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 Peter Burdon interviews Olivier Slabiak from the distinctive world music band Les Yeux Noirs.
The fantastic French ensemble Les Yeux Noirs rocked the house when they appeared at Womad three years ago. Now they’re back on a three State tour.
“I can say with all honesty,” says Olivier Slabiak, “that in the fifteen, sixteen years since my brother and I formed Les Yeux Noirs back in 1992, we have never had an audience anything like it was at Womad in Adelaide in 2005. It was absolutely incredible, this sea of faces, everyone dancing and singing, the most beautiful weather.
"That was a great visit to Australia, we also played at the Sydney Opera House, and we’ve always said that if the opportunity came up to return, we would go if we could. Then we got asked to perform in the Brisbane Festival, so we were able to organise a tour after that so we could come to Adelaide and Sydney again.”
The past three years, though, have seen a lot of changes in the band.
“Yes, that’s true,” Olivier agrees, “We’ve got some new members, they’ve been with us for nearly three years, now, and we’ve done a lot of new songs. That comes with bringing new blood into the band, different players have different talents and they bring new ideas. But the music is still the same in many ways. It’s still Les Yeux Noirs, it will always be that.”
For fans of the band, this is good news, for their distinctive sound is surely one of the keys to their success.
“We’ve always liked to have a mix of instruments, because you get such a lot of flexibility by having both acoustic and electric instruments available. Our music has always been a combination of traditional pieces, fold music and stuff like that, as well as our own compositions. With electric instruments, for instance, you can play traditional music differently, in a modern style.
"And likewise for modern music, you should try to use traditional instruments, especially acoustic instruments, to play this. If you don’t respect traditions, whether it’s music or musical instruments, and make a deliberate effort to keep it alive, the tradition will not evolve and the music may die, so it’s a big responsibility.”
Impeccable musicianship and musicality are hallmarks of Les Yeux Noirs, and I’m amused to find that this developed from relatively unpromising beginnings.
“That’s true,” says Olivier with a laugh, “My brother and I both started to learn the violin when we were very young, only five or six, but we both learned everything ‘by ear’ as they say, without the music. We found it was easier to learn from listening to the music and playing it.
"Now of course we did learn to read music and I think you have to do that, but one thing about those young days was that we were educating the ear more than the eye, and when you can do that your eyes are free to connect with the audience, and I think that has been one of the most successful things with the band. We found that in Adelaide last time, and we’re looking forward to it again.”
Les Yeux Noirs is on for one night only at Her Majesty’s on 31 July – and at the bargain price of $30! Book at Bass.
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