Last Tuesday, Akwaaba Music released Akwaaba Sem Transporte (stream the album on Fairtilizer here) – a kuduro compilation “straight from the source,” Luanda, Angola. Akwaaba Music founder Benjamin Lebrave spent six weeks in Angola, earlier this year, gathering and licensing tracks from rappers and DJs, and the result is a raw, authentic, high-energy dance comp. I’m aware that notions of authenticity, especially in the global ghetto-tech and nu whirled music (â„¢ wayne&wax) discourse is quite problematic – is the kuduro coming out of Lisbon/Europe any less authentic that what’s coming out of Luanda/Africa? European kuduro has definitely received and continue to receive more shine off late in Europe and America.
[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/DredManGi-NaoTaSeEntender.mp3]Dred Man-Gi feat. Nell – Não Ta Se Entender
This one is weird, and probably the least danceable track on the compilation, but it’s the one I like best. Upbeat, yes –but with a fractured, heavy beat and a disruptive flow. The MP3 above is standard bit rate/128 – Head over to iTunes for better quality/320 kbps, so you can hear and enjoy all the bass and efx, and check out the rest of the comp, which is all very danceable– and Dutty Artz supports that kind of music!
Also, check out Ghetto Palms last week – Benjamin writes + Eddie blends.
Hey Lamin,
I agree that the notion of authenticity is indeed problematic… which is why on all of our materials, you’ll always see “authentic” used to refer not to kuduro, but to Angolan kuduro. In this sense, the only kuduro I don’t consider authentic is not BSS or Galliano’s music, but only stuff like Costuleta’s Tchiriri, which is Angolan, but just the sum of existing tracks – that’s a polite way of calling it a total rip off of Magnesio’s original track!!
Anyway thanks for posting, and keep spreading the grind!!!!