Until recently, very little was known of Angola’s rich musical heritage outside of Africa. Analog Africa’s latest venture aims to correct that with a compilation drawn from its modern heyday.
During the 60s and 70s, Angola was a country in deep crisis; independence from Portugal being followed by a swift descent into bloody civil war. A young, energetic group of musicians reflected this in a catharsis of heady, frenetic sounds that married the rhythms of local semba, rebita and kazukuta with Congolese rumba and Latin meringue to create something rich, vital and uniquely Angolan.
Culled from the two record labels at the forefront of this musical revolution, Fadiang and Valentim De Carvalhoon, the music on offer suggests that world music has been missing out on a heavyweight. Mamukueno’s Rei Do Palhetinho features a cornucopia of local percussive instruments rolling over insistent guitar and Hammond, while Os Korimba’s Semba Braguez is a fierce, polyrhythmic assault that’s impossible to deny. Props to Analog Africa for venturing yet again where others fear to tread and unearthing another vital collection of raw, coruscating music from a forgotten corner of the globe.
