Pop Music : 3 Mustaphas 3: an Emphasis on Skill

3 Mustaphas 3 as a serious musical experience?

Most of the capacity crowd at the Palomino on Friday night for the British group’s local debut probably wasn’t expecting that slant. 3 Mustaphas 3 has an elaborate group mythology built on understated, absurdist humor and a refusal to treat world musical styles as sacred cows. But the sextet’s hourlong opening set emphasized musical skill rather than over-the-top lunacy.

It did take considerable proficiency to handle the spiraling unison melodies of the group’s Balkan-rooted sound. Niaveti’s flute and bagpipes, Hijaz’s violin and Daoudi’s assorted reeds (all members use the surname Mustapha) set the melodic tone. Bassist Sabah Habas handled most lead vocals and keyed a rhythm section that threw in the occasional R&B;, reggae or country groove.

But 3 Mustaphas 3 was too clever by half: By operating so far inside an unfamiliar tradition, the group virtually ensured that non-Balkan music fans couldn’t recognize any subtly irreverent Mustapha-izing of the material.

The second set proved far livelier as one piece with vocals halfway between nagging Bulgarian harmonies and Gregorian chants meshed with Balkanized punk thrash to energize the audience. Hijaz Mustapha took a couple of bouzouki solos that kept threatening to turn into “8 Miles High” and an extended Afro-Balkan work-out concluded the performance with more of the mix-and-match vitality 3 Mustaphas 3 should have displayed earlier.