Barrio Manouche ready to thrill Bay Area fans again
The extent to which the pandemic has reshaped the musical landscape is becoming more evident with the gradual return of in-person performances. Driven by the need for work, family support and more affordable digs, artists are quietly on the move. Over the past 20 months the Bay Area has seen numerous significant departures and arrivals.
It was only when checking in with guitarist-vocalist Javi Jiménez about upcoming Barrio Manouche gigs that it became apparent he had given up San Francisco for Montpellier, a culturally rich city in southwestern France. Before the advent of COVID-19 the Bay Area combo that Jiménez founded in 2014 had earned an avid following by combining two distinct but kindred Roma musical traditions, Gypsy jazz and flamenco.
“Everything changed with the pandemic,” said
the Madrid-born Jiménez, who’s back in California for Barrio Manouche gigs tonight at Kuumbwa Jazz Center and Nov. 5 at Freight & Salvage.
“We just got video from the Monterey Jazz Festival in 2019, and we had so much energy. I was in tears. We played Club Deluxe twice a month and musicians would come jam with us. Our music was trying to tell this story about what was happening in the Bay Area with artists coming from all over the world.”
Despite his relocation, Jiménez is ready to start a new chapter with Barrio Manouche (“manouche” is a French word for Sinti Roma people, also known as Gypsies).
Aside from a lightly attended gig at Oakland’s New Parish over the summer as the delta variant was ramping up, the coming performances mark the band’s return to a music scene that’s still very much in recovery mode.
It’s easy to see why the pre-pandemic environment that nurtured the band looks a lot like a golden age these days. Barrio Manouche became known for its raucous performances, which often included flamenco and samba-inspired dancers joining them on stage. The coming performances feature renowned Madrid-trained, Frenchborn flamenco dancer Fanny Ara, who also contributes on palmas (a percussive handclapping style), castanets and vocals.
Barrio Manouche started gaining notice outside the region with its 2018 debut album “Aires de Cambio,” which was distributed by the pioneering San Francisco world music label Six