Private banker by day, Hip Hop fan by night arriving at Paleo

Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Amidst Paleo’s 35,000 concert goers on Friday, I met a private banker who had come straight to the festival from the Geneva airport, hoping to catch some of the Hip Hop acts.

”In fact, I was hoping to see NTM [the French rap group Nic Ta Mere] but the lead singer is still under arrest, so they are cancelled,” the Swiss banker, Damian told me.

Damian, who lived and worked in India, was upbeat when I shared with him the lineup for the evening including a Bhangra performance and South African Hip Hop.

Achanak welcomed concert-goers on Friday night with their dance-friendly mix of Bhangra and electro music.

Achanak's irresistable dance rhythms - photo, Jared Bloch

The band lost no time on small talk and had the crowd dancing to their irresistible if straightforward drum rhythms within minutes.

South African Hip Hopper Tumi’s biggest asset is possibly the physical conviction with which he delivers deliciously wrapped up words from his barrel chest and with the help of his two hands: this is pure ballet. But it doesn’t hurt that his three-piece band seems to float around him, effortlessly creating a single lovely sound.

SA Hip Hopper, Tumi, telling stories with a rythm

This is “jazzy” or “beat” Hip Hop; stories woven over drum beats, bass lines and guitar riffs. In addition to storytelling, Tumi makes music out of pedestrian phrases like, “I wanna be a part of the beat,” which he then turned into an audience chorus. The result is stripped down music, where all the frills are real.

Navigating the Paleo grounds was no mean feat on Friday night given the number of concert goers and in the early hours of the morning I found myself walking against a sea of people as I raced for the opening of the Naive New Beaters (NNBS) at 01:30. Having seen their quirky performance on television, I was curious to see how the band would match up in person. NNBS’s front man is certainly entertaining in the role of “California surfer goes to Paris” (think “Fast Times” meets Jean Luc Goddard), and their funky mix of guitar infused digitalized dance tracks is super catchy. But the chemistry was one or two elements short of an explosion, and the crowd gathered for the show looked like it had passed itsbedtime.

See GL’s Paleo Photo Album and the rest of GenevaLunch’s coverage of the Paleo Festival.

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