Ariwo - Brighton Festival show at The Old Market Hove -Review

It was as heady and tasty as it sounded and a perfect example of a Brighton Festival delivering an exciting act that you perhaps wouldn’t ordinarily see on a Wednesday night in Hove.

Ariwo means ‘noise’ in the dialect of Westen African Yorùbá language and their compelling sound is made by an electronic music composer, a virtuoso percussionist, an acclaimed London-based Cuban drummer, and an award-winning jazz trumpeter.

They began in a blizzard of dry ice, red light and minimal sounds, like the analogue synths of a John Carpenter soundtrack, gradually giving way to a faster pulse and a pace not dissimilar to early house music .

Their live sound seemed to be led by the fluid digital beats and effects, with devilishly good contributions from the hugely accomplished performers.

The Old Market sound system coped well with their body-shaking bass, which lumbered menacingly alongside the racing Afro-Cuban rhythms of the drums and percussion, until the banging electronics themselves sped to a near-techno pace.

And who doesn’t want to hear the plaintive wail of trumpet liberally splashed over already complex and pounding soundscapes?

A final booming, hammering climax was as close to drum ‘n’ bass beats per minute as makes no difference, but with the added organic layers of sound and rhythms created by elite musicians,

The genre-exploding sound made for a exciting and unpredictable gig, with infectious irresistible rhythms and beats to dance to and luxuriate in.