By Andrew Gilbert

Special to the Mercury News, May 3, 2002

As France reels from last month's upset victory by the far-right National Front candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen in the first round of presidential elections, the most common explanation is a backlash against recent waves of immigration, mostly from former French colonies in Asia and Africa.

Some see the country's increasingly diverse population as a threat to French customs, but to judge from Paris, which boasts one of the world's most eclectic music scenes, France's culture isn't being undermined so much as refurbished.

A prime example is Paris Combo, a group as diverse as the city itself, which is putting a fresh spin on the Gallic chanson tradition. Starting with the Gypsy swing sound perfected by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli in the 1930s, the quintet adds elements of flamenco, R&B and jazz, with Latin and North African rhythms mixed in.

The band features the sprightly vocals and deft accordion work of Belle du Berry, Australian trumpeter and keyboardist David Lewis, Madagascar-born bassist and vocalist Mano Razanajato, French drummer François-François and Potzi, a guitar and banjo player who uses only one name and describes himself as ``Mediterranean.'' Paris Combo plays the Ashkenaz in Berkeley on

Thursday and the Hotel De Anza in San Jose on May 10.

``The band is pretty typical of the music scene in Paris,'' Lewis says. ``It's an international city, a cosmopolitan city, even more so in the arts. There are a lot of bands like us, where you get a diversity of backgrounds and points of view. What binds us together is jazz and improvisation, which is a universal language that enables people to interact in different musical

situations.''

While the group has a reputation for superb musicianship, its calling card is lead vocalist du Berry, an enchanting, quirky singer who comes across as an extroverted version of ``Amélie.'' She writes many of the band's songs, which are all in French, and delivers the often deliciously playful lyrics

with tremendous style. The combination of her rhythmic agility and offbeat sensibility gives the group its decidedly contemporary feel, even as it mines styles in vogue long before its members were born.

``In Paris Combo, we mixed a lot of old sounds and new ones,'' says du Berry from the flat in Paris she shares with Lewis and their baby. ``We have a lot of influences from the 1920s and '30s, but we don't want to make revival music. We're making music for people today.''

While Paris Combo is the best-known French neo-chanson band in the United States, it's also part of a burgeoning acoustic-music scene that's like a cross between the swing-dance movement and Austin's alt-country sound. In the early '90s, cabarets and nightclubs began attracting young people with small combos featuring acoustic bass, accordion, stripped-down drum kits and horns. Many of the groups stick to a traditional repertoire, but others, including Paris Combo, have produced their own body of songs.

``It's definitely been a movement, getting away from the two-guitars-and-drums rock bands,'' Lewis says, ``and it's often the same people, who have recycled themselves from alternative rock to more acoustic settings.''

The group got its start in 1994, when du Berry, Potzi and François worked together in an elaborate production called ``Cabaret Sauvage,'' which also featured clowns and acrobats. When Lewis and Razanajato joined the following year, the group dubbed itself Paris Combo and released its eponymous debut album in 1997. It gained a following with a regular gig at a cabaret on a

Chinese junk moored on the Seine.

``That's where we really developed our own style and began exploring other musical regions, more contemporary sounds, Latin rhythms and some asymmetrical rhythms,'' Lewis says. ``Gradually we've started to explore more and more areas and sometimes, I think, successfully combine different influences in one piece.''

The group expanded its sound on ``Living-Room,'' its 1999 album on Tinder Records, but really hit its stride with its latest album, ``Attraction'' on Ark21 Records. With tunes about NASA, insomnia and the strange ways of animals, there's no mistaking the band for a retro cabaret act. While the arrangements don't capture the group's improvisational flair, the songs perfectly capture du Berry's gift for delivering absurdist imagery with deadpan grace.

``The musical style of the group comes very much from Belle's singing and her words,'' Lewis says. ``But we do the arrangements as a collective, and when we perform live, we really get a chance to stretch out.''

If Paris Combo is the sound of the new France, Le Pen doesn't stand a chance. The music is simply too much fun.

Paris Combo

Where: Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley

When: 8 p.m. Thursday

Tickets: $10

Call: (866) 468-3399

Also: 8:30 p.m. May 10, Hedley Club, Hotel De Anza, 233 W. Santa Clara St.,

San Jose, no cover, (408) 286-1000