Orchestre National de Barbès - En Concert [Live]

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Orchestre National de Barbès - En Concert [Live]

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Barbes, The Africanised suburb of Paris, could well declare its sovereignty on the strength of En Concert, an exhilarating live recording from this 17-strong conglomerate of French, Algerian, Moroccan, and Portuguese musicians. Traditional Rai, Andalusian, Moroccan, and Maghreb instruments and cultures mesh seamlessly with electric bass, keyboards, and horns to create an incendiary multicultural rave up that is nevertheless propelled by the spiritual fervor of tradition. Fusing Gnawa Trance, Reggae, Rai, jazzy grooves, and intelligent lyrics, the Orchestre National rip through 12 dramatically paced songs, at times mixing the canniness of Weather Report, the passion of Flamenco, and the exuberance of a chorus at a soccer match. Already hailed as one of the best live world music albums of all time, En Concert is an earthy celebration that evokes a tangible sense of place from the sum of its parts, happily liberated from intellectual or colonial posturing. – Derek Rath

Imagine a Middle Eastern Big Band Playing for a Multi-ethnic Parisian Crowd and You'll Get an Idea of How this CD Sounds…

Orchestre National de Barbes

Can music teach us geography? "Well, of course" is the answer……maybe through raising our awareness to certain areas of the world, but it does.

For many, few years ago, Cesaria Evora made us aware that 'Cape Verde' are the small, otherwise unnoticed, islands off the coast of West Africa. Back in the 1980's, the rock group, The Clash, introduced many college partygoers to the existence of a Casbah and which part of the world it is in. And more recently, Orchestre National de Barbes put that piece of Africa on the map.

But unlike the implications which the band's name has, Barbes in not a country and it is not in Africa either. Barbes is, one might say, a piece of Africa stranded in the heart of Paris . It is the neighborhood at the foot of Sacre Coeur that is inhabited by many diverse and varied cultures- mainly of those who move to it from Al-Maghreb (the North African Arabic countries of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia).

Vivid and exotic images are painted to describe the culturally rich quarters. "One can eat couscous and buy dutch wax, drink mint tea in smoke-filled bars where dominos slap on oil cloth table tops, while Middle Eastern sounds flow down from blaring television sets". In Barbes one "can just about believe that you' re no longer in Europe but rather in a small corner of Africa" .

However, Barbes is not a tourist attraction or images of an exotic place that appeal to those seeking an adventure of a different kind. Barbes is home away from home for tens of thousands of people who bring with them the heritage and cultures from which they descend. They pour it all into one pool that makes up the face of a community existent amidst the European Culture. Then in order to understand the essence of Barbes, one has to look at the individual pieces that are its make up. And if Orchestre National de Barbes is a reflection of the community (as the name indicates), the same would need to be done for the band.

Orchestre National de Barbes is the cumulative input of twelve musicians who bring with them their varied cultural and musical cultivation. Five of them make up the music composition force behind the band. Yucef boukella, the base player, vocalist, and 'chef d'orchestre', was born and raised in Algeria. His music experience is varied; rai, kabyle, rock and underground jazz are some of the genres which he's played. Aziz Sahmaoui, on the vocals and percussion, grew up in Morocco being nourished on a combination of gnawa Arab-African beat and British-American Pop. Larbi Dida, a vocalist as well, comes from the town of Sidi Bel Abbes in Algeria. He was the founding member of rai's rock group Raina Rai, which zeroed in on a roots-meets-electric sound. Fateh Benelala, vocalist and mandol player (an instrument similar to the Arabic lute-oud), comes from the Algier Casbah. He was initiated into the Arab-Andalusian classical music at El Mossilia School but quickly turned to study chaabi music, a folk style derivativre of the classical genre. Kamel Tenfishe is the young blood in the band. Born in France but equally rooted in his Meghribi ancestral culture, he is the king of Ragga rhythm. H e contributes to the percussion and vocals of the band. Four of the seven members left are French with the rest being Algerian; all as diverse and musically as skilled as the five mentioned above.

