WOMAD

Orchestre National de Barbes

From Algeria, France, Morocco, Tunisia

2001 BiographyBarbès is the original Parisian immigrant ghetto. Although many of the North African and African families who arrived there in the 50s, 60 and 70s have now moved away, voluntarily or by force of cunning social engineering by the city authorities, the area still retains an unavoidable feel of Afro-centricity, especially on weekends when the huge street market is in full effect. To call yourself the National Orchestra of Barbès is a semi-tongue-in-cheek way of paying tribute both to the fiercely independence spirit of the quartier and to the fact that Barbès was and still is to some extent the melting-pot of Paris where peoples, cultures, styles and ideas collide. Orchestre National de Barbès was the brain-child of bassist Youcef Boukella, an Algerian by origin. He sought out friends and associates from all over the Maghreb who, like him, had moved to Paris in search of opportunities and set about fusing their disparate backgrounds and traditions into one pan-North African pop-roots style. Once the group had mastered a credible set of material featuring a mish-mash of rai, chaabi, gnawa, melhoun and other North African forms they toured around France like men on a mission, notching up an incredible 200 shows in one year. They then committed their well-honed live set to tape and released it on a CD through Virgin France. ‘Orchestre National de Barbès – Live’ cemented the groups reputation as one of the best in a new breed of contemporary North African bands and their fame continued to grow. Their second album ‘Poulina’, released in 1999, pursued the same masterful reworking of ancient North African traditions in a modern pop vein and sold very handsomely around the world. As a result of their indefatigable appetite for performing live and touring, Orchestre National de Barbès have become what is undoubtedly one the best live groups, not only in the realm of North African music, but that of mainstream French rock and pop too. Their stage-craft is faultless and their music is passionate and entrancing.Biography by Andy Morgan, May 2001Short biogFormed in the Barbes district of Paris in 1995, ONB draws its music from a Mediterranean heritage and the Algerian roots of this inner-City Parisian community. Rootless yet somehow culturally defined, the Orchestra is a fantastic live experience; dynamic, compelling and utterly individual.May 2001