Noisemakers 2000: Mystery beat

>> Adam Chaki shakes up genres

By MIREILLE SILCOTT

"I cannot describe my music," says Adam Chaki. "I have been challenging all sorts of different people, asking them to describe it. Most can't. Those who can come up with some pretty funny names."

Uh-oh. Yet-another-folk-hip-hop-electronica-and-ironic-sprinkling-of-heavy-metal fusion thing, right?

"Not at all," says Chaki. "This isn't a fake Beck thing. More like African, Middle Eastern and Jamaican influences. With lots of strings. The appeal will be very mainstream. And please don't use the terrible term 'world beat' in this article. It's not world beat."

Chaki--the dread-headed Open-Da-Night-frequenting son of famed one-in-every-synagogue painter Yehuda Chaki--says his soon-to-be-released, still-unnamed, but very hyped album on Audiogram will be pop.

And notwithstanding his crusty-traveller looks and his Mile-End artisto-cred, you can believe him. As part of the brat pack who steadily worked on the Bran Van 3000 project a few years back (BV3 babes Sarah and Jane return the favour on the Chaki album), he says he learned how to do the pop thing without losing face.

"Just think of the people who have Elton John in their collections as much as the people who have Tom Waits," he says. "And then try to make something they would both like."l