Höröya – Mansa Fela

Höröya – Mansa Fela

The new Afro-Brazilian Band Höröya from São Paulo wants to re-frame the origins and influences of African and Afro-Brazilian cultures in a new format. Made up of Brazilians, Senegalese and Guineans they reinforce the cultural dialogue between Brazil and the African...
Goma-Laca – Afrobrasilidades em 78 RPM

Goma-Laca – Afrobrasilidades em 78 RPM

Goma-Laca is a kind of research center dedicated to discover Brazilian music from the first half of the last century that is registered in 78 RPM shellac records (goma laca in Portuguese). Since 2009 the journalists Ronaldo Evangelista and Biancamaria Binazzi look for...
Russo Passapusso – Paraíso da Miragem

Russo Passapusso – Paraíso da Miragem

Known for being lead vocalist at BaianaSystem and Bemba Trio one would expect from Russo Passapussos debut album some Reggae, Dub and Dancehall infused Bahian music or the like, but it’s not. Produced by Curumin, Zé Nigro and Lucas Martins he rereads vintage...
André Sampaio & Os AfroMandinga – Desaguou

André Sampaio & Os AfroMandinga – Desaguou

André Sampaio is lead guitarist of one of the most popular Roots Reggae bands from Brazil, “Ponto de Equilibrio”, and a pioneer of the new wave of Brazilian musicians working with Afrobeat. But the ingredients used for his first solo album...
Wired for Sounds: Mozambique

Wired for Sounds: Mozambique

Wired for Sound is a very nice and interesting project and recordings in Northern Mozambique. Check out their interview for The...
Bondoro: New MOZ Dance & Beats

Bondoro: New MOZ Dance & Beats

Bondoro is a quite new dance and music style from Beira, Mozambique’s second largest city in the central part of the country. In several aspects it is similar to South African Kwaito and Kuduro from Angola. Bondoro is a slang word that means plaster and that...
STANK

STANK

STANK is a duo formed by DJ Dolores and Yuri Queiroga. Live they value improvisation, mixing original tracks with records, samples, guitar and gadgets leading to a rare case of combination of experimentation and full dancefloor. The EP is a compilation of remixes done...
Wladimir Gasper

Wladimir Gasper

“Wladimir Gasper, nephew of a Russian filmmaker, was born in Ukraine and came to Brazil when he was still young. He left the former Soviet country to venture into the inspirations of the tropics and created his bunker here. He could be a metaphysical or a...
3 MOZquiteiros – FRELIMU (Frente de Libertação de Música)

3 MOZquiteiros – FRELIMU (Frente de Libertação de Música)

Mozambique is actually not much on the musical map of the world despite it’s original music styles such as Pandza, Marrabenta and the sound of the Mbila (kind of xylophone). Regarding Hip Hop and electronic music the national artists focus more on copying the...
Zebrabeat Afro-Amazônia Orquestra

Zebrabeat Afro-Amazônia Orquestra

From their website: The Afro-Zebrabeat Amazon Orchestra mixtures and adds effects to the sound of guitarradas from Pará Sate with the percussive rhythm of Afrobeat. Based on an experimental mixture, Amazon Zebrabeat African Orchestra redimension the traditional music...
Sigauque Project

Sigauque Project

From their website: “The music of Maputo-based Sigauque Project takes most audiences by surprise. With musical influences spanning across the continent – from a new take on Marrabenta to Senegalese Mbalak and Nigerian Afro Beat, with some smooth sounding...
Las Rucas de Bahía Solano

Las Rucas de Bahía Solano

Las Rucas’ objective is to recover the cultural heritage of Bahiá Solano in Chocó State, Columbia. It’s a group that wants to present their indigenous musical expressions such as romances, aruyos, chigualos, gualis and rucas. 18 women are members of the...
Cheny Wa Gune Quarteto – Jindji Jindji

Cheny Wa Gune Quarteto – Jindji Jindji

Using traditional Mozambican and modern instruments (bass, saxophone, drums, percussion) the Cheny Wa Gune Quarteto creates a powerful and energetic style which explores traditional and modern melodies and rhythms. Cheny Wa Gune mainly plays Timbila (or M’bila) which...
Projeto CCOMA – Peregrino

