Banana Mundo is back with Intercultural Appreciation Day. This track is literally dripping with sublimely blended culturally iconic instruments and tones, and is an homage to that famed multi-cultural festival in their base, New Plymouth, over there in sunny Taranaki.

We have a reggae base, with some fabulous salsa brass. There’s some wood and steel percussion, and that inescapable Kiwi-ness about the composition that will get you every time. This band is definitely up there with the likes of the Seeds, Katchafire et al, yet Banana Mundo has that additional Latino tilt that crosses the South Pacific and sets us up in that midnight cafe beside the shimmering waters of the River Plate as Montevideo parties hard into the early hours, that I mentioned in the review for their previous release.

The band tell me they believe that music can unite people of all walks of life. It’s an ethos I buy into: you play, you invite someone in and ask them to join in. See what happens. The joyous blend of cultures this band displays shows this ethos has legs. The potency of the message should not be lost on us. There are those who say music cannot change the world. Nah. They’re wrong. Play your song. Let someone in, and invite them to play theirs as part of yours. Again: see what happens.

The brass is celebratory and brazen, and its composition is a real earworm. Alongside the vocal, which I will touch on in a sec, it’s the party central element to this release and is what will get you a’dancin’. Vocally, I could only describe a Latino-Marley marriage. It’s perfect for this unique sound they have; an earnest tenor that can turn on a dime from party to heartbreak.

This is the title track to their new EP. Absolutely, definitely going to be on your radio so keep an ear out. This is a party song, so house party, BBQ, road trip, small show, big show, festival. This will work at every one of them. I’ve got it on Flash-Trax‘s Spotify, and it’s on the band’s too, so if you like the sounds of the Southern Hemisphere wrapped into a single bag of unapologetically boisterous fun, Banana Mundo is the name to search. Intercultural Appreciation Day is the single and the EP.

The ‘Naki does it yet again!