Michel recorded Atchêgbê between Cotonou, Benin, and Paris, France. Too often, African artists cannot afford to hire a full ensemble of musicians, but on Agoh, you can hear right away that Michel is well surrounded. He’s worked as trombone player for many African musicians, lately Tiken Jah Fakoly, and has strong connections with talented African musicians all over the place. The combination of classic salsa with singing in Fon, French and some Spanish is quite tasty, hope you enjoy! The album is available in the iTunes music store.[:fr]
Michel a enregistré Atchêgbê entre Cotonou, Bénin et Paris, France. Trop souvent, les artistes africains ne peuvent se permettre d’engager un ensemble de musiciens, mais sur Agoh au contraire, vous entendrez immédiatement que Michel est bien entouré. Il a travaillé comme trombone pour de nombreux artistes africains, dernièrement avec Tiken Jah Fakoly, et a des relations avec des musiciens africains talentueux un peu partout. La combinaison de salsa classique et de chants en Fon, Français et Espagnol est assez savoureuse, on espère que apprécierez !
Michel recorded Atchêgbê between Cotonou, Benin, and Paris, France. Too often, African artists cannot afford to hire a full ensemble of musicians, but on Agoh, you can hear right away that Michel is well surrounded. He’s worked as trombone player for many African musicians, lately Tiken Jah Fakoly, and has strong connections with talented African musicians all over the place. The combination of classic salsa with singing in Fon, French and some Spanish is quite tasty, hope you enjoy! The album is available in the iTunes music store.[:]
Across Africa we’ve encountered many hip hop artists favoring the same bling bling image they are exposed to via US hip hop videos: lots of big cars, lots of shiny rims, and when there are no cars handy, lots of logos and shiny clothes.
THANKFULLY, kuduro artists have been sticking to the raw aesthetics of the bairros they hail from. Here’s an example by Vagabanda, from the Marçal neighborhood of Rangel, an area filled with kudurists. Video by Ho Chi Fu, the top music video director in Angola at the moment.
Heroy and Puto Mira form Vagabanda, a duo on top of kuduro in Angola. They’ve traveled all over the country, and are now looking at trips to Brazil and Portugal. You can find some of their videos online, but their actual music is still not very accessible – at least not legally. But it’s coming very soon here on Akwaaba. Heroy has been doing kuduro for about 8 years now, but success really came when he met Puto Mira and formed Vagabanda. Suga, Vou le Dar, M Yoyo… were all hymns in their own time here in Luanda. Especially in the barrios of Rangel and in Mira’s home, Marçal. We spent a lot of time there with the band, also meeting some of the DJs they collaborate with, DJ Fofu, DJ Kobe, DJ Lango, Bobo-G… cool cats with lots and lots and lots of kuduro beats.
The video to Suga has such poor sound, it makes me sick… so here’s proper audio: Suga – Vagabanda & Agre-G
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:
