Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro @Festival Centre, Adelaide(19/06/10)

Tue 22nd Jun, 2010 in Gig Reviews

The lively Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro is a Japanese six-piece funk outfit, marking their Adelaide debut with three nights as part of the 2010 Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

A late addition to the program, missing out on a spot in the printed Festival Guide, Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro was a hidden gem amongst the many shows taking place in cabaret-flavoured June in Adelaide. While unfortunate that more people weren’t there to fill the venue, those who were in attendance certainly made good use of the extra dancing room.

Sporting berets and dressed in that charming brown hue only seen on vintage suits, the band features Temjin on trumpet, Carlos on tenor saxophone, Bobsan on guitar, Mzo on organ/keyboard, Ginger on bass and Tiger on drums.

The sharp-suited team played a tight set of quick-paced jazz, funk and soul. While the band primarily performs instrumental songs, the title of the amusing Baggy Pants was bellowed throughout the track in quaint Japanese pronunciation. A sample of Aerosmith’s Walk This Way was also a nice touch in their one-hour show. The band further endeared themselves to the crowd as they hawked their merchandise in broken English, including the fitting traditional Japanese “furoshiki” wrapping cloth.

The Festival Centre’s Banquet Room, generally serving as a more humble function space, was transformed with vintage design tapestries and gilded mirrors for a decadent cabaret den feel for the show. Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro’s inclusion in the Adelaide Cabaret Festival line-up showed creative programming in a genre that is evolving and hard to define. Currently headed up by David Campbell as Artist Director, the festival celebrates its tenth year in 2010 and was recently deemed the biggest cabaret festival of its type in the world. The 16-day event, based at the Adelaide Festival Centre, also includes exclusive appearances by Natalie Cole, along with performers from John Waters to Diesel, Tim Rogers to Christa Hughes.

Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro reportedly plays “relentlessly across clubs of all sizes in Japan” and made an appearance at Fuji Rock Festival in 2008 to a packed house. The band has recently won over audiences in Australia’s east coast, playing slots at Woodford Folk Festival, Peats Ridge, Sydney Festival, and MONA FOMA. Their first Australian album release is a self-titled number through local label Instrumental Records, which made its way to record stores late 2009.

Having established themselves as firm festival favourites, and with organisers of the WOMAD festival not to be outdone by their east coast counterparts, I predict a visit by Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro to Adelaide’s favourite world music festival soon. Swearing on the sore muscles of the band’s furiously dancing punters, it will certainly be welcome return.