La Chiva Gantiva @ the Spiegeltent
An incredibly infectious, upbeat live energy
The heady days and nights of Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2016 are drawing to a close. The penultimate evening at the Adnams Spiegeltent sees a late night, sold out, knees up, bootyshaking bouncefest of a performance from La Chiva Gantiva.
This band began in Brussels when three young Colombian students started to play percussion together, delving into their roots and adding elements from Afro-Colombian rock, afrobeat, hip hop and funk. Soon joined by two Belgians, a Frenchman and a Vietnamese, they started taking their wild, energetic show around the world.
One of the most magical things about the Spiegeltent is that (nearly) EVERYONE is there to party. The air is suffused with lights, smoke and excitement, bags and coats are tucked away near the stage and we are ready for the off.
From the word go the band give 200%. Frontman Rafael is a tall, electric, striking, mopheaded ball of energy, leaping and stalking across the stage, and immediately we’re in the palm of his hand. He’s a multi instrumentalist, turning his hand easily to drums, an odd recorder-like instrument and electric guitar during the set, as well as rapping in French and singing in Spanish and Portuguese. He’s just one of those uber-cool guys who probably has an amazingly eclectic record collection and can play any instrument he chooses as soon as he picks it up. We all fall a little in love with him, and also with the beautiful percussionist who treats us to some wonderful dancing and maraca and drum action throughout the evening.
La Chiva Gantiva have an incredibly infectious, upbeat live energy. If you don’t move to their music you might as well give up right now. There are so many elements to their songs, and each one is very different, keeping us on our toes and not knowing what to expect next. A Rage Against The Machine-style stomp with accompanying bellowed vocals from a headbanging Rafael? A flute solo? A Latin funk groove? Massive horn riffs? An amazing duet between an acoustic and electric guitar? All there.They’re not the very best musicians I’ve ever seen but the balance between them and their obvious joy in performing for such a jubilant crowd imbue the whole show with a sense of mastery in terms of a show. It’s frenetic, it’s chaotic, it’s full on good time music, reminiscent of Gogol Bordello’s gypsy-like mix of influences and Manu Chao’s Latin sounds. The last 15 minutes of the hour and half set are the best. Such is their power over us, they are able to make us all move to the left, then to the right, then crouch down and jump up, make us clap at increasing volume, and pretty much anything else they want. The screams, foot stomping and wild clapping at the end of their set is at an extraordinary volume, and the band seem totally blown away by the reaction before coming out to meet everyone and sign CD’s.
The Spiegeltent is a place of warmth and wonder. Tonight the whole place was lifted up and transported via some kind of Wizard of Oz-like hurricane to a sweaty late night bar in Bogotá thanks to La Chiva Gantiva’s crazy show. And it was a total trip.
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