Favela Chic

We've had ghetto fabulous and council estate cool: now it's the turn of Rio De Janeiro's sprawling shanty towns to be in the cultural limelight, as Parisian institution Favela Chic comes to Notting Hill.

There, Favela Chic is much more than a club night: it's a cultural space where DJs, musicians, cooks and stylists co-ordinate music, food and theatre six nights a week - and have even staged Sunday kids' nights.

Favela Chic's resident DJs Gringo Da Parada, Mister Zero and Tchiky Al Dente capture the ramshackle, edgy essence of favela 'bailes funk' (funk balls) - all-night dances organised by drug gangs and attended by up to 6,000 people.

Musically anything goes, including funk, jazz, electro, rock, house and drum'n'bass, but bailes events.

funk have also proved a fertile ground for Brazilian hip hop or Rio funk. The current Nissan TV ad, in which runners chase a 4x4, uses a perfect example: that impossibly bustling and banging soundtrack is Quem Que Caguetou? (Who's The Snitch?) by Sao Paulo producer Tejo and Rio rappers Black Alien and Speed.

You can get a taste of it all tonight as Favela Chic's founder and director Gringo Da Parada, whose 'no taboo' style touches on rock, pop, house and long-forgotten classics from Brazil, is joined by Tchiky Al Dente's celebration of black music and Mister Zero's excursions into electronica. Al Dente and Zero will also showcase their Voltaire project, Miami bass meets Rio rhythms, with an MC from Brazil to boot.