REVIEW: 10 November 2005

Zubop

As the Guardian noted in a review last year, with their eclectic mix of upbeat music from around the world, Zubop are ‘a band tailor-made for the festival circuit’. What that means is they play great music to dance to but do not pretend to come up with complex personal interpretations that would keep a seated audience riveted. So it is a credit to their energy and musicianship and to the multi-generational youthfulness of the seated Spin audience that they were greeted with warm applause from the first number and not allowed to go without a resounding encore.

Zubop write their own material but it is all based on jazz/ethnic styles from South Africa to South America plus a flavour of ska and klezmer in between which, at the beginning of the evening, had me wondering how well they can really get into the guts of so much other music. Certainly for the first couple of numbers only the keyboard player, South African-born Philip Clouts, impressed me with the range and intensity of his playing. But then in a ska-based number, called Slapstick Charlie, a homage to Charlie Chaplin, the music lifted into another gear with echoes of Madness and the wild urban jungle of Zappa centering on some appropriately funky blowing from Jon Petter on tenor. Before the interval a long more complex piece, Begum’s Arrival, showed how tightly Zubop can hold together through a series of tempo changes and play against each other rather then just passing the solo around. Pettor here playing on clarinet with conviction and a good sense of melody.

The rest of the evening passed with the same level of energy and cohesion though there were times when the soloing lacked individuality. I discovered at the end of the gig that Zubop normally perform with two other African-born front men on vocals, cora and percussion. I realised then what had been missing all evening. That complexity of percussive sounds and cross rhythms that characterises both African and South American music. Normally Zubop would have all these rather than relying on conventional drums and the restricted use of percussion instruments by the horn players. So, if you want a lift on a winter’s night Zubop could be your answer, but be prepared to push back the chairs and get your dancing feet on the floor.

© Paul Medley