Kuduro

Kuduro (or kuduru) is a type of music originally born in Angola in the 1980s. Reinvented in Portugal, the genre gained international popularity. It is characterized as up-tempo, energetic, and danceable.

Origins

The roots of kuduro can be traced to the late 1980s when producers in Luanda, Angola started mixing African percussion samples with simple calypso and soca rhythms to create a style of music then known as "batida". European and American electronic music had begun appearing in the market, which attracted Angolan musicians and inspired them to incorporate their own musical styles.An Angolan MC, Sebem, began toasting over this and is credited with starting the genre.

The name itself is a word with a specific meaning to location in the Kimbundu language, which is native to the northern portion of

Angola

. It has a double meaning in that it also translates to "hard ass" or "stiff bottom" in Portuguese, which is the official language of

Angola

. Kuduro dancing is similar to Dancehall dancing of Jamaica. It combines traditional Angolan Kilapanga, Semba and Zouk with Western house and techno.As Vivian Host points out in her article, despite the common assumption that "world music" from non-Western countries holds no commonalities with Western modern music, Angolan kuduro does contain "elements in common with punk, deep tribal house, and even Daft Punk." It is thus the case that cultural boundaries and limitations within the musical spectrum are constantly shifting and being redefined. And though Angolan kuduro reflects an understanding and, further, an interpretation of Western musical forms, the world music category that it fits under tends to reject the idea of Western musical imperialism. The larger idea here is that advancements in technology and communications and the thrust of music through an electronic medium have made transcending cultural and sonic musical structures possible. According to Blentwell Podcasts, kuduro is a "mixture of house, hip-hop, and ragga elements,"which illustrates how this is at once an Angolan-local and global music. Indeed, this "musical cross-pollination", as Vivian Host calls it, represents a local appropriation of global musical forms, such that the blending of different music creates the music of a "new world."

Portuguese kuduro

Kuduro is very popular across the former Portuguese overseas provinces in Africa, as well as in the suburbs of Lisbon, Portugal (namelyAmadora and Queluz), due to the large number of Angolan immigrants. It is a common kind of music played in Portugal's Latin Dance floors.

In the Lisbon variety (or progressive kuduro), which mixes African Music with House and Techno music, Buraka Som Sistema were responsible for the internationalization of kuduro apart from the Portuguese-speaking world, presenting the genre across Europe and appeared in several international music magazines, after their appearance with their hit "Yah!" ("Yeah!"). Buraka Som Sistema takes its name from Buraca, a Lisbon suburb in the municipality of Amadora. More recently, Portuguese-French Lucenzo best known for his recent Portuguese/English hit "Vem dançar kuduro " (Come and Dance kuduro), with a Latin / Kizomba flavor which became an hit in Latin Europe, especially in France.

M.I.A. has supported kuduro music, working on the song "Sound of Kuduro" with Buraka Som Sistema in Angola. "It initially came from kids not having anything to make music on other than cellphones, using samples they'd get from their PCs and mobiles' sound buttons," M.I.A. said of kuduro. "It's a rave-y, beat oriented sound. Now that it's growing, they've got proper PCs to make music on."

References

^ ^a ^b Miguel Judas. VISÃO nº 752 3 Ago. 2007

^ The Afrofunk Music Forum: Kuduro: Techno from Angola to the World