Also this issue: Under the Radar Jim Putnam is not an undercover Brother. -Paul Burress Summer Monster The package tour -- something wicked this way comes. -Patrick Rapa Coming Up Rosey The rising pop star wants you to get Dirty. -Nicole Pensiero Beat Box -Ain� Ardron-Doley The Gig -Nate Chinen

July 12-18, 2002

musicpicks

Les Yeux Noirs

Singing original and traditional songs in Russian, Roma and Yiddish, French ensemble Les Yeux Noirs ("The Black Eyes") combines Central and Eastern European Gypsy music with klezmer to produce a sound that might have to be experienced live to be believed. Brothers Eric and Olivier Slabiak, who spearhead the group, are classically trained violinists; their haunting solos soar above energetic guitars, cello, accordion and an occasionally thumping drum track. Their latest album, Balamouk (World Village), was released last month, and while no one song is as accessible as, say, the Gipsy Kings' flamenco-pop "Bamboleo," the eclectic fusion is still hypnotic and irresistibly sensual. The Bangkok Post dubbed Les Yeux Noirs "the boy band of a lost era," but the comment does a disservice to the group's unique talent and socio-political conscience. Their music ultimately suggests the shared histories of Gypsies and Jews, bittersweet as the Slabiak brothers' violins.

Wed., July 17, 5-8:45 p.m., free with museum admission, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Benjamin Franklin Parkway and 26th Street, 215-763-8100, www.philamuseum.org.

—Karen Gross