LIVE REPORT: Chico Muya
Kahvila Mutteri, Lauttasaari; February 9th, 2024
Helsinki Indie Live Underground
If you spend any time on Instagram these days and you live in Finland, you might have seen some videos floating around the ether from a fellow named Chico Muya, who makes funny reels about life in Finland. Originally from South Africa but living in Helsinki for the past 5 years, he recently let us in on a little secret: he’s actually a musician as well! Now, since I’ve recently become fascinated by the indie/underground scene in Helsinki, I’ve heard that a little place called Kahvila Mutteri is having little indie performances every once in a while. I had to drop my partner off at work, so I thought I’d kill some time by running errands and then check this out… well, I ended up at Mutteri way too early as a result. Fortunately, it’s a beautiful little place and I was happy to kill some time there!
First up, a little about Kahvila Mutteri! It’s a little round coffee shop on the outer edge of Lauttasaari, built way back in 1927, designed by Bertel Liljequist, and revamped in 1997. More recently for the last year or so, Mutteri has been run by Saija & Mikael Ranta; the latter is a DJ himself, which means that we can surely look forward to more shows at Mutteri in the future. The cafe itself is very small—it’s hard to imagine it holding more than about 20 or so people indoors—but it’s really beautiful. From the funny wallpaper that has turtles riding on whales and the extravagant chandelier behind the bar, to the devil’s ivy hanging in the wood-framed windows, the place is has magnificent atmosphere and a lot of personality. I can imagine that the outside patio is delightful in the summer, though the -17°C weather yesterday certainly didn’t allow for any outdoor relaxation.
This show, in particular, was coordinated by Johanna von Hertzen, which is how I heard about it; naturally, you should look her up if you haven’t heard enough of me blabbering about how much I enjoy her music yet.
Now, as I said, I was there obscenely early… like an hour before Chico himself showed up. Fortunately, this gave me the opportunity to chat with him a little bit as he was getting set up, as well as the chance to have a quick talk with Mikael, who was running the show on this occasion. As I mentioned before, Chico has been living here for the past 5ish years, but for the last year or so he’s been on a break from music and is looking to get back into it, with this being the first show in a good long while.
First-up, I enjoyed watching him set up for the show. With these small singer-songwriter shows, you never know what you’re going to get, so every setup is unique and exciting for me. To my surprise, he had quite a few pedals, one of which I recognized as a looper—now, I haven’t seen one of these up front and personal since I moved to Finland; my last boyfriend in Canada used to play about three lines on a looper and then solo over them, just for fun, and I would do my creative writing while he was doing that. It goes without saying that I have fond memories of loopers, as such, but I’ve never seen one put to use in a live performance before (at least that I’ve been aware of), so this was a really cool experience.
The rest of the setup further interested me, as he had a sort of base amp with a tower speaker on it—another nifty device that I’ve never seen before. Of course, no show would be complete without something going wrong, but fortunately in this case, the only problem was that the mic and the piece that attaches it to the mic stand were missing from the gear. Chico had his own mic though, so with a bit of tape, the problem was solved!
Now, tl;dr, I really enjoyed Chico’s set and clearly so did everyone else who was there. He’s got a wonderful, deep husky/dusky voice—which he occasionally added some modulated effects to—and accompanied himself with an acoustic guitar, which he seems to know his way around very well. Also, he’s just as entertaining live as he is in his reels—he made a joke as he introduced himself that if you can’t remember his name, to just think of “chicken mayo” and now you’ll never forget. I’m sure if he ever decides to combine music and a bit of comedy, he’d be quite successful.
His set was comprised of a lot of original material, as well as a couple covers. If I were to describe his sound, it would be warm beach-side love songs, though he did mention that he’s thinking of adding more of the low-end into his music in the future. I feel like, at present, he’d be perfect at a Caribbean shoreside restaurant, for example, with that laid-back, warm, sweet, feel-good sound. His music didn’t seem to have much heartbreak, but rather, deep appreciation for love and romance and the beauty of life. I particularly enjoyed the song he played towards the end, “My Dear,” though I also really liked another song that asked, “somebody please watch over me for a minute.” Among the covers, I recognized “Stand By Me,” which included a little touch of “Every Breath You Take” in it. Furthermore, he introduced that song as something he wrote when he was 5 years old, which gained a lot of fame on its own without him… insert a cheeky grin here, if you will. There was also the familiar U2 song, “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” in there as well.
His set ran from about 19.00-20.00, though both the audience and the bar were loathe to let him stop, so he ended up playing a couple more songs for us. In the second-last song, the guy next to me was doing vocal maracas to accompany him and slapping his knees in tune and by the end, the little cafe was roaring in appreciation and I saw one guy pass him a tip after the show, so he was clearly a big hit!
So, once again, the indie scene in Helsinki has provided me with yet another wonderful experience and I’ve now made another wonderful new acquaintance! If you keep an eye open, maybe you’ll see an interview with him sometime this year? Who knows, but stay tuned, and please enjoy my small playlist of local/indie music, if you’re inclined to check out the scene yourself! Also, Chico, if today’s your birthday, paljon onnea!
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