A World of Music From the Penguin Cafe

Group: Penguin Cafe Orchestra.

Personnel: Simon Jeffes, composer, arranger, guitar; Steve Nye, piano; Helen Liebmann, cello; Geoffrey Richardson, viola; Bob Loveday, violin; Ian Maidman, percussion; Paul Street, guitar; Neil Rennie, ukulele.

History: Composer Simon Jeffes originally got the idea for this instrumental octet in 1972 during a dream he had while suffering from food poisoning in Japan. The first Penguin Cafe Orchestra configuration, a quartet, was formed the following year in England and, boosted by support from Brian Eno, recorded its first LP, “Music From the Penguin Cafe.” Four more albums followed, as did a successful auxiliary career for Jeffes as a composer and arranger. Jeffes has worked with David Sylvian, Twyla Tharp and Andre Gregory, had a hand in most of Malcolm McLaren’s projects (the Sex Pistols, Adam Ant, Bow Wow Wow) and scored the strings on Sid Vicious’ infamous recording of “My Way.” London’s Royal Ballet is currently rehearsing a new work titled “Still Life at the Penguin Cafe,” which was tailored to PCO music, and the group’s recent album, “Signs of Life” (on Passport Records), has been its biggest success, both critically and commercially.

Sound: PCO’s whimsical hybrid of chamber music and folk is the very definition of the term world music. Synthesizing dozens of disparate styles--Baroque, calypso, zydeco, African and every variety of roots music--PCO music comes on with the soothing lack of aggression common to New Age music. But that’s where the comparison ends. Whereas New Age is lobotomized with bliss, PCO is informed by a savage sense of humor and one musical surprise after another. A pastoral wash of strings might give way to a plinking ukulele that sashays alongside a cocktail-shaker rhythm, all of which are spinning out the sort of melody one hears in lullabys. Like fellow musical heretics the Pogues, the Penguin Cafe Orchestra breathes new life into traditional idioms by bending them into new shapes, then performing them with great glee and a considerable amount of technical expertise.

Show: Saturday at the Japan America Theatre, part of the UK/LA Festival.