It looks like the Park West will be going multi-culti this Friday night. Participating in Chicago's World Music Festival, the venue will be hosting Transglobal Undeground, Fun'Da'Mental and DJ Cheb i Sabbah. While I can't wholeheartedly recommend the headlining Transglobal tribe or the Fun'Da'Mental folks, I will go out on a limb and endorse the opening act, DJ Cheb i Sabbah. The word is that Algerian-born Sabbah has been spinning vinyl since the early sixties and has even done some time honing his craft with Julian Beck's Living Theater. Since first making a name for himself, as one of San Francisco's most reliable and innovative DJs during the late eighties, Cheb i Sabbah has been integrating ragga and DJ culture with particularly hypnotic results. Joined on his latest record by Bill Laswell on bass (who else?) as well as enlisting a variety of Hindu and Muslim musicians, Cheb splices together a metaphysical grab bag of soothing electro-spiritualism for the mind and body. Meditative and contemporary without sacrificing the authentic and exotic flavors of the East, the multicultural folk forms featured on "Shri Durga" (Six Degrees) are particularly earthy. The electronic aspects of Sabbah's sonic compositions are so subliminal that one could easily overlook the studio embellishments and focus on his spiritual use of chants, sitar, tabla and other ancient instruments. Sabbah's live show will include belly dancers and lord knows what else. This stuff is some high-end global chillout and should be good for whatever ails you.
by Mitch Myers
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