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jazz

Barbès: The Challenge of Making Art in a Changing Neighborhood

January 22, 2019 By Sam Benezra Filed Under: Park Slope Life Tagged With: avant-garde, Barbès, Eat Local, jazz, Park Slope, sam benezra

Fairly small and sparsely decorated, Barbès is unassuming, but the bar and performance space has grown into a Park Slope institution since its opening in May, 2002. 

Barbès is well-known and well-loved locally for staging a unique combination of jazz, avant-garde, world, and classical music. Yet going into its 17th year of operation, the owners of Barbès, Olivier Conan and Vincent Douglas, are counting their lucky stars that the bar is still open. In May, 2017, the bar was nearly forced to shut down after accruing over $70,000 of debt. Like so many other local institutions in Brooklyn, Barbès had nearly fallen victim to ever-rising rents and changing demographics in the neighborhood it calls home.

In a last ditch-effort to keep the bar open, Conan and Douglas launched a crowdfunding campaign and hosted a series of benefit concerts from musicians on their record label. In an incredible show of support from community members and local musicians, Barbès managed to raise the $70,000 they needed to continue operating. 

Nearly two years later, Barbès is still chugging along and making ends meet, but its owners still express concern for the future. 

Conan and Douglas, a pair of French musicians, opened Barbès on May Day in 2002 with the goal of creating a grassroots performance space.

“It was based on an idea–we wanted to have a place that was very community-oriented,” said Conan. “The community at the time was very different from what it is now. There were a lot of musicians, a lot of artists who lived in Park Slope and we wanted to created a place where the people we wanted to play were also the people who hung out or who wanted to see the music that we brought.”

From the beginning, Conan and Douglas were committed to programming an eclectic variety of performers, representing different cultures and musical traditions from around the world. Barbès is named after a neighborhood northern Paris known for its large North African population and for the record stores that helped introduce Raï music, a form of Algerian folk music, to Western audiences.

Like its namesake, Barbès is defined by its multicultural character. In the same night, you can see Andy Statman, a prodigious Klezmer-influenced mandolin player, and Guinean Afro-jazz courtesy of the Mandingo Ambassadors, who play every Wednesday night at Barbès.

“We had an almost generalist cultural offering, but with a very special identity, and often we didn’t do the kind of bookings that most people did at the time,” said Conan. “We really tried to bring creative musicians who would want to come back and start projects at Barbès. A lot of things were born there, a lot of projects started. [It functioned] kind of like a lab.”

Recurrence is something that Barbès has prioritized over the years. The bar has given a number of artists weekly residencies over the years, creating a comfortable and communal dynamic between space, performer, and audience. “The idea of place is very important, and the audience would come see people specifically at Barbès because they thought something special would happen,” said Conan.

Barbès has also prioritized keeping costs low for its audience. Unlike many jazz bars and performance spaces in New York, Barbès does not have a drink minimum. The modest cover charges–most events are $10–go to the performers. Conan and Douglas prefer not to operate by the profit motive, though that business model has been increasingly difficult to sustain in recent years.

“The New York economy has obviously changed tremendously [since Barbès opened],” said Conan. “The model that worked in what was then an outer borough don’t work anymore. Rents have gone up, the price of doing business has gone up, the kind of clientele has changed. We still cater to the same kind of people, but they don’t live in the neighborhood anymore.”

Conan, a Paris native, moved to Brooklyn in the mid-80s. His first rent was $200 a month, a price that is pretty much unfathomable nowadays. “[Cheap rent] enabled you to be a slacker, and being a slacker is what enables you to be a good artist.”

He said that he has noticed something of an exodus of artists and musicians out of Brooklyn. There are increasingly few spaces dedicated purely to creative endeavors, and many of those that are have been pushed further into Brooklyn or into Queens. 

New York has long been known as a creative hub and a cultural center of the United States, but Conan said that he has noticed many artists fleeing city’s ever-rising rents to live in more affordable cities in the US and other part of the world–cities like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Berlin, and even LA.

“It’s hard for young musicians to live in New York, or artists in general–people in general if they’re not in finance,” he said. “It’s become super hard to move there and actually make a life there. A lot of people are moving to New York and spend two or three years and get hungry and move on to wherever.”

The compounding pressures of doing business in Park Slope nearly forced Barbès to close in 2017, but the bar managed to stay open due to an incredible show of support from the local community.

