, and spending the day playing,” he says. A scholarship to Berklee College of Music brought Wrembel to the States, where he studied modern jazz, Indian, African and Middle Eastern music. In his playing and compositions, he’s imported all of these into the jazz manouche style, maintaining contact with the music’s roots while allowing it to branch into new territories. Into the Jungle From Berklee, he headed to New York City, where he still lives, fed by the city’s “jungle lifestyle.” “You gotta survive, man. Somebody’s gonna eat you alive,” he says, laughing. Wrembel released his first CD— Introducing Stephane Wrembel, featuring classic jazz manouche tunes—shortly after his arrival in the city. Two more have followed since: Barbes-Brooklyn, which presents a number of Wrembel originals, and 2008’s Terre des Hommes, an original suite he describes as “a soundtrack for your imagination.” “Music is always dressing up the moment," he says. " Terre des Hommes is not too much focused on the notes, but focused on emotions and imagination, visions behind the songs.” Wrembel sees the musician as “a trigger to emotions and imagination,” and he’ll drop the hammer on you if you’re listening.