<p>“Raptor house” sounds like something that could have been made in the Jurassic Period, but it’s a strain of dance music from Caracas, Venezuela, started by a small group of DJs including DJ Baba and which peaked between 2002-2008. They put a colourful, agitated spin on 90s Technotronic-style techno with aggressive synths and distinctly Latin rhythms, which came to be known as ‘changa’. It quickly turned into the sound of street dances and the dancers who battled each other were known as tukis, who had a distinct look that often included tight trousers, sleeveless shirts, snapback caps and bleached hair. The way they used synthesisers, says Baba, corresponded to the dancers’ body popping and created a new language between dancer and DJ. And as one of the lead dancers in Elberth explains this doc, they developed distinctive moves – including “the tantrum” and “the elastic”, an elaborate back lean that looks like a very painful yoga stretch. Key to the changa tuki movement’s subversiveness, however, is that it was rejected by many Venezuelan culture: the term “tuki” was originally a derisive word that was associated with “trashy” and also, the barrios being engulfed in crime, violence and poverty. And yet the sound continued to bump and grind outside of the Venezuelan mainstream media, having been adopted into the ‘global bass’ community thanks to artists like Portugal’s Buraka Som Sistema and their Enchufada label.</p> <ul> <li>Kate Hutchinson</li> </ul>