“We were wondering whether we could continue, because we owed like $70,000, which for people like us is a huge amount of money,” said Conan. “We decided to do a crowdfunding campaign, which worked beyond our wildest dreams.”

Conan and Douglas started an Indiegogo campaign, offering vinyl and CDs from the Barbès record label and concert tickets in exchange for donations. Over 800 people offered contributions. They also organized a number of benefit concerts with bands that often played at Barbès, the biggest of which took place at DROM on June 9, 2017.

“We brought in like 300 to 350 people I think. It was an amazingly beautiful night for me personally,” said Conan. “There’s something very humiliating about going to people and saying, ‘Hey, I need money, I’m broke.’ The response was just amazing, it was, ‘No, we’re a community and we care.’”

Between the Indiegogo campaign and benefit concerts, Conan and Douglas were able to raise the entire $70,000 dollars needed to lift the bar out of debt and keep it running for at least five more years. Their lease runs out in 2022, and it is still unclear whether they will be able to keep it open beyond then. They want to avoid transitioning to a more profit-oriented business model, fearing it would change the atmosphere.

“In order to be successful financially, we’d have to get bigger players, for one thing,” said Conan. “We’d also have to impose a lot of drink minimums and rules about how much you should spend and how quickly you should spend it. We’d have to get more capitalistic than we are and that would totally change the vibe, it would totally change the way people play, and the kind of talent we would get.”

Conan said that he is unsure if they would be able to keep Barbès open beyond 2022; the bar’s survival depends on how much their rent goes up when it comes time to send its next lease. 

So Barbès looks ahead to an uncertain future, but for now it is still going strong and supplying the Park Slope community with unique musical offerings on a nightly basis. The back room is still bumping. Check it out while you still can.

Filed Under: Park Slope Life Tagged With: avant-garde, Barbès, Eat Local, jazz, Park Slope, sam benezra

A Musical Trip Around the World

July 26, 2016 By Florence Wang Filed Under: Music Tagged With: bandshell, bargemusic, BRIC arts, concert, dance, David Bowie, festival, free, jazz, Labyrinth, music, Prospect Park, summer

The summer concert season in New York City is phenomenal. Every year I wait with baited breath for BRIC arts and SummerStage lineups to be announced. And I’m always blown away. The sheer diversity is amazing, so hats off to the people who organize and schedule these events because it can’t be an easy task. 

Now, we all know about some of the larger acts, but my favorites are the lesser known international acts that come to swelter in our summer heat. It’s a musical voyage around the world, with all points on the globe represented – even Iceland (though sadly, not this year). Here are some of my favorite upcoming events. They are all FREE, and (for the most part) in Brooklyn. If you want to dance, dance; if you prefer to just sit back and take in nature, go for it! Embrace a new language, or just chill out. It’s all here, right at your doorstep. 


Bargemusic 

Saturdays through Labor Day, 4pm 

Fulton Ferry Landing near the Brooklyn Bridge

2 Old Fulton St, Brooklyn Waterfront

Bargemusic moored at Fulton Ferry Landing
Bargemusic moored at Fulton Ferry Landing

Brooklyn truly offers everything, and in this case, it presents chamber music on board a renovated coffee barge alongside the Brooklyn waterfront. Bargemusic provides the rare opportunity to witness virtuoso talent in an intimate setting – a wood-paneled room with a view of the Manhattan skyline. The ensemble performs various dates year-round, but through a partnership with Brooklyn Bridge Park, Saturday afternoons are offered gratis to the public. Advance tickets are not available for these free events and doors open 15 minutes prior to show time. To learn more about the Saturday afternoon engagements, visit www.brooklynbridgepark.org/events/bargemusic. Bargemusic is a non-profit organization with a unique history, which is detailed on their website, www.bargemusic.org.


Rachid Taha / Krar Collective 

July 15, 6:30 gates open/ 7:30 show

Prospect Park Bandshell

9th St & Prospect Park West, Park Slope

The songs and albums Rachid Taha creates are perhaps the perfect embodiment of “World Music.” The Algerian-born performer embraces every influence from rock to gypsy to flamenco to RaЇ, Algeria’s indigenous pop music. His vocals, sung in Arabic, English, and French, are intense and emotive; his expressions transcend words. A solo artist since 1989, he has performed around with world with acts such as Dengue Fever, Fela Kuti, and Brian Eno. His passionate and sometimes political approach has led him to be compared to the late Clash front-man, Joe Strummer. The London-based Ethopian band Krar open the evening with their hypnotic grooves. More information about these performers can be found at www.rachidtahaofficial.com and www.krarcollective.com.


