LONDON - There was no national anthem played Sunday night in Queen
Elizabeth Hall, at the opening of the concert by L'Orchestre National
de Barbes.  Instead, as the music began, several members of the audience
got up and started dancing in the aisles.

Among the dancers must have been some ethnomusicologists.  You couldn't
blame them if they celebrated the orchestra's wildly eclectic, wildly
exuberant mix of North African music (from Gnawa to Chaabi), jazz, pop,
and rock.  With Cheb Nacim, a young, tall, charismatic Algerian singer
in front, ONB uses a collection of ancient and modern instruments to
create a sound that would be glorious if only not consistently
overamplified.

If you can't find Barbes on the world map, try a guidebook to Paris.
Somewhere near the center of the city is a colorful section, regarded
by caution by most outsiders, viewed as a free state by its inhabitants,
who have historically created Barbes' own laws and rules (especially of
non-rental occupancy), flag and even revenue collection (seldom enforced).
In addition, since the early 1980s, Barbes has had its own "national
orchestra."

With Paris-resident Algerians, Moroccans, Egyptians, and one blond
spike-haired Australian, ONB is rich in energy and rhythm, surprisingly
short on mellow aspects of folk music.  Of course, this being London,
the solution is just a few steps away - in the Purcell Room.  There,
Raga Nova is also amplified, but its mix of North Indian music, jazz and
samba has more dynamic variety than the Barbesians.

Dharambir Singh (sitar), Partha Sarathi Mukherjee (tabla), and Sri R N
Prakash (ghatam) have been playing with the great saxophonist Jesse
Bannister for some time now, and the resulting sound is quite spectacular.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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