By Ali Ikram
A few years ago when US band Beirut came here for Womad it did so with little fanfare.
These days they have played to packed out solo shows in Wellington and Auckland leaving fans quivering with almost religious fervour.
It started when an American teenager fell off a bridge and could not play guitar.
"My dad was a pretty avid guitar player and wanted me to play guitar but I picked up the trumpet largely in spite,” says Beirut’s Zach Condon.
The broad palette of French, Balkan and Mariarchi influences he paints with can be charted from the music he heard as an art house cinema usher.
"I wanted to be part of something bigger something historic and local punk bands didn't seem to be filling that hole."
It saw Beirut get filed under world music for a time and spawned Brazilian tribute bands called Beirutando who would meet to play covers of his songs.
Zach says there is an underlying sincerity to the music that explains its reach. Last year's album The Rip Tide charted all over Europe, the United States and here.
"I dropped out of school three or four times if you count these community colleges I spent a day or two at,” says Condon. “The history of my life is running away from any structure whatsoever and if a record company imposed that I would probably run away from music."
Beirut is now off to the far east to meet its Japanese fan base for the first time.
3 News