The band was born three years ago, in the back stages of different festivals around Europe, where the musicians, playing with varied artist and musical styles, have met over the years. Yucef and Aziz at the helm, a vision was born to create something that represents the multi-cultural and ethnic beauty of Barbes. One that doesn't fuse but rather glue the different pieces together in an innovative and carefully refined fashion, without compromising the authenticity of each of the pieces. Their music was to be a journey through the Maghreb via Morocco, algeria, Kabyle and at times, Tunisia but only in the sense that those countries exist as a part of a bigger world.

The vision became a reality in many ways. There were arrangements for friends and solo recordings for the band's vocalist. But a recording that reflects the full band's manifestation of the dream was imminent. A recording session was held in public on November 7th and 8 th, 1996 at the Agora theater in Evry. Shortly afterward, a debut CD simply titled, En Concert (in concert), was released in Europe. The US release of the CD came in June of this year on the Tinder label.

The music is one that whisks you from one style to another with great skills. Rai, kabyle, tuareg, gnawa, chaabi, ragga mufin, rock, jazz and roots are all present with an underlining pop tone that makes it very appealing to everybody's taste, no matter which culture they come from.

For Orchestre National de Barbes, innovation and tradition are not seen as opposites. Aziz explains: "our music is 100% tradition and 100% innovation molded with 100% of our hearts and souls ..the traditional instrument is compatible with the modern way of playing music. After we have studied the instruments and traditions of our culture sufficiently, it is our right and duty to convey them to the rest of the world in a way that is comprehensible to them".

This ability of creating a cross cultural product yet capturing the spirit of their cultural heritage lies at the heart of what makes Orchestre National de Barbes the great band that they are. But why a live recording for a debut? The members of ONB stress repeatedly that they are a live band first and foremost and, if you've ever seen a live performance of theirs, you quickly understand why. Whether it is the pounding rhythm of Alaoui, the mournful sound of, the chaabi influenced, Ma Ychali, or the howling of Alain's clarinet coupled with the sweet voice of Aziz painting the Sahara desert, it is very clear that these guys love to perform together; they compliment and know each other so well. There is such a wonderful sense of humility among them with each being a star, but none willing to shine alone. There is a magical mood that happens on stage; one that echoes the base and drum of distant village festivals, inducing a trance-like, yet highly energetic feel into the performance. They improvise so skillfully and with such ease creating music that is clearly enjoyed by the performers on stage and their audience alike.

Whether you are listening to the CD or listening to a live performance, from the first note to the last, ONB is pure delight to hear and watch. And if their music is truly a reflection of the sub-culture of Barbes, then its streets are where I will be the very next time I have a choice in where to go. (article was writen for Critique Houston Magazine, 1999)

EAC LOG

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4. May 2009

EAC extraction logfile from 19. August 2009, 16:13

Orchestre National de Barbes / En Concert

Used drive : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GH22NS40 Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Burst

Read offset correction : 0
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : No
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Not detected, thus appended to previous track

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.01 | 5:44.67 | 1 | 25867
2 | 5:44.68 | 4:17.47 | 25868 | 45189
3 | 10:02.40 | 5:34.21 | 45190 | 70260
4 | 15:36.61 | 6:56.59 | 70261 | 101519
5 | 22:33.45 | 7:06.56 | 101520 | 133525
6 | 29:40.26 | 5:51.45 | 133526 | 159895
7 | 35:31.71 | 4:00.01 | 159896 | 177896
8 | 39:31.72 | 7:34.17 | 177897 | 211963
9 | 47:06.14 | 5:41.24 | 211964 | 237562
10 | 52:47.38 | 7:45.18 | 237563 | 272455
11 | 60:32.56 | 7:02.41 | 272456 | 304146
12 | 67:35.22 | 5:42.33 | 304147 | 329829


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Track 6

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Track 8

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Track 11

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Track 12

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No errors occurred

End of status report

Tracklist

1. Mimouna
2. Sawye
3. Hagda
4. Savon
5. Zawiya
6. Salam
7. Labou
8. Ma Ychali
9. Toura
10. Chalini
11. Alaoui
12. Dor Biha

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