By Molly Sheridan

LUMINESCENT ORCHESTRII AND DRAGANA

MON., DEC. 6

A FEW MONTHS ago a friend called from a show and held her cellphone out toward the stage. After a few minutes she screamed over the din of what sounded like a Romanian gypsy camp in the middle of one hell of a party, "Aren't they fantastic? Wish you were down here." I asked who was making such an impression. "Skip somebody, but he spells it weird."

Ah, that explained it. My old friend Sxip, a consummate entertainer of many tricks and talents, was back in town. Sxip and I first met in the backwoods of Ohio, where he mesmerized audiences with homemade instruments and creepy ghost stories. The last I'd heard, he counted among his projects a five-piece string orchestra that ran back and forth between Appalachia and the Balkans (literally and musically), heated over for the 21st century with a dance beat and garnished with bit of thrashing punk energy.

When it came over the transom that the Luminescent Orchestrii, as they are collectively know, would be making an appearance on the stage at Joe's Pub, I dropped Sxip an email to get the details.

"Overtly beautiful music with a crazy-ass rhythm section," Sxip replied without a trace of indie-rock irony, courtesy of "violins, mariachii bass, melodica, resophonic guitar, cello, human beat-box and a gaggle of Balkan singers."

If their last disc is any indication, that pretty much hits the mark dead center. The string-playing feels authentically dirty but without sacrificing the talent and training it's pretty obvious the players possess. And when the boots start pounding on the floor, you'd be forgiven if you forgot the month of the year or what country you were in.

For the show at Joe's, the orchestra will be sharing the stage with Dragana, a five-woman choir possessed of vocal talents that range from Lithuanian church chorales to Dolly Parton hits.

I ask Sxip what it's like to emerge from the underground performance scene to climb onto the Joe's Pub stage.

"New York is now way too expensive and too self-conscious to have a true underground scene," he corrects me. "'Hip' is useful for watching six hours of Matthew Barney films. It sucks for drinking Polinka with a bunch of gypsies in the Hungarian part of Romania and then pulling out your fiddle and putting your musical soul on the line.

"That being said, I'm glad to be playing Joe's Pub."

Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette St. (betw. E. 4th St. & Astor Pl.), 212-539-8778; 9:30, $10.