Barbes: The Community Bar That Brings You The World

I first heard about Barbes back in 2009. A young Frenchman was living with my family and doing some French tutoring and babysitting for my boys in exchange for room and board while working at an NGO in New York. He and some friends that came to visit from Paris found the small bar and music venue, owned by Parisian Olivier Conan, just blocks away from my place in Park Slope, and sung its praises.

With small children in the house, I didn’t then get much of a chance to go hear live music, so it wasn’t until I met a young Italian friend out with his international set of pals in 2013 that I entered the little establishment at 9th St. and 6th Ave. I felt maybe a bit too American, but I quickly adapted. A small cozy place with a back room whose “stage” featured some of the best musicians from all over the world so close you could touch (and smell) them? A place with such a cool international crowd that you’d be sure to have interesting political talks with a variety of perspectives any night of the week? Barbes quickly became a home away from home, a welcome respite from my housewifery duties.

So it was that when Olivier sent out an urgent entreaty for financial assistance recently, hoping to raise the money to keep his little world-music gem open, I immediately made a donation and marked my calendar for the benefit, June 9th, at Drom on the Lower East Side.

I was prepared to be wowed by the lineup of incredible talent, some known to me, some not, but I wasn’t prepared for the bliss that ensued as group after group brought their powerful sounds and rhythms into a room filled with enthusiastic supporters of joining the world together through music.

The first band I caught was Bulla en el Barrio (Noise in the Neighborhood), a beautiful bevy of ladies and a few handsome gentlemen clad in gorgeous traditional Colombian clothing and bright jewelry. The lively voices, beating drums and sensual dancing I saw before me was my first-ever introduction to Bullerengue, a style of music born in Colombia’s Caribbean coast where former slaves escaped exploitation in the city of Cartagena. The 13 band members are all Colombian immigrants in New York who started jamming together three years ago in Central Park. The celebration of their freedom is evident both literally in their lyrics-- “But we are no longer slaves”-- and in their joyous free dancing around the stage. They were mesmerizing.

As the Colombians left the stage, a drumbeat started and a group of 20 or so drummers and percussionists began to descend on the room from the back, parting the crowd and stopping in our midst. I was elbow to elbow with the drummers and a step away from their leader, Scott Kettner, whose intermittent whistle-blowing and wild-but-firm conducting of this array of intense insistent drummers seemed to spark some giddy part of me from another younger day.

This was my introduction to Maracatu NY, both a school and performance group based on the northeastern Brazilian rhythms of Maracatu de Baque Virado and the Second Line and Mardi Gras Indian rhythms from New Orleans. Mr. Kettner founded Maracatu NY 15 years ago, just as Barbes was opening, and it has been a crucial building block for his career.

“Barbes has been so important for people like myself who are tied to a tradition, but not necessarily from that tradition,” Mr. Kettner says. “It’s hard to find places in NYC that are experimenting with global music, but Olivier has always been supportive of mashing up cultures musically and spotlighting them.”

Mr. Kettner credits Barbes with breeding a whole generation of musicians who are, he says, “growing up in the height of globalism and a connected world.”

The world rhythms continued with my Moroccan friends from Innov Gnawa (see previous blog, on Said Bourhana), who took the stage and performed with such grace and spirit on behalf of the venue where they have played, at times, once a month. Their energy and display of their own freedom trail was evident as usual, much like the folks from Bulla en el Barrio, who they have partnered with in the past. The Barbes musicians are like family.

After Innov Gnawa, a huge group of brass instrumentalists took the stage, led by Oscar Noriega, I man I first encountered picking avocados at my local grocery. I'd commented that I was being choosy because I was from Arizona and he stared at me open-mouthed. It turns out we are both from Tucson, he a son of Mexican immigrants. He plays sax and clarinet from his parents’ cultural roots as part of Banda de los Muertos, one of the 10 bands he plays in. He combined that band with members of American Balkan brass/jazz band Slavic Soul Party (including one of my fave musicians and former gym rat friend, trumpeter John Carlson) and Northern Indian funk band Red Baraat to form Fanfare Barbes.

Whew. An uncomparable world mash-up the likes of which I hope to see again, and again. It was nothing short of astounding to see and hear these incredible musicians play lively renditions of songs on behalf of the bar that has given them lots and lots of air time over the last decade-plus.

The evening finished with the Big Lazy, virtuoso composer and guitarist Stephen Ulrich’s instrumental “rock-noir” trio that nods to Americana of all kinds, with Israeli drummer Yuval Lion and upright bassist Andrew Hall.

The evening was a huge success, and Barbes managed to tap into the passion for what it offers and raise funds to stay open for the next five years!! Yay! I can still mosey down the street to get a little taste of every culture—sometimes within the same bands!

Check out the websites of the bands that graciously appeared at the benefit below, and support them!

6:00pm: DJ LITTLE DYNASTY (Names You Can Trust)

6:50 MARACATU NY

7:10: SANDA WEIGL

7:20 THE JAZZ PASSENGERS

7.55 MIREYA & SHAE and Friends (Mariachi Flor de Toloache)

8:30 BULLA EN EL BARRIO

9:05 MARACATU NY

9:20 : INNOV GNAWA

9:55 FANFARE BARBES (w/ members of Slavic Soul Party, Red Baraat & Banda de los Muertos)

10:30 BIG LAZY

And feel free, still, to lend your support for this corner bar that brings people the world at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/barbes-needs-help--3#/ . Or show up any night of the week at 376 9th St. in Park Slope. Check out the calendar at www.barbesbrooklyn.com.

Thank you Olivier and all the musicians you feature for the inspiration!!!

Shalom. Inshallah. Peace be with you.

Steph Thompson

Founder, Executive Director

InspireCorps

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