WOMAD

Mr Bongo DJs

From United Kingdom

To those citizens of Blighty who’ve developed a serious addiction to bountiful Brazilian beats, the mysterious Mr Bongo will have loomed large over the last couple of decades. No one person in this country has fought the cause of Brazilian music quite so strongly, whether importing the latest sounds from Rio and Såo Paulo into his hipper-than-hip record store in deepest Soho or releasing a torrent of magnificent records through his label down in sunny Brighton (including the rather splendid Brazilian Beats series). And then there’s the live dates – storming DJ sets that have pounded dancefloors from Tokyo to Copacabana. Now it’s Rivermead’s turn. Mr Bongo himself will be leading proceedings, ably aided by his first lieutenants of Latin – Greymatter and Lady Jane. Their combined record boxes will pour forth a veritable crashing wave of samba, batucada, funk, hip-hop, soul and jazz, all laced with the strongest of Brazilian accents. Most recently, the team have been providing the grooves for various World Cup parties in Berlin. Like the golden boy Ronaldinho, they find the back of the net every time. In A Few Words… Golden Brazilian grooves from a three-strong forward line