August 8, 2006  

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Direct from Paris:  Gypsy-Klezmer Music at Ramapo College

(Mahwah) – Les Yeux Noir:  Direct From Paris! will perform Saturday, October 7 at 8 p.m. at the Sharp Theater on the campus of Ramapo College of New Jersey.

Les Yeux Noir, or French for “The Black Eyes,” features Gypsy-Klezmer music that for centuries has moved people to sing and dance.  The French sextet plays their own variety and melding of gypsy and Yiddish music, with a nod to Manouche (or French gypsy) jazz.  With each frenetic stroke of their bows, Les Yeux Noir will take you further into a dizzying vortex of central European sounds and images.  The group takes its name from a Russian gypsy tune made famous by Django Reinhardt in the 1930s.

The band combines violins, violoncello, accordion, electric guitar, cimbalom and electronic samples in innovative, highly complementary ways.  This combination of traditional and original songs of travel and love, celebrations and heart-rending laments does more than evoke the blues.

Tickets for Les Yeux Noir are $24, $20 or $15 for adults, 5% discount for senior citizens and Ramapo affiliates, $12 for children under 17. The Sharp Theater is located at the Angelica and Russ Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts on the Ramapo College campus.  For more information call 201.684.7844.

This program is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

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