In the beginning, the members of Las Toallitas were a group of orphans who were abandoned at an early age. The children were embraced by darkness and solitude, bravely facing unimaginable obstacles and dangers.

Then along came a retired circus owner named Hidalgo Montenegro. “Let there be light,” he subconsciously uttered, and it was so. Montenegro adopted the children, whom he found circling around an airport on a conveyor belt, and began using them as gypsies in his circus.

This is what the group’s press kit says, anyway. However, that story couldn’t be further from the truth, according to bassist Bruce Krippner.

“It makes for a great story, doesn’t it?” he asked. “It’s interesting to us, anyway. We get a lot of laughs from it. It’s all in pure fun, the whole concept of creating a lore for the band.”

This particular piece of lore was the product of a Chicago-based music critic’s imagination. The story stems from the group’s extensive use of circus garb in its earlier days and the type of music that the group continues to play — best described as “gypsy circus dub,” “trance-hall funk” or “international acid lounge.”

The group has created a unique mixture of Middle Eastern, Eastern European and Latin dance music that is seamlessly blended together with desert melodies, Caribbean charm, salsa and jazz. In fact, a less knowledgeable person might call the group’s music “multicultural.”

“I hate that description,” Krippner said. “It somehow implies that there are types of music that aren’t multicultural. I challenge anyone to find a genre of music that isn’t multicultural.”

Krippner said that the various assortment of musical styles found on the group’s 1994 release “Mayhem Among the Desert Thieves” and its recent release “Volcano,” is simply a byproduct of each members’ musical exposure and the atmosphere of Chicago, the city where the group hails.

“Over time,” Krippner explained, “we contributed all of the things we knew into one form. Everyone in the group knows a lot of different types of music. I’ve personally been playing music for 10 years and I’m the green one of the group. Everybody has been playing since childhood.

“Chicago is really interesting,” he continued, “because it’s not just a lot of different cultures and lifestyles separated into various parts of the city. All of these cultures and lifestyles are piled together, and they all present themselves simultaneously all of the time. It’s just there, in your face, coming out of stores, cars, etc.”

So it stands to reason that labels and descriptions don’t really do the group much justice. Neither does the media imposed nickname — “The Jackson Five of the Fertile Crescent.”

What could have created such an uncharacteristic, uncategorizable group of musicians? Are the group’s members made of flesh and bone or moon dust and starlight?

According to Krippner, it all started six years ago when vocalist/violinist/organist Max Callahan was approached by a bar owner and asked if he could put together a band with a Spanish circus sound to play a gig in a local establishment.

Callahan quickly selected a group of diverse musicians and wrote a few original songs. The only problem was that the group needed a name. So Callahan shuffled off to Dunkin’ Donuts to drink some coffee, chill with some cops and think of a name.

While he was pondering this dilemma, he happened to pick up a napkin. He turned around to a Spanish-speaking man and asked him what the napkin would be called in Spanish. “Las Toallitas” the man replied. The name has stuck ever since.

“We had our first gig a week later and ended up playing four in a row,” Krippner recalled. “We started getting more offers and stayed together simply because we had shows to play. The music has evolved since then.”

That evolution is obvious on “Volcano,” which features a line-up consisting of Callahan, Krippner, Ned Folkerth (vocals, drums), Doug Brush (vibraphone, tabla, percussion), Kristin McGee (saxophone, vocals) and Randy Farr (percussion). The group’s line-up has changed several times since its inception, and it will probably continue to change well into the future.

But one thing is for certain. Las Toallitas isn’t your average four-person band with a vocalist, guitarist, drummer and bassist. It also does things that most groups wouldn’t even consider doing — such as playing benefits for Greenpeace and Rodney Coronado, a Yaqui Mexican environmental and animal rights activist who was arrested and charged with bombing a fur farm.

The group also prefers playing live as opposed to constructing music in a studio.

“They are really different animals,” Krippner said. “Recording is fun because you can treat the studio as an extra member. But when you’re playing live, the audience has a large part of what the final product is. You feed off of its vibe. It’s like a language in which the band and audience communicate.

“I’d really like to find a way that I could bring an entire audience into the studio with us,” he added. “I think that would be really neat.”

Las Toallitas would personally like to invite everyone to come join them in constructing magical music at an all-ages show at the M-Shop tonight at 9 p.m.

The concert is part of the M-Shop’s “Not Quite New Year’s Eve Party,” in which party favors will be available and free champagne will be given away at midnight. The cost of admission is $4.