Tim Hughes talks to the Colombian party band La Chiva Gantiva ahead of their Oxford gig

Fusing feverish 70s funk with Afrobeat and the sizzling sound of their native Colombia, La Chiva Gantiva are hot-blooded exuberance personified.

It’s a soundtrack of street carnivals, beach parties and festivals, drenched in the frantic rhythms of Latin America and the Caribbean. And it all started life... in Belgium.

Finding himself homesick in Brussels, Felipe Deckers and two fellow Colombians, Rafael Espinel and Natalia Gantiva, began playing the music they loved from back home – but blended their native champeta, chirimia and maple rhythms with other styles of music they loved, including rock, punk, jazz and funk. The heady musical cocktail was turbo-charged further still by the addition of four other members – two Belgians, a Frenchman and a Vietnamese – to explosive effect.

Tonight (Fri) they bring their ramshackle Euro-tropical sonic punch to the O2 Academy Oxford for a show which will have the crowd bouncing off the sweaty ceiling.

They follow that up by playing Wychwood Festival, on Cheltenham Racecourse on May 31.

“We are an explosive collective of seven musicians who want to give everything they have on stage,” says Felipe, who provides guitar and backing vocals and is one of the key songwriters.

“People should expect happiness, energy, good vibrations, and be ready to dance and jump!”

He admits the band’s sound has strayed far from traditional Colombian music to encompass a global sound. “The root of our music is Afro-Colombian,” he says. ”But this was just our first inspiration.

“The three of us were playing in a traditional Afro-Colombian formation: percussion, flute and singing. We did a few concerts like that and people really appreciated it, but then we met musicians who were attracted to play with us, and we started to make our own songs, playing the music that involves all our musical influences. Our sound is what we are: a mixture of full of inspiration. It is definitely not typical Latin American.”

He goes on: “It was really a spontaneous process. And everything happened here in Brussels. In this cosmopolitan city it is very easy to meet people of different nationalities. This is why we are three Colombians, two Belgians, one French and one Vietnamese. And people supported us here from the beginning. We love Brussels!”

The name sums up that life-affirming sound, and is named after the buses which ply the Colombian countryside. “That bus is always full of fruits, flowers, animals and people,” says Felipe.

“Gantiva means ‘Captain of the Mountain’ in Chibcha [the language of Colombia’s native Indians], but it is also the name of the only girl in the band – Natalia Gantiva. For us it is a tribute to the women and means a transatlantic trip full of colours.”

As for their influences, they range far and wide – from 70s Lagos to 90s Los Angeles. “I can’t name all our influences because I will never finish,” laughs Felipe. “I can say that we have all been kind of rockers, so we all heard Led Zeppelin, Rage Against the Machine, Metallica, Pink Floyd and many others. Then we all love funk and Afrobeat such as James Brown, Fela Kuti and Bootsy Collins, and of course Colombian roots like Toto La Momposina, Joe Arroyo, Lucho Bermudez, La Mambanegra and Puerto Candelaria. But I am missing out a hundred of names.

“We try to find different sounds so each member of the band plays several instruments. I play a 12-string Colombian guitar from the Andes called a tiple, the saxophonist plays on several saxophones – alto, soprano and tenor, and the percussion instruments all come from the Caribbean coast of Colombia and include a kind of bass drum called la tambora; a tambor alegre, which in Spanish means ‘the happy drum’; as well as maracones, guache and bells.

“We are always looking for a new sound, and I think that the final combination is the result of the different backgrounds of band members. The arrangements also reflect the universe of each member.”

So what can we expect from a live show? “It is exciting, energetic, sensual and tribal,” he says. “We have had 9,000 people all jumping along with us.

“The thing I am most proud of, though, is the smiling of people after our shows. Come and see us, you won’t be disappointed. And be ready to dance. However you want!”

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