Mano Negra: Vive le Rock

It’s generally been considered an irrefutable law of nature that the French can’t rock ‘n’ roll. Well, pardonez moi , but Paris’ Mano Negra rocked so impressively Thursday at the Roxy that the group may need a new law unto itself.

Some have called the band the French Clash, others the Gallic Chili Peppers. Neither comparison is really accurate, but they hint at the boisterous, neo-vaudevillian stage attitude of the eight-piece band--which did Bobby Fuller’s “I Fought the Law,” a song the Clash used to perform.

Mano Negra represents a clash of another kind--the culture-clash cross-pollination that has made Paris a particularly fertile musical ground. Like it’s folkier Parisian confreres in Les Negresse Vertes, Mano Negra blends elements of several Mediterranean cultures (the group sings in French, Spanish, English and Arabic) in a frenetic, kinetic, horn-and-guitars spiked musical style best termed punk-world beat. Not insignificant in the mix is a rap-metal hybrid (a la Holland’s Urban Dance Squad)--the band even rapped a version of the country-skiffle standard “Rock Island Line.” Vive le rock ‘n’ roll!