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:
Hora Quente is a late night show on Angola’s TPA 2 TV station. Its host Pedro N’Zagi invited Akwaaba Music founder Benjamin Lebrave to share his thoughts on Angolan music and its international potential.
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.
Diata Sya have got it going on. They took hip hop in their one hands, mashed it with their rich Malian tradition, called in top instrument players and MCs, and recorded a highly original album in Bamako. Stepping in the legacy of Soundiata Keita, one of the Manding people’s most notorious warriors and historical figures, Diata Sya tackle serious social and political problems, while sticking to both their Malian heritage and hip hop roots – Chanana and N’Bee have both been rapping for over 15 years. Djekafo was released with help from Ital Vibes and Kourtrajmé Africa.
The album is available in the iTunes store.
