A night of contrasts, propelled by the power of soukous
Nsimba Foggis & Taxi Pata Pata brought the joy of soukous to the lovely refurbished Tabernacle in Notting Hill. Yes, the bass player struggled to keep up with the band and the kit drummer seemed intent on his own path but the old timers kept it together for most of the night and there were some great moments when the audience were coaxed from the comfortable tables to the dance floor.
A few days previously, we learned, Nsimba had charmed a couple of East End girls into dancing on stage that evening. One had been jogging in the park when, entranced by Nsimba’s drumming, she had gone over and been imbrogled in his plans. At times, the girl and her pal had bewitched with an utterly idiosyncratic routine of twitching, grinding and psychic acting out. You really had to be there.
Nsimba himself has still got it and his fine voice, obvious charm and shiny pants kept everything bubbling over through the night.
All in all it seems that Nsimba has a new hunger to regain his soukous supremacy in the UK and on this form, boosted by a more practiced band, he could be on his way.
Fly 