SummerStage Kids: Sonia De Los Santos 

July 27, 10:30 – 11:30am 

Sunset Park

41st St, between 5th Ave 7Th Ave, Sunset Park

Sonia De Los Santos Band 1 (credit Quetzal Photography) copy
Sonia De Los Santos Band, Credit: Quetzal Photography

Sonia De Los Santos plays a variety of Mexican music for kids that can best be described as delightful. One of Dane Zanes’ Friends, she recently released her debut solo album, Mi Viaje: De Neuvo Léon to the New York Island, in which she shares the experiences of growing up in Mexico and moving to New York City. Her songs are in the of the regional son jarocho style, drawing on Spanish and African sounds. In her performances, as she plays her jarana (a small guitar that looks like a ukulele), she encourages children to dance, and sing in Spanish. To learn more about Sonia, visit www.soniadelossantos.com.


The Hubble Cantata / Tigue

August 6, 6:30 gates open / 7:30 show

Prospect Park Bandshell

9th St & Prospect Park West, Park Slope

hubble 7
Hubble Space Telescope

Perhaps the most intriguing show this summer, and the one that’s hardest to wrap my head around is The Hubble Cantata’s performance. Composer Paola Prestini collaborates with multi-media artists to create a soundscape and full sensory experience – a portion of the performance is to be viewed via Virtual Reality headsets – sharing footage from the Hubble telescope and taking the audience through the universe. I’m prepared to be awestruck. There doesn’t appear to be a lot of information about this show available online, and perhaps it’s best to go and enjoy without preconceptions. Art trio Tigue open with their minimalist, ambient contemporary chamber music.


Labyrinth / Donny McCaslin Group

August 10, 7:30pm

Prospect Park Bandshell

9th St & Prospect Park West, Park Slope

Donny-July-2012-2-Mirroring-Fixed_0
Donny McCaslin. Credit: courtesy of artist

I say with complete lack of irony that Jim Henson’s 1986 masterpiece Labyrinth is one of my all-time favorite movies. It has everything: muppets, music, and David Bowie sporting one of the most amazing costumes to come out of the eighties (and that’s saying a lot). I was fifteen years old when this movie hit the theaters and thereafter wanted to be Jennifer Connelly. I can’t wait to watch it once again with a group of eager movie-goers. Opening act, The Donny McCaslin Group, backed Bowie on his final release, Black Star; so the evening comes full circle. With David Bowie’s passing this year, it seems a perfect tribute.


Jazzmobile

August 16, 7pm

Harborview Lawn

334 Furman St, Brooklyn Waterfront

Founded in 1964, Jazzmobile was the first not-for-profit arts and cultural organization created for jazz. The group’s goal is outreach – to bring jazz, “America’s Classical Music,” to the community. At the heart of this award-winning ensemble is acclaimed Vibraphonist, Jay Hoggard. During this evening, their compositions create the soundtrack to the waters of New York Harbor and the Brooklyn and Manhattan skylines. What a beautiful, relaxing way to take in the mid-summer’s eve. Learn more about Jazzmobile’s mission and musicians by visiting www.jazzmobile.org.


Inukasuit / Rite of Summer Festival

August 27, 1 & 3pm (rain date August 28)

Governors Island at Nolan Park

Technically this event is not in Brooklyn. But a visit to Governors Island, the gem in the middle of New York Harbor, is mandatory during the summer. With everything happening during the short season, it’s sometimes easy to forget to plan a visit; so here’s the perfect reason to do so. “Inuksuit” refers to a grouping of large man-made markers used by Inuit and North American indigenous people, and is the composition created by John Luther Adams who finds inspiration for his music from nature. Hailed by the New York Times as “the ultimate environmental piece,” it is performed by more than 60 percussionists led by percussionist/Music Director, Amy Garapic. Amazing, right? Directions to and around Governors Island can be found at www.govisland.com.


IMG_1831 2
Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards, playing at the Brooklyn Americana Music Festival, 23-24 September

Filed Under: Music Tagged With: bandshell, bargemusic, BRIC arts, concert, dance, David Bowie, festival, free, jazz, Labyrinth, music, Prospect Park, summer

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