Sun. October 14th – Quai des Brumes (4481 rue St. Denis) – 5 PM – PWYC
Orkestar Kriminal formed three days before Pop Montréal 2012, so that Gigi French’s former orchestra could scam free passes to the festival.
“Ganovim-loshn” (“thieves’ language”) was the Yiddish sung in the inter-war underworld of Warsaw, Odessa and Istanbul. These are no ordinary folk songs. There is much violence, and lament to them… the extremes of the Jewish wise-guy. Along with their Yiddish gangster repertoire, Orkestar Kriminal has absorbed the Rebetika Mortika hash den anthems of the 1930s Greek underground. They can also be found performing in Khmer, Danish, Romani, Ladino, or whatever other tongue might attract the multilingual stylings of front-woman Giselle Claudia Webber. So long as the tune is catchy and a little shady, they’ll give it their best shot. Gutsy and adventurous, these improv performers do inspired renditions of slum-based “world music” from a dangerously forgotten era.
This Sunday afternoon 5 à 7 is pay what you can, which is especially great because it features some seriously stellar musicians!
