Choc Quib Town, Jazz Café

I love a world music gig where there’s hardly a single world music fan present - or for that matter, a world music journalist. By this I mean that it’s a joy to be at a concert where the audience seems to mainly consist of people from the band’s country of origin, who are just thrilled to be getting a taste of home. From the off last night these fans of Colombia’s latest musical export seemed to know every taught, funky song and its sing-along chorus, and they bounced around with the kind of enthusiasm one rarely sees in a London world music audience (at least not until the encore informs them that if they don’t have fun now they will have missed their chance.)

Choc Quib Town – a fresh-faced hip-hop trio plus high-octane backing musicians - made it possible for me to believe I was in some far-flung South American bar rather than the oh-so-familiar environment of the Jazz Café, Camden, and that’s got to be the definition of a good night out.

Judging a CD by its cover may not be a good idea but it’s often impossible not to. Oro features a picture of the band that’s been photo-shopped to look like a children’s book illustration and then filled-in with happy-go-lucky pastel colours. So once I'd decided that Choc Quib Town were some kind of Putumayo-esque coffee-table world music act, they were going to have to make a pretty impressive noise to convince me otherwise.

But as it turned out their honed pop chops have enabled them to come up with a perfect mix of hip-hop and various South American roots styles, and I found myself dad-dancing around the room within seconds. Seeing them live became something I’ve been looking forward to for weeks. And as a live act they are even more impressive than on their perfectly crafted (but badly dressed) CD.

This photogenic trio, consisting of the delightful ever-smiling MC Goyo and her two sidekicks Tostao and Slow, just stick to delivery staccato raps and singing, while a dynamic backing band featuring a guitarist, bassist, drummer and percussionist pump out muscular grooves behind them. The result is so earthily funky that it could have held its own in any downtown New York club in the mid-1970s.

Barely a word of English is spoken by the band during their entire high-octane set, although they talk at length between numbers to the audience in Spanish. This results in my ears pricking up when I do hear two English words - and very effective these two words were too. As soon as the chant “Left… Right… Left… Right…” is chorused repeatedly by the trio, the audience, as one, start to shimmy from left to right across the floor.

And this is fairly typical of the degree of control these amicable Colombians have over their captivated fans for the entire set. Their closing number, the frenetic "Rumba Sin Pelea", is a lesson in the fact that rap can take on a whole new dynamic dimension when set against a rhythm other than a lumbering break-beat. Elsewhere there are influences of cumbia, Jamaican dancehall, and various other Latin and Caribbean styles, but they’ve all been assimilated into the band’s sound and end up becoming just a part of an overall sense of identity which can best be described as, simply, great pop music. And great pop music is of course a language that doesn’t need a translator, hence the fact that this outfit are acquiring legions of new fans wherever they play. If you thought Afro-Colombian music was just about cumbia, then think again.

Watch Choc Quib Town's video for "Somas Pacifico"