Yemem Blues at the Troubadour

If Blind Willie Johnson hung out with North African trance musicians or if Stevie Wonder studied Yemenite chants, it would sound like Yemen Blues. Raw yet refined, the group’s nine eclectic musicians bang on olive cans, hit elusive microtones, and sing in invented languages.

North America will get its first real taste of the ensemble, powered by lead singer Ravid Kalahani’s distinctive charisma, on tour this February and March, as Yemen Blues makes its debut in cities across the continent. Led by musical director and seasoned jazz bassist Omer Avital, the group conjures a world where Arabic and Jewish, African and Middle Eastern, blues and funk all interweave with a depth of a feeling that has sent Moroccan émigrés in Marseilles into ululations and wowed seasoned music professionals at WOMEX.

Kalahani is all about creating what he calls “moments of soul” for audiences, swooping from clear falsetto into a gravelly baritone, switching from Yemenite Arabic to Hebrew to Haitian Creole. Growing up singing Yemenite chants at synagogue, the young Kalahani would make up songs in invented languages and sing them as he walked down the street (a technique he returns to on the rumbling, grooving “Wamid”).

Be sure to check out his tour at the Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd in LA, this March 6th.