This project marks the launch of a brand new music label, Kafundó Records, by the two Rio de Janeiro based Brazilian music experts. It also marks the initiation of a new partnership for Dutty Artz. We hope that this horizontal partnership between two independent labels will serve as a model for international collaboration in the global music industry.

The music and artists presented on this compilation reflect a desire to model a new social reality within Brazil as well. “Cafundó” means a far away and isolated place in Brazilian Portuguese. Beyond the favela/asfalto binary that exists in Brazil’s urban areas, there are alternative spaces that exist both within and outside the city. These places are “far away” from traditional Brazilian social politics. The most commonly recognized such place is the Afro-Brazilian “quilombo” the Brazilian version of a maroon community or a “palenque”. This third space within the Brazilian social geography is the source material of inspiration for many of the songs on Kafundó Vol. 1. Not only using Afro-Brazilian traditional rhythms and instruments, but many of these artists look beyond Brazil to the greater African diaspora. Songs using Brazilian popular rhythms such as samba, forro, and carimbó are fused with digital styles formed in the ghettos of Jamaica and the United States. In this they aim to reframe the sometimes-conflict-ridden Brazilian identity politics, to represent as participants in, and in solidarity with the global African diaspora.

Picking up from last year’s Palenque Records Remixed compilation, Dutty Artz continues their work to present music from beyond the boundaries of mainstream society. Artists on the compilation include: Tropkillaz, Omulu, BaianaSystem, Combo X, DaGanja, Furmiga Dub, Lucio K, A.MA.$$A, Atômico MC, Buguinha, Mauro Telefunksoul, Sombra, Som Peba, and more!