La 33 at Charlton Park, Womad, UK

25 July 2010 07:15 PM

Colombian salsa dura combo La 33 are performing at the Charlton Park Womad festival; for a full line up of all the hundreds of other bands, artists and performers take a look at womad.org/festivals/charlton-park/lineup/ , for an incredible weekend  - the UK's top World Music Festival.

"Most young salsa-influenced bands coming out of the Latin world are overwhelmingly eager to mix and match styles, to liberally draw from predominant styles from elsewhere - a little reggaeton here, a little ragga there, a lot of hip-hop everywhere. Not so La-33. Instead, this 12-piece from Bogota churn out tough, gritty salsa from start to finish, all swinging horns and unbreakable rhythms. Not that they're a mere revival act, though, one unconcerned with moving tradition along. They're the product of 21st-century urban life, after all, as proved by their streetwise, youthful exuberance. Named after Calle 33, their home street in the Colombian capital (so refer to them as La Treinta y Tres rather than La Thirty-Three), their live shows are never anything less than barnstorming. Indeed, if these chaps treat us to their rip-roaring version of Henry Mancini's Pink Panther theme this weekend, expect the whole of Charlton Park to explode in a stampede of dancing moves."
(Biography by Nige Tassell 2010)