I understand. Americans' reputation around the world for politeness is less than favorable and my blue passport puts me in a cultural category that is not so popular in the world these days. So my daughter, Haley, and I didn't take it too personally.

We spent 10 days in France. The first few were in Paris, where we visited the usual attractions: Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Eiffel Tower and the catacombs.

While Haley preferred her iPod for entertainment between sites, I kept my ears open for music in public places, such as French music playing on the radio or in stores and restaurants.

teri tibbett / juneau empire   We be jammin': Musicians play earlier this month at an open-mike jam at the Cream Café in Seignosse, France.

We also stumbled in on an outdoor music concert. We were drawn to the music during a stroll down the Rue des Archives when we heard jazz sounds wafting over a warm Paris breeze.

The scene was a large covered stage set up on the street in front of the Mairie du III Arrondissement (the city hall in the third district). Rows of metal chairs held a couple of hundred people sitting in the middle of the blocked-off the road.

On stage, Les Yeux Noirs (The Black Eyes) - a French-Yiddish-Balkan jazz group featuring two violinists, a guitar, accordion, cimbalom, cello and drums - performed in a gypsy-klezmer style with traditional and original tunes sung in French, Hebrew and Yiddish.

The highlight of the group's performance, clearly, was the energy and passion of the musicians, especially the violinists, brothers Eric and Olivier Slabiak, who played off each other, dueling with alternating solos, walking to the sides of the stage and coming back together with bows moving feverishly in unison to climatic conclusions.

At one point the stage lights changed dramatically from flashing multi-colors to a stark blue and white wash, reflecting the hues of the Israeli flag. The words of the song, sung in Hebrew, told a passionate story, ending with loud applause from a standing audience, followed by a deep bow from the singer, who put his hand to his heart and thanked the audience earnestly.

The last song, "Tchaye" with its addictive, repetitive chorus, inspired the audience to sing along and continue to sing long after the musicians had stopped playing and left the stage.

You can view Les Yeux Noirs at the group's Web site, www.lesyeuxnoirs.net.

We left Paris and boarded an all-night train to points south.

In southwestern France, we stayed with friends, Axel and Flora, who welcomed us to their home and introduced us to many cool people and restaurants.

Flora turned us on to some great French musicians and musical groups, including Alain Bashung, Louise Attaque, Pierre Guimard, Les Rita Mitouko and Vanessa Paradis, who was first a popular singer in France before becoming a model and marrying American actor Johnny Depp.

The musical highlight, however, was an evening at the Cream Café, a surfer's hangout on the beach in Seignosse, close to Axel and Flora's home.

On Wednesdays the café hosts an open mike session that is coordinated by Django, an American living in France who is a versatile and welcoming musician.

I joined Django and another guy on drums. We communicated by hand gestures because I couldn't speak French. Haley got up for a couple of songs and the audience was enthusiastic.

Throughout the evening, a variety of locals got up to perform, including rappers, drummers, bass players, guitarists and a teenage electric guitar player - probably about 12 or 13 - who ripped it up and sent everyone away scratching their heads.

My favorite, though, was the last guy, a Frenchman who wore a multicolor Rasta hat and got the whole crowd moving as one entity to an intoxicating version of the reggae standard, "Get Up, Stand Up."

Afterwards, there were hugs and gestures showing appreciation of the music and of each other - another reminder of the glue that music can be no matter what language you speak.

• Teri Tibbett is a writer and musician living in Juneau.