Caliente! The Hottest place to be last Saturday night was at Carnival of Canberra National Multicultural Festival in Garema Place. Approaching the festival you could hear the music, smell the flavours and feel the heat. Carnival’s spell made you want to samba on arrival and the intoxicating atmosphere flowed through the crowd in a contagious beat.
Latino heritage was unleashed boasting Tango, Salsa, Reggaeton, Candombe, Danzon, Samba and Black Peruvian music starting in the afternoon and carried on into the early hours of the morning.
MC’s Madrid and Gordon hosted the fiesta introducing Canberra’s hottest Latin talent. Colectuvo 29, The Real Mexican’s Victor Valdez, Candombe Yauguro, DJ Pochoman, Los Chavos, DJ Dwight Chocolate Escobar, Gonzala Porta and the Sydney Afro Cuban All Stars, Batuca Sound Machine, and Watussi (ARIA nominee) brought the tunes, offering spectacular performances bursting with passion.
Kokoloco Canberra’s Premier Dance Academy combined forces with DJ Pochoman and captivated eager dancers with a varied mix of Latin, African, European and Caribbean rhythms. The audience was invited to join in and learn some new moves as they watched a truly mesmerizing show.
Garema Place was lined with numerous food stalls brimming with hot Latin cuisine which tantalized the taste buds and offered a different blend of African, European and Asian flavours.
The audience got to see Canberra’s own Los Chavos, a 7 piece band playing Latin rock, cumbia, raggae and samba! Gonzolo Porta and the Sydney Afro Cuban All Stars brought together the best Afro-Cuban Jazz while Victor Valdez made sure La Bamba was stuck in everyone’s head for the rest of the night. Watussi (Cuban slang for “the most handsome man at the party”) closed the night with a fantastic burst of energy.
Carnival was a fabulous was to end Canberra’s National Multicultural Festival. This event was truly unique and as promised, brought out the Latino in all of us.
