Led by a pair of virtuosic, violin playing brothers, the seven piece ensemble lures the audience into an-all-join-in musical participation... -Los Angeles Times

A group of gypsy musicians with incredible energy, with roots not only firmly planted in traditional music, but also a lot of jazz...Les Yeux Noirs will keep you on the edge of your seat. -Le Monde, Paris

The Churchill Arts Council will present a performance of Gypsy music by the acclaimed ensemble.  Les Yeux Noirs, on Friday May 2nd in the Barkley Theatre at the Oats Park Art Center, 151 East Park Street.  Tickets are $15, reserved seating, and are available in Fallon at Jeff's Copy Express and Postage Plus; in Reno at Soundwave Cds: or by calling CAC at 423-1440.  Doors will open at 7 p.m. and there will be a no- host bar.

Les Yeux Noirs took their name from a 1930's Russian Gypsy tune made famous by the legendary and highly influential, Belgian-born, "hot guitarist," Django Reheinhardt.  And it's the perfect name for a group whose music draws heavily upon the same Gypsy themes from Romania, Hungary, Russia and Armenia.

But for Les Yeux Noirs this is just a starting point; they add elements of Klezmer and what has come to be called Manouche, Fench Gypsy Jazz, to the mix.  This nomadic music is both joyous and nostalgic and it becomes, in the hands of Les Yeux Noirs, an extraordinary energetic magic.  They've garnered raves from the press around the world - the Bangkok Post called them "the boy band of a lost era"- and the performance at the Barkley Theatre will be the only Nevada appearance of these talented musicians.

The group was founded more than ten years ago by the virtuoso violin duo of Eric and Oliver Slabiak.  These two classically trained brothers stumbled across the music of the Gypsy/Jewish diaspora and they could not get enough.

Their compositions start slowly, eerily moody, and then often build to all out rave-ups ending in stunning inspired crescendos.  We had the chance to hear them perform in New York, in a showcase situation where several groups were performing at the same time. 

Their musical evocations were so powerful that people literally bailed out of the other presentations to see and hear these dynamic, inventive gypsy threnodies.  It is an exuberant celebration of life in the face of adversity, one that forges a perfect blend of traditional and new material, one that both pays homage to the tradition and makes it new by taking in on unexpected and dynamic flights of improvisatory fantasy.

In addition to the Slabiak Brothers, the group consists of Constantin Bitica on accordion, Francois Perchat on cello and violincello, Pascal Rondeau on electric guitar and bass, Aidje Tafial on percussion, and Marian Miu on cymbalon (a large hammered dulcimer).

The result is richly textured totally modern sound that, in performance, they weave into on long cathartic and charismatic reinventation of traditionalism.

The group was nominated for the Victoires de la Musique (the French equivalent of the Grammy) in 1998 and, if response to their recent recordings is any indication, they are a shoo- in for a sheaf of awards this time around.

They've released four CD's including, most recently, Boulamouk (World Village) and a new live CD is due this month.  You could call Boulamouk -which was recorded in both Toulouse and Brussels a palette of colors, you could call it a cornucopia of ambiances.  But you could also call it a crossroads between the past and the future, a dialogue between plaintive, melancholy violins and insistent, driving rhythms, a kind of gypsy-kelzmer-pop, one that really rocks.

It's that tradition I was talking about "slicked-up" (in the best sense of the word) with driving, contemporary flourishes.  What is constantly amazing about the band is their "ensemble-ness" their ability to suddenly veer in a totally new rhythmic and/or melodic direction without literally missing a beat.  The title can be translated from the Romanian as "mad house," and the metaphor is apt; the allusion to being a home for things a bit out of the ordinary suits the ensemble perfectly.  A joyous, infectious and highly contagious collection of music.