Movimientos at Notting Hill Arts Club

This week I ventured out to West London for the first time in what must be years, to check out a night called Movimientos. The word itself is Spanish for ‘movements’, and is a reference to both dance and political movements. Past nights have included politically themed events with short film screenings and the like.

This night was all about the music though, and DJ’s Cal Jader & Arias started things off nicely with a mix of flavours of Latin-American music, none of which I can remember the names of… trust me though, it was good! You can hear some of their mixes at Movimientos’ page on Mixcloud.com. The night was also seemingly about the alcohol, with a Peruvian liquor called Pisco-Peru being the special of the night.

Disco Patrick at Movimientos

Movimientos doesn’t belong in one venue as such, but this installment was at the Notting Hill Arts Club. The place has had a bit of a refurb since I was last there around 6 years ago, and now looks a bit less like a bank vault and a bit more homely. The atmosphere was also helped along by Movimientos’ own vibrant projections that really set it all off.

Movimientos projections

Live music came from Fernando’s Kitchen, a 6 piece band who describe themselves as a “fusion of Flamenco, North African and Latin sounds, mixed in with the modern day contemporary styles”. Now, I like to gyrate my hips from time to time, but I have to admit that when I’m doing it to authentic Latin-American music, surrounded by authentic Latin-American people, I can feel like a bit of a fraud. Thankfully, being the lightweight that I am, it only took one bottle of fine Peruvian beer to loosen me up a little and before I knew it I was at the front of the crowd giving those hips a workout. I think someone caught the moment on camera – it would be nice to see those photos! Fernando’s Kitchen were great, and got us involved in some crowd interaction, which I usually find a lot of fun

Fernando's Kitchen at Movimientos

Fernando's Kitchen at Movimientos

Speaking of the crowd, they were a good mix of ages, backgrounds and styles – just how I like it! No edginess, and no too-cool-for-school-ers. Just friendly faces

Sadly I had to leave before the 2nd act came on, what with work in the morning, but I had a fun night and I look forward to attending another Movimientos sometime, wherever it may be.