We met Gelú-Six via Telmo, who first introduced us to a few kudurists. Most people have never heard of him, including DJs and other kudurists. But we’re sure happy he came across our radar. He only has a 3 song demo out, and he made sure to pack all he could into those 3 songs. The following clocks at over 9 minutes(!) but we cut it down to half… just to keep you drooling a little bit more, until we… release it… soooon. Beat by DJ Buda:
We met Beto AC (left) and Bebo Clone (right) a couple weeks ago through Telmo, we mentioned their song Vem Ca, which has been blasting through Luanda for the past few months, and Telmo made it happen, getting us a meeting with them the next day. These kids are super chill, very enthusiastic about their music, relatively new to the game (3 years), but rising quickly. They come from the Cassenda barrio, which is not a traditional stronghold for kuduro, but now with help from these cats it’s definitely on the map. Among others, they work with Dred Man-Gi, a lesser known yet quite talented DJ and producer, who took us to his studio and shared a few beats with us.
Os Lambas is a name that already pops up if you do a quick search for kuduro. You can probably find some bootleg mp3s here and there, but for the most part, Luanda is where you’ll hear them. We met them here in Angola, and they took us to their home studio in the Sambizanga barrio. This neighborhood is a stronghold for kuduro, and Os Lambas are now one of its fiercest representants. They showed us their mic skills and recorded a short freestyle, until we release more of their highly additctive music.
It’s time for an update: We’ve been in Angola for 2 weeks now, meeting many musicians both old and new, and mesmerized by the diversity of music here. What strikes us most is the newer kuduro, which stands somewhere between hip hop, techno and traditional African drumming. You can hear a sample and read more about it here.
We’re also looking for classic 1960sa and 1970s Angolan music, particularly the semba which served as a musical backdrop for the charged political and social messages of the last decade in colonial Angola. Today we spent the day with Carlitos Vieira Dias, son of Liceu Vieira Dias, one of the founders of Ngola Ritmos. For most Angolans, Ngola Ritmos epitomizes the strife musical resistance. Carlitos’ father for instance was sent to jail for a decade. Carlitos founded a number of bands and participated in many more, two of the most famous being Os Merengues and Africa Show.
Carlitos took me to Mangalha’s house in the Barrio Operario, also a historically charged part of town, a place where many artists lived and performed. We went through his ridiculous record collection, over 23,000 records in total, among which many, many Angolan gems, in various states of decay. Until we can all enjoy the music, enjoy these classic covers. Much, much more here.
