One to Watch - Caravan Palace

Technically speaking Caravan Palace are not a new band; they’ve been around for over ten years but things only took off in 2005. They do lots of tours of continental Europe. The reason they do so much on the continent is because they are from there. Based in Paris, France the band of Arnaud, Zoe, Antoine, Hughes, Camille and Charles consist of a bunch of Jazz addicts, particularly the work of Django Reinhardt and old gypsy swing (aka manouche jazz). The group includes a singer, a clarinettist, a trombonist who doubles up on percussion and a guitarist. Of course given that three of the group are electronic music producers, it wasn’t going to be trad jazz.

The video above is of “la caravane qui t’emmene” and you not only get to hear what I mean, but you get to see them perform complicated stuff live; no easy task.

They do have more traditional stuff too, “Jolie Coquine” (below) which reminds me a lot of Doop.

They spent over a year on the road with hard-hitting concerts before they released their first track. An example of them live was their performance at the 2007 Django Reinhardt Jazz Festival, in Samois, where they wowed an audience who had never heard of them. Veterans from the classic manouche jazz scene were left speechless. The Caravan Palace musicians, who are of course “gadjos” (non-gypsies), have breathed fresh air into the timeless swing scene without coming across as preachers.

They don’t look like they will be in Paris for those supporters heading over for the match, but you might want to keep an eye out for their self titled album.