Where does it lead?

Simon Balleyguier of FS at Barbès, originally uploaded by Piratejenny.

Fanfare Samenakoa's name is a phonetic rendering of the French phrase, "Where does it lead?" The answer for the past week, luckily for us, has been New York. However, next week will lead FS back to their home port of Marseilles. Their last gig's happening tonight at DROM. 

I saw FS for the third time last night at Barbès, where the tradition  continued whereby an oversized European brass band squeezes into the bar's back room, and the capacity crowd tests the fidelity of the floorboards by pogoing through the set. They played a long set composed almost entirely of tightly arranged originals. And if my reading of the liner notes of their 2007 CD, Souk, is correct, almost everyone in the band has contributed to the repertoire, which ranges from jazz, to funk, to hip-hop, to surf rock, to balkan brass. Every member is an impressive player, but their chops are coupled with silliness. Simon hands off his sousaphone once a set to rap quite competently in French about the ridiculousness of a French brass band doing hip hop. He and Alex B., who plays bari sax, do beat-boxing standoffs with their horns, the novelty of which tends to reduce the audience to giddiness. My favorite aspect of the band may well be Alex S., on bass drum, who doubles as a singer whose megaphone-aided voice is a sultry croon that reminds me of Beth Gibbons from Portishead--which is somewhat surprising, since crooning is not what you expect to hear through a megaphone. (Those who know me way not find it surprising that I, who play bass drum and sing--though rarely capable of doing both at the same time--would be drawn to the chanteuse on the grosse caisse [as they call the bass drum in France], but I assure you: she really is spectacular.)

So, we have the Hungry March Band, and especially Samantha the cymbalista, to thank for going to France and luring yet another French band (this is the third one in as many years!) to New York City to brighten our spring. And soon I'll be posting about another French fanfare who is already planning a trip--not only to NYC but to ten other U.S. cities--for spring 2009. Vive la France!