For These Guys, Seeing Is Believing

Jewish Exponent, September, 2003 by Schwartzman, Bryan

Schwartzman, Bryan Jewish Exponent 09-18-2003 A band whose very music embodies the act of wandering got off the road long enough to entertain hundreds last week at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Les Yeux Noirs, French for "The Black Eyes," is a Parisian-based group that has created a signature blend of Yiddish folk music and traditional Romanian-Gypsy tunes with a hint of rock 'n' roll. Nearly 400 people packed the area around the museum's great stairhall to hear a caravan of notes strung together, which started slowly, but soon sped out of control.

Eric Slabiak, one of the group's founders, engaged the audience by playing the violin and singing with the flair of a bullfighter. Jewish and Gypsy music often speak to similar themes, such as exile, ...

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