"Balamouk" by Les Yeux Noirs

Les Yeux Noirs (French for The Black Eyes) is a Paris-based octet who creates their own unique sound, blending Manouche (French gypsy music) with Klezmer (Yiddish folk music). Their band name comes from a Russian Gypsy tune popularized in the 1930s by Belgian-born jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, an artist who is one of the band’s major musical influences. The album title, “Balamouk,” is Romanian for "house of the insane."

The song I’m reviewing shares the same name as the album. After doing some online research, I discovered that the band does not use any electric tracks on their album. This fact is surprising because the group is able to extract the same head-bobbing, heart-pounding, hip-shaking urge to get up and move with the music as many of today’s synthesized dance hits. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what instruments are used, but I do hear two fiddles/violins, some bass percussion – like a South Indian tabla, an accordion, finger cymbals (used by gypsies), clapping, a double bass and acoustic guitar. It sounds like you stumbled upon a block party in an Eastern European neighborhood.

"Balamouk" is a dance piece that opens with a thumping percussion that's soon interrupted by the spinning, melancholic notes of a fiddle. The main theme is played on the fiddle twice through. The entire song centers around this theme, with instruments being added in and the violins improvising towards the end. A double bass is added after the first fiddle, followed by the second fiddle. The two fiddles duel against each other, playing in constant thirds. An accordion joins, and the rest of the instruments begin playing as well. Though the tempo is consistent, the constant change in texture makes you feel as if the song is continually growing in intensity, that the tension builds and builds. The song actually fades out, and fades back in as the last track, giving a cyclic feeling to the dance.

The stars of the band are certainly the two violinists, the borthers Erik and Olivier Slabiak. The Slabiak brothers are classically-trained virtuosos who have been playing since they were five.

An article online pointed out the unique relationship between French Gypsy and Yiddish musical styles. The two cultures share a solemn history: Both were major targets or oppression throughout history, most infamously by the Nazis. Their shared history of exile and oppression creates similar musical styles of melancholy, minor keys, violin solos, and songs with deep emotional intensity and a hypnotic feel. Les Yeux Noirs brings back wonderful memories for me of my fall break trip to Rome. We were eating at an outdoor restaurant near the famous Piazza Navona (a large square with fountains and statues) when a street band offered to play for us. It was true that we were eating, but I still wanted to get up and dance in the street with other tourists and locals. Everyone congregated around the band to just listen to the music. It didn’t matter what language we spoke or where we came from; we were accepted into this large group of people who just wanted to listen to some good music. I think that Les Yeux Noirs has this same, universal appeal.