Projeto CCOMA – Peregrino

“Born in the mountains of southern Brazil, the project of trumpet player Roberto Scopel and percussionist and producer Swami Sagara flirts with Latin rhythms, crosses oceans to get to Africa, in a corner of Morocco, among many stops. With these references in the...
Ba-Boom – Incendeia

Ba-Boom – Incendeia

“Well tempered Brazilian-Jamaican music, for all tastes, eyes and ears, which satisfies the senses and causes the body to dance. Connecting ideas with lyrics that speak about the everyday, the street, the human being, politics and culture. Strong rhythm with...
Sonic Junior

Sonic Junior

“Enshrined in the national independent music scene SONIC JUNIOR became known for its pulsating energy developed in the disks and his electrifying performance on stage, being called by critics as “one man band”, where he sings, puts the beats and...
Bemba Trio

Bemba Trio

Formed by Russo Passapusso, Fael 1st and DJ Root. BEMBA TRIO incorporates the diversity and cultural authenticity of the peripheral culture of Bahia state in its melodies, performances and language. The vocalists emphasize on a spoken style valuing stories, regional...
Café Preto

Café Preto

Translation of part of the booklet: Café Preto is an album realized by musician Cannibal in partnership with DJ and producer Bruno Pedrosa and the musician PI-R. The lyrics are written by Cannibal and the programming and samples were made ​​by Pedrosa. The musical...
Vida Seca – Som de Sucata

Vida Seca – Som de Sucata

Vida Seca was created by members of a street carnival band that used scrap and waste as raw material for constructing musical instruments. They explore timbres and sonorities obtained from these materials researching and re-reading Brazilian , African and Latin...
MC Ralph – Os Afro-Raps

MC Ralph – Os Afro-Raps

Translation of the accompanying text: Inspired by the Afro-Sambas of Vinicius de Moraes and Baden Powell this disc is to rescue the roots of a folk. Letters that address african-Brazilian spirituality, music full of samples and percussive elements. A mixture of...
HAPAX

HAPAX

Hapax is a band and a sound art group that works with percussion in industrial wasteyard style and experimental electronic music to create a sound that is conceptual, pop and densely rhythmic at the same time. Musically, the style could be called...
¿Qué tal, Tribal?

¿Qué tal, Tribal?

Some fresh Mexican Tribal! My buddy Acorde On told me that the Mexican Tribal stuff has not much to do with “Ghettotech”: It is played basically as warm-up on (upper) middle class house and techno parties…...
Positivo

Positivo

Positivo is a multicultural music project with five ingredients: Roots Afro Beat from Mozambique, Rocking blues from Austria, Reggae dub live, hip-hop and french contemporary punk jazz. But it’s not only about music, from their website: “Associação...
Kuduro in Brazilian Carnival

Kuduro in Brazilian Carnival

I just knew that in Brazil Kuduro is played in the bars of the Angolan community and maybe on some global urban beats parties until I found out after a comment from Greg from Beat Diaspora on my Kuduro Mixtape that it was well bigger and that there was a Kuduro dance...
Lisandro Meza

Lisandro Meza

Lisandro Meza is one of Colombia’s most recognized Cumbia artists and played an important role in the evolution of Cumbia. He plays accordion, sings, and composes and is a master of vallenato sabanero, an accordion-driven style of music that originated in...
Coletivo Rádio Cipó – Formigando na Calçada do Brasil

Coletivo Rádio Cipó – Formigando na Calçada do Brasil

From their website: “Coletivo Rádio Cipó is a media hub for the production of sound, combined with the homemade digital audio technology in the production of sound experimental research. The objective is to this production for Brazil and abroad. The core of the...
Celso Piña

Celso Piña

Mexican musician Celso Piña is a pioneer in mixing cumbia with ska, reggae, rap, hip-hop, dub etc. working together with guys like Toy Selectah and Chic Sonido. His hit “Cumbia sobre el rio” is a milestone and was for many people (including me) the...
Bebel Du Guetto

Bebel Du Guetto

My neighbor Bebel Do Guetto from Morro do Cantagalo was born in the state of Maranhão. She started to sing and to rap by the age of 12 and to write their own lyrics by 17 (she is 23 now). Bebel says her main influences are Elza Soares, Snoop Dog and Bob Marley. The...