Rupa & the April Fishes

Global agit-pop for the end-of-the-world cabaret

If you're inclined towards a little flutter, you'd definitely stick a few coppers on the mongrel sound of Rupa & The April Fishes hailing from one of the port cities that dot the Mediterranean coastline. Marseille, perhaps, or Barcelona. But no. That this combo call San Francisco home shows how far the parish boundary of the global village stretches. Theirs is a concoction to confuse and delight the senses - a couple of shots of French chanson, two equal dashes of Mexican ska and Colombian cumbia, and a strong measure of East European gypsy mayhem. Utterly absorbing. But what's in the name? Well, when the French king adopted the Roman calendar, those dissatisfied souls who still wished to celebrate the new year in April became known as April fishes. "We feel like April fishes," explains singer Rupa, "people who don't believe the reality handed to them by some higher order."

(Biography by Nige Tassell 2010)