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Police shut down Ojos show
Chicago's crackdown on music clubs took an ironic twist Saturday when the city shut down a concert at one of its own festivals for alleged overcrowding.

The acclaimed Spanish nuevo flamenco group Ojos de Brujo was about halfway through its Chicago debut at the Northwest Side club Martyrs' -- only its second performance ever in North America -- when police officers and fire marshals abruptly ordered the closing of the venue. The concert was part of the monthlong Flamenco 2004 concert series sponsored by Instituto Cervantes de Chicago and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.

Martyrs' owner Ray Quinn said a customer had complained to a security official at the club that the band had not appeared onstage at the posted starting time. The patron sought a refund and threatened to call the police and fire departments to complain, then left the club, Quinn said. When fire and police officials arrived an hour later, they inspected the sold-out club and determined it was operating at an unsafe capacity. The audience left without incident, though a few customers asked for refunds.

Ojos de Brujo percussionist Max Wright said he was disappointed about the outcome, "more for the audience than myself. We were just warming up."

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When Ojos de Brujo (Wizard's Eyes) hit the stage around 11:15 p.m., they delivered an exhilarating blend of traditional Spanish flamenco melodic ideas with modern international influences. During the deejay's set, an animated cartoon depicted Christopher Columbus' voyage across the Atlantic among other images, all relevant to this group's sense of exploration. Ojos De Brujo's rhythmic force was conveyed as Wright, Xavi Turull, and Sergio Ramos demonstrated their agility on a compact world of different drums.

During one sequence, all three of them played the cajon, a box drum that originated in Peru. DJ Panko responded with a complementary array of samples and effects that never overshadowed the percussionists.

Another link to archetypal flamenco was the acoustic guitar duo of Ramon Gimenez and Paco Lomena. Gimenez and Lomena added contrasting textures to Ojos de Brujo's mighty syncopation instead of typically extroverted guitar solos.

Vocalist Marina Abad also gave a dynamic performance as her fervent singing and raps in the Romany (a.k.a. Gypsy) Spanish dialect confronted the audience as much as embraced it. Maybe she had a premonition of what was about to happen.