Choc Quib Town, Jazz Café

The Latin Grammy-nominated band put a new spin on Afro-Colombian music

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.)

The Train of Ice and Fire: Mano Negra in Colombia

Father's view of a band gone loco

"There have been some legendary rock'n'roll train rides over the years", as music journalist Nigel Williamson put it, "but there has surely never been a train ride like the one Manu Chao took across Colombia in 1993." The travellers included Manu's band Manu Negra (a hugely successful band throughout Europe and Latin America at the time)  and assorted other musicians, clowns, circus artists and tattooists, not to mention ice-sculptures and, a fire-breathing dragon called Roberto.