Chocquibtown are the hottest alt Reggaeton in Columbia, and in New York, during a three day festival celebrating Latin American Alternative music. And headlining Summerstage, Saturday, June 9th, 2011, they came on stage to flags waving and people shouting, the band, two guys and a gal taking vocals, and a funk rock behind, they proceed to level the place.
Except, in the wake of Rita Indiana, the sublime Dominican, Chocquibtown sound a bit ordinary. Rapping in Spanish while fun, has been done for years, and these guys sound like a Daddy Yankee, with a funkier feel.Rge bassist is aces, and perhaps it is because I am near the edge of the stage, I think he is the best I've watched since Larry Graham, and the songs, unlike CQT's hit album Oro, is a variation on pure rap. The shout outs are rap, the attitude is rap, and the flow is rap, but the words have real flow and I bet if you understood em you'd like them a lot more.
Goyo, the female lead singer, and the two rappers, are Columbian Africans, from Choco in Columbia, and they mix their black heritage with their Spanish heritage. On record, they sing straight up Spanish here and there and on stage they share leads with leader Toscado, leading a give and take on "Choco" "Oyo" chant.
The band are excellent and the set is lively but it didn't feel particularly alternative and of some of the questions, Columbian racism, are important, they don't translate at all.
After a long break, they come back for the encore and I am impressed again. "De Donde Vengo", which won a Latin Grammy in 2011, brings down the house,. Rightfully so. But still, it isn't what I would consider Alternative.