What is a BarbÈs?
THE SHORT STORY: A Frenchman moves to NY. In 2003, he opens a bar with a friend in South Brooklyn. He calls it Barbès, named after a hardscrabble North African neighborhood in Paris where he used to hang out as a teenager. They start booking bands there — including his own — and it quickly becomes Brooklyn’s favorite hang for omnivorous, authentic, non-commercial and international music.
I walked into Barbès for the first time in 2005. By then, it already felt like an institution; a landmark in Park Slope that seemed so self-assured, eclectic and wonderful that I would never have guessed it was yet in its infancy. Since then, its been called "a cultural phenomenon” by the Christian Science Monitor; and "…the vanguard of the new Brooklyn jazz scene” by the New York Times. As one Brooklynite described it, back when we used ipods: “It’s like a live iTunes library curated by the gods.”
Barbès is my happy place in New York. I never lived in the city but always dreamed of living a few blocks from the bar, where one could get off work and tune into pan latin sounds on Mondays, Slavic Soul Party on Tuesdays, Guinean griot-guitarists on Wednesdays… the monthly program, printed in small type to fit everything, reads like an encyclopedia of musical diasporas. Years-long residencies give bands free rein to rehearse, experiment and develop their sound. And like an Ellis Island for musicians, Barbès has welcomed countless performers from abroad for their first US performance.
More broadly: Barbès is a symbol in my mind for the musical creativity of a metropolis like NYC. It’s like the answer to some complicated equation: what is the creative musical output of 8.5 million people in a Western meritocracy in a landmark US city with over 800 languages and countless ethnicities? The answer: Barbès.
The one thing about the bar is that it’s very small. And OK, that’s definitely part of what makes it special: there’s nothing quite like a trumpet aimed straight into your face while you’re dancing. But it made us wonder: what it might be like for Barbès to stretch out a bit.
Barbès in the Woods explored the Summery big open field model in Montague, 2019-2021. There were things to reconfigure afterwards, and we made the decision of not starting the festival in a new location unless it was just as magical.
So here we are. November 2024. We’ve found a spot that’s magical — Race Brook Lodge in Sheffield, MA. The fest is back in an intimate new configuration; with multiple stages, three days of music, a barn and a lodge and a rustic backyard compound with bonfires, hiking trails, and cottages. It’s going to feel casual but festive, with artists you’ve heard and others that you’re almost certainly unfamiliar with. And just far enough away from everything to burnish the experience with the thrill and novelty of adventure.
-EDO
Barbès is my happy place in New York. I never lived in the city but always dreamed of living a few blocks from the bar, where one could get off work and tune into pan latin sounds on Mondays, Slavic Soul Party on Tuesdays, Guinean griot-guitarists on Wednesdays… the monthly program, printed in small type to fit everything, reads like an encyclopedia of musical diasporas. Years-long residencies give bands free rein to rehearse, experiment and develop their sound. And like an Ellis Island for musicians, Barbès has welcomed countless performers from abroad for their first US performance.
More broadly: Barbès is a symbol in my mind for the musical creativity of a metropolis like NYC. It’s like the answer to some complicated equation: what is the creative musical output of 8.5 million people in a Western meritocracy in a landmark US city with over 800 languages and countless ethnicities? The answer: Barbès.
The one thing about the bar is that it’s very small. And OK, that’s definitely part of what makes it special: there’s nothing quite like a trumpet aimed straight into your face while you’re dancing. But it made us wonder: what it might be like for Barbès to stretch out a bit.
Barbès in the Woods explored the Summery big open field model in Montague, 2019-2021. There were things to reconfigure afterwards, and we made the decision of not starting the festival in a new location unless it was just as magical.
So here we are. November 2024. We’ve found a spot that’s magical — Race Brook Lodge in Sheffield, MA. The fest is back in an intimate new configuration; with multiple stages, three days of music, a barn and a lodge and a rustic backyard compound with bonfires, hiking trails, and cottages. It’s going to feel casual but festive, with artists you’ve heard and others that you’re almost certainly unfamiliar with. And just far enough away from everything to burnish the experience with the thrill and novelty of adventure.
-EDO
