http://afropopshop.org/New Music From Les Yeux Noirs on Calabash Music2008-11-21T06:31:53ZThe Calabash Music Teamsupport@calabashmusic.comBalamoukhttp://lesyeuxnoirs.afropopshop.org/#album_622612006-12-12T07:40:55ZMusic from BalamoukBalamouk (literally, ‘insane asylum’) is an irresistible invitation to participate in some of the most rhythmic and emotional sounds emanating from any part of the world. Part gypsy, part klezmer, this is the music that has moved people to sing and dance around the world for centuries. With each frenetic stroke of their bows, Les Yeux Noirs (The Black Eyes) take the listener further into a dizzying vortex of Central European sounds and images. This wild group of Frenchmen is keeping alive the styles of eastern Europe's gypsies and Jews, two peoples who share similar musical traditions and a history of persecution. Les Yeux Noirs took their name from the title of a Russian gypsy tune that jazz guitar sensation Django Reinhardt made famous in the 1930s.]]>Livehttp://lesyeuxnoirs.afropopshop.org/#album_622752006-12-12T07:40:55ZMusic from LiveOn their live album, Les Yeux Noirs play a highly energized set of songs including favorites from their hit record Balamouk, the band’s first for World Village, released in June 2002. Balamouk, in combination with an extensive US tour were met with widespread acclaim including 2 separate NPR features. This new live album catches Les Yeux Noirs at their best, entertaining the crowds with a joyous combination of technical wizardry and powerful but sensitive vocals.]]>Tchorbahttp://lesyeuxnoirs.afropopshop.org/#album_622942006-12-12T07:40:55ZMusic from TchorbaGiven the sources involved, it is not surprising that most of the tracks on Les Yeux Noirs' new CD Tchorba originated in Eastern Europe or from the still-flourishing Manouche scene - but virtually everything else is unexpected in one way or another. A consort of instruments, both traditional and not-so, including violins, cello, double bass, accordion, guitar, keyboards, cimbalom (hammer dulcimer), drums and percussion are given a propulsive thrust by judiciously applied touches of cutting-edge programming and samples. The lyrics, sung in Yiddish, Romani and French, express love as experienced by a man and woman but especially, between parent and child; also bitterness in old age, estrangement and always lurking just beneath, the theme of wandering, as constant metaphor or imminent reality, whether in the past, looming on the morrow or running in the blood. The album is resonantly soulful, sometimes mordantly funny and almost always compulsively danceable; even the ballads hit the hips as well as the heart. But each song is underpinned by a fugitive strand of melancholy that imbues even the most manic melody with the import of indestructible race memory, a cumulative gift bestowed by uncountable anonymous and unsung musical lives.]]>