þ7#Y{Y$ DDDD N XX<”xD ,Q*{QBQQ{QQQQQQ hed: tk dek: tk WHO: Immigrant Suns WHEN: Friday, May 12, 8 p.m. WHERE: The Tomato Head HOW MUCH $4 by Chris Barrett According to Detroit lore, the production room of the legendary Motown studio was unlike any other of its time. It had the requisite sprawl of slide rheostats, reel-to-reels, and high-tech thingamajigs. But instead of the NASA quality monitors youÕd expect to findÑJBLs or Acoustic Research or whateverÑBarry Gordy and crew listened to the mix through a beat-up six-by-nine inch oval dashboard speaker. For obvious reasons and with results you know. The Detroit band Immigrant Suns has found a similar alchemy in the marriage of high- and low-tech. Though they record and perform using contemporary electronics, they make their music with the most primitive of instruments. Their percussion section includes clay pots and an array of bells salvaged from an old cash register. TheyÕre the only ensemble I know of to record the sadly neglected one-string MarxolinÑa balalaika/dulcimer hybrid no longer in production. Yugoslavian-born Djeto (pronounced Jet-oh) Juncaj plays an instrument from his home country, the gourd-shaped qyteli. ItÕs a step up from the Marxolin, with two strings. With their wonderful array of simple instruments, as well as some that are more conventional, Immigrant Suns raise a beautiful, multi-cultural ruckus. ÒThe rest of us have ties to our ethnic backgrounds,Ó says violinist and vocalist Ben Temkow, Òbut not nearly as strong as DjetoÕs. IÕm a fourth-generation American. My grandparents still speak Polish to each other.Ó Along with drummer Mark Sawasky, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Doug Shimmin, and double-bassist Joel Peterson, Juncaj and Temkow torch the walls separating the neighborhoods of the so-called Global Village. They play instruments, and borrow and mix ethnic forms and traditions, from all over the world. But instead of the trite, artificial ethnic flavoring you get in Poi Dog, or the pseudo-diplomatic exploitation of your David Byrnes and Peter Gabriels, Immigrant Suns imports ethnic music pure and uncut. Though they frequently layer one cultureÕs music over anotherÑGreek with klezmer with koto followed by an Argentinean breakÑnone of them get robbed or belittled. Listening to Immigrant Suns gives one the simultaneous sensations that all music is world music and all music is local music. What better place to argue that than the melting pot that is Detroit? ÒAll of us have a fascination with foreign-sounding music,Ó says Temkow. ÒWeÕve been able to draw from a lot of different ethnic sources because we live in Detroit. ThereÕs a lot of diversity here. Once we got started, we found that this area is really rich culturally. WeÕve all got our personal biases. Doug, for instance, is really into Greek music. ÒI studied classical violin when I was younger, but I wasnÕt really very good when I stopped. IÕve had to fill a lot of those gaps with my own technical discoveriesÑtrial and error, you might say.Ó Last year, Immigrant Suns put together a killer D.I.Y. CD entitled Montenegro. Their Ellis Island mix of tastes and talents, combined with the gifted production hand of Frank Pahl (whom some readers may remember from his Õ94 Tomato Head gig with the band Only A Mother) makes Montenegro a musical event. There are similar recordings available, but theyÕre the kind you can usually only buy outside hotels in Manila or Cairo or Istanbul. And you donÕt buy them then, because theyÕre bootlegs and the last one didnÕt work when you got it home. ÒThe Question,Ó ÒLast Tango in Dearborn,Ó and ÒEl Mito Del Gato NegroÓ are first-rate, original tangos. Shimmin plays free reeds on all three (either accordion or melodica) with a passionate, sweaty strut. ÒThe Ballad of Black WilfredÓ is a Newfoundland sea chanty about a pirate, set to what sounds like a Georgian crop blessing dervish. Other tunes are straight, East European thrash-abouts, charmingly authentic yet freshly reconsidered. Montenegro plays like the souvenir stickers on Boutros Boutros-GhaliÕs valise. ÒA lot of what weÕve done since the CD is even more authentic and aligned with specific ethnic styles,Ó Temkow says. ÒThe background for most of the band is rock-and-roll, but thatÕs not necessarily what leads to the way we mix those forms. ItÕs something we consciously choose to do. It seems like we have a lot of ideas to squeeze in, and it takes a lot of parts to do it.Ó uKVÀDH€HÀ`r(K ``(f `NÕÀ¨jVÀDH€HÀ`8®vx`. T(xVÀ@HÀ`ãr`ãn` HÇ// N­zmsðÿæJ”\<.u..T%zHÆ/P gNHÆ(˜¼K,. rN­"¼_ 2¼º|_xç€Ð.ÿûxá¬J‡f F€Á¨jk2‰¨jk(0&B€ü)þ&¤g&ä€Ô'g*öìkì1Gzkô (xï(xkÜJ‡gFAW”2.â†@PJHx,&/ N­J¨ j/ N­/JhfX/-ö&PÚg`L¨ïÿl gf6p *P’ÌEŒ,z[A`Y[ÈXX"hî,hjA2.êm`61GvA2.êm`"!Gr` ü  Í × ï ò‘›Y\þþþþø @@  'D[ghy<¸P) Í ‘ ò ¹Ø‘àXYûûûûûûûûûûûöñìçâìÝìØÓÎÝû!À !À!À !À!À!À !À!À!À ÞYY*Yÿÿ£@ÿÿ\ Y €Š‹ŒÁÔãäåûüý&C8Ì8Í:e:f:g:hQHHÚ(ÿáÿâùFG(üHHÚ(d'@=à/Р ÐRH -:LaserWriter New York€  €€ ESýEØ