The Great Escape 2014: KiT Set To Play Dutch Impact Showcase

If you’re in the market for getting a taste of the more international spectrum at this year’s Great Escape, look no further than Friday’s Dutch Impact showcase. Taking over Komedia for the afternoon, indulge in the likes of KiT, Bo Saris and traumahelikopter: they’re more impressive than a Cruyff turn.

We caught up with KiT, a group inspired in equal parts by Traditional Afro Caribbean Music from Curaçao and European Dance. They play Brighton Komedia on 9th May at 4pm.



For anyone who’s not sure, can you give us a brief introduction to your band, and how you got together?
We’re KiT which is short for Kuenta i Tambu. This translates into stories and (percussion) drums in our native language papiamentu. That’s also how it basically started. A couple of years ago
it was just vocals and percussions. Very rootsy and traditional, yet with a modern touch and with an open approach to whatever the future might bring. We used to do participational concerts at schools and in theatres to get children more familiarised with Caribbean music and culture. After that we started experimenting with electronic beats and synths. That took a while before we’ve reached somewhere where we were happy with the sound and the concept. Many many friends were and are still are involved in advising what works and what doesn’t. But we’ll always keep searching for things to improve.

How did you come to decide to incorporate the influences of tambú music into your own? Do you feel its an important part of what KiT does?
It was more the other way around. We had to incorporate the electronics in our music. The tambú sound is a very important part of our sound. It’s the basic of our sound. Tambú music has many elements. Enough elements to incorporate differently in each and every song. In our live shows there’s one or two acoustic intermezzos just to give the crowd a little taste of the afro caribbean vibe.

What’re the live shows like for you? Do you think the music works best in that environment?
The music is high energy. It’s fast, it’s loud and it has loads of bass. It is still very musical though. We mostly approach our music like proper pop songs. Because of the electronics people can easily relate to it. The live percussions gives it the extra edge.

How’re you looking forward to being apart of the Great Escape this year? What should we be expecting from your spot at Dutch Impact showcase?
It’s something we’ve been looking forward to for quite a few years. At the office we used to have a huge blackboard with all of our goals written out in big capitals. TGE was one of them! Thanks to Dutch Impact, this dream has just come true. You should expect a great show - we’re at least trying on making the best show we can. We’re looking forward to finding ourselves some partners in the UK music scene.

Is it nice to be able to play shows alongside other Dutch artists, and be involved in that on an international stage?
It definitely is. It’s always nice to ‘hook up’ and explore new territory and new crowd. It also gives you that feeling of togetherness and comfort.