Jigsaw jubilee

>> Festival des Musiques et du Monde is everywhere at once

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

It's one thing to assemble musicians of a particular style or nationality, packaging the concert as "a night in Rio" or "wow, it's Gnaoua" or some such thing.

It's something else to assemble a whole festival of music from all four corners of the globe, throw the cards in the air and put them back together, not by genre or geography but rather according to some arcane aesthetic angles. That, though, is exactly what the people at Musique-Multi-Montréal have done with their Festival des Musiques et du Monde (fully a decade old now).

With the exception of the Tuesday, April 25 opening night at Maison de la Culture Frontenac (a solo performance by David Puerta, a real hotshot on the tiple, a Colombian adaptation of the guitar common in Andean folk music), the fest's various concerts are a bit like James Bond films or Corto Maltese comics, leaping from one exotic locale to another.

Take Wednesday night's Poussières d'étoiles concert ("stardust," that is), at Salle de Gesu: headliners Constantinople, who ply Euro-Persian sounds from ye olden tymes, are joined by Said Kamjoo, who plays the Arab kamancheh, Andalusian singer Marcos Marin, pipa princess Liu Fang and South Indian music and dance care of Uma and Vasu Govindarajan and the duo Kamala.

Thursday night, at the Gesu again, it's Tangomania as the Montreal Tango Ensemble share the stage with Venezuelan singer/guitarist Soraya (who'll be doing a number by Mercedes Sosa), Russian accordionist Vladimir Sidorov, tango dancers Carol Horowitz and Bobby Thompson and, again, singer Marin. Feel free to arrive with a rose between your teeth.

Two venues come into play on Friday night. At the Gesu is the Trovador night, meaning men, their guitars and their feelings. Carlos Placeres and his quartet offer an overview of the tradition in Cuba, while El Hadi does the same for North Africa with a new world twist, and Guinea-Bissau's Lilison di Kinara does the same for central Africa. The duo of Fortin-Léveillé, meanwhile, take us deep into the heart of mystical, mysterious... uh, Quebec. Hey, if you were from Tibet or something it'd seem pretty far out.

The same night, at Kola Note, it's a Celtic thang (loosely) as Orealis shake off their lingering St. Paddy's hangovers and join Québécois traditonalist André Daneau and Gaelic medieval babes Maeve. Also on tap are two acts who blend Celtic strains with gypsy, klezmer, arabic and bluegrass stylings: Swift Years and Ess'n'Club.

Saturday night is nothing short of feverish at the Gesu. The theme is Grandes Traditions, and the lineup is simply grand. The duo Origine serve up their didgeridoodlings, inspired by the music of Australia's aborigines. Arashi Daiko drum up some massive Japanese thunder, Evie Mark does throat singing in the Inuit style, and Gamelan Giri-Kedaton wow listeners with music from the Indonesian islands. Rhythm Umurisho bring the Burundi beats and dance show, while the Nrithyalaya Foundation do the same for South India. How's that for an international spread?

At Kola Note on Saturday night, the theme (Errance) is more sober--music of displaced cultures. Caravana Flamenca illustrate the winding historic path of Spain's gypsies, while Bahtalo and Soleil Tzigane do the same for the gypsies of Eastern Europe. Hélène Engel, while French by birth, honours her Jewish ancestry in both Yiddish and Hebrew as well as French. Paul K. and Jeszcze Raz summon up the dust of ages, going Middle-Eastern in French, Polish, Hebrew and Arab.

The closing concert, Sunday night, April 30 at the MdlC Frontenac again, sees the aforementioned Liu Fang making beautiful music with Arabic oud player Fahran Sabbagh.

So you see, this is the ideal fest for those harried folks who often feel like they should be two places at once. It's a chance to get comfortable, get a beer and travel around the world in a night without wearing out the soles of your sneakers. :

Check live music listings for info