Institute of Contemporary Arts

Patrice Babatunde / Visitor Q / Trio

Date: 16 May 2008

Jahan Nazeer

After the psychedelic highs of the night before, a simple/strong drink was definitely in order as I reached the ICA bar. Tempted by a Mojito, but opting for a bottle of beer, my attention quickly turned to the evening's musical line-up. Tonight, ‘myDef African Jam & AfroPop Live presents Patrice Babatunde & Support'. Having heard that Patrice had supported Lauryn Hill in Germany on her ‘Miseducation of' tour, I was really looking forward to hearing from an artist that I was beginning to think I should know a lot more about. A brief chat with some Patrice fans only backed this up, with a steady flow of records since 1999, he has built up a healthy collection of material and, it seems, earned some loyal fans.

Stepping inside the main room, although still not even half full, the vibes were already bubbling as groups began to congregate and loosen up to some quality reggae selections. First up tonight, were a group called Trio . Guitar, kora, and percussion. A kora, for those who are not familiar, is a West African instrument that kinda resembles a large banjo but is played more like a harp and is capable of the most amazing sound. Layering a backdrop of guitar and kora, with a strong rhythmic presence from all manner of hand-played percussion, Trio's sound was topped off with strong, earthy vocals and soon had the growing audience bopping along. Intricate, emotional and not forgetting the real sense of fun that was buzzing around the room. It's so clear how much culture is reflected in music when one can feel physically transported by the sounds of another land, and this set certainly took me away from rainy London and got the groove going nicely for the evening.

Next up, the London-based band Visitor Q . Describing their music as ‘Melodramatic Popular Song/Alternative/Other', their set was definitely a contrast from the first act. Opening with speakerphone and a lungful of attitude, Adio bellowed frantically over cascading guitar and keyboard parts, played by Dain and Mummi respectively. As theatrically twisted as he was, Adio has a great voice and the band as a whole, were not afraid to try different things. The use of vocal effects was one example of this. Sometimes a squeaky cartoon character, sometimes a sinister, dark demonic voice, there seemed to be evidence of much experimentation. Psychotically charged, loud and obtrusive, the set made use of sampled drums as well as live drums later on in the set and each song was preceded by an old guy in a kilt carrying different signs across the stage... really, I didn't just make that up. I think the crowd were a bit split on this one but they added a bit more variety to the line-up and I enjoyed their set.

So, after a short break and a chance to get another drink, the headline act was ready to touch down. A big cheer sounded around the main room as Patrice Babatunde took to the stage, alone, with his acoustic guitar. Starting off with an acoustic, melancholy love song, his cool charm and pop melodies had the audience paying full attention. Indeed his material is good enough to spin with many other contempory and well lauded songwriters. Gradually joined on stage by his band, Patrice launched into a rhythm heavy, bass bumping, reggae-tinged set that had both energy and depth. The main room had turned into a dancehall with people winding and shaking, cheering and hollering. Patrice, clearly a well seasoned performer, engaged the crowd further with crowd participation and generally ran the whole show expertly. Switching between RnB style vocals, reggae-style vocals and more rap-style vocals, the content was uplifting and soulful. I can see why he was booked to support Lauryn Hill. Love, social commentary and a good deal of sincerity, Patrice ran through some older tracks as well as new ones from his new album ‘Nile', and having utterly blown up the stage, he bid us farewell. I am definitely going to buy a copy of his new cd ‘Nile' and I suggest you do the same. I was reading that the name ‘Babatunde' means ‘return of the father' in Yoruba and was given to him because he was born on the same day his grandfather died. Definitely worth checking out and a really great Friday night up at the ICA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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