Drawing influences from a dizzingly diverse range of styles including Arabic modes, seventh-laden chanson, wailing blues rock and perhaps most prominently, extra-hard drum'n'bass, this nebulous and organic group manage to make each cultural alloy their very own.
Led by the dubiously named and relentlessly energetic Sista K through megaphone and percussion and fiercely reinforced by a horrendously able keyboard/sampler/accordion/vocal operator, the rest of the band keeps pushing faster and harder with rapid double bass, virtuoso clarinet and Back To The Future samples.
Particularly enjoyable is the sight of guitarist and gumbri player Nassim.
He's sartorially plucked from Lawrence Of Arabia and beautifully incongruous with the Stratocaster upon which he plays hot, bent and crunchy solos that rank up there with the likes of Prince and Page.
The Rich Mix has always been a strange venue, apparently uncomfortable in itself and unsure of its identity.
But this evening in its half-empty quadrangle it's clear that this is about one thing - people coming together and enjoying music with complete abandon, irrespective of their background.
The crossover between electronic music and the "classical" idiom is one of the most difficult to tastefully achieve without either inelegantly sleighting the latter, overdoing the former or - even worse - maligning both.
Watcha Clan are fortunate that their technical skill and deep cultural awareness allow them to effortlessly bridge this gap, improvise around any theme which pops up and still ensure that it coheres without pretence.
This kind of skill often comes with a price of po-faced studiousness, but not here.
While fusing a world of tonality and rhythm the Clan still manage to surrender themselves to an infectious joy which is impossible to ignore.
This isn't just music but the essence of life itself.
03/24/11
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