La Chiva Gantiva: Vivo (Crammed Discs)

 |   |  <1 min read

La Chiva Gantiva: Me Voy de mi Cabeza
La Chiva Gantiva: Vivo (Crammed Discs)

Further proof -- if any more were needed -- that "world music" is a very slippery and loose term. These Womad visitors deliver a heady brew of Afro-Colombian grooves, soul-funk, hip-hop and some nods to roiling Afrobeat.

They, of course, come from Belgium.

Recording in their own studio and getting this mixed in New York just compounds the "world music" issue and in their ranks alongside the three Colombians are two Belgians, a Frenchman and a Vietnamese guy.

That is undeniably "world".

This boiling, relentlessly rhythmic second album conjures up punk and carnival energy with air punching choruses, compulsive dance and hand-clap pop, with a horn section.

La Chiva Gantiva therefore are an ideal Womad band to get a crowd up and dancing. On the evidence here they sound an irresistible live act. 

For more details on Womad 2014 artists with sound samples and Elsewhere's opinion simply go here

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   World Music from Elsewhere articles index

Rokia Traore, Ne So (Nonesuch)

Rokia Traore, Ne So (Nonesuch)

As Elsewhere has previously noted, the nation of Mali which was a hotbed for talent two decades ago has fallen into harder, political times in recent years. There has been a military coup, the... > Read more

Simon Thacker's Svara-Kanti: Trikala (Slap the Moon)

Simon Thacker's Svara-Kanti: Trikala (Slap the Moon)

Strange how a chance hearing of something can put you on a different path. When I was about 12 I joined the World Record Club which, if you didn't send a form back every month declining their... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

TREES: FROM ARCHIVES INTO A BOX (2021): Seventies Brit-prog-folk onna psyche-American trip

TREES: FROM ARCHIVES INTO A BOX (2021): Seventies Brit-prog-folk onna psyche-American trip

To be honest, the British folk-rock band Trees never meant anything to me during their brief heyday of just a few years -- and one further album -- after their 1970 debut The Garden of Jane... > Read more

THE VOLUME EXHIBITION IN AUCKLAND:  Exit through the gift shop

THE VOLUME EXHIBITION IN AUCKLAND: Exit through the gift shop

Because I was involved in the exhibition Volume: Making Music in Aotearoa currently running at the museum in Auckland – 60 years of popular music from 50s rock'n'roll to Lorde –... > Read more