Buraka Som Sistema
Portugal
Album Black Diamond out 10 November
Buraka Som Sistema consists of producers Lil' John, Riot and Conductor, and MC Kalaf, but count amongst their ranks an extended family of dancers and MCs from around the globe. Every face is a valued part of their limb-enslaving hybrid assault of native Angolan Kuduro and the roughest globe-scoured ghetto-funk riddims.
In just two years the group have released a slew of breakthrough singles, torched the blogosphere with their MIA featuring viral video ‘Sound Of Kuduro’, and wowed audiences in over 13 countries with the mesmerizing dance-driven spectacle at the heart of kuduro. No wonder Fader mag dubbed their live feast, “One of the most jaw-droppingly effusive club moments we’ve experienced.”
Now with their debut long-player, ‘Black Diamond,’ finally set to drop, escalating infamy is set to erupt into worldwide domination. With powerful comrades in the likes of Diplo and Switch, and collaborators in Kano, MIA and Hot Chip - to name but a few - they’ve become the driving heartbeat of the headline-grabbing global ghetto-funk revolution. Together they’ve destroyed dated preconceptions of world music, with cross-continental collisions responsible for many of the gnarliest club cuts in recent years.
It was early 2005 when school friends Joao Barbosa and Rui Pite, aka producers Lil John and DJ Riot, began pushing their exploits in distinctly West African direction. In their shared ‘Enchufuda’ (English translation: Plugged In) studio in Lisbon suburb Buraca, they were soon joined by fellow DJ/producer Andro Carvalho, aka Conductor, and long-term wordsmith cohort Kalaf, the Angolan ex-pat MC. The foursome set about cultivating ideas, a sound, and eventually songs. They sought to harness the unique shuddering party rhythms of kuduro, popularised by the large Angolan-immigrant population, all the while keeping a close eye on the grimey, teched-up, and crunked-out urban happenings further afield.
Before long the crew was accosted by various MCs keen to ride the distinctive beats being churned out. One was youngster Petty, whose emphatic slogans would line the track that would take their sounds overground. ‘Yah!’ was a four and half minute ride of sparse 808 hits and infectious warbling bass line with Petty’s unremitting lines punctuating the off-beat grooves with simplistic brilliance. Quickly picked up by taste-making disc spinners the world over, the track became something of a sensation with over 1 million viewers of a video that cost fifty euros and garnered FACT Magazine’s 12” of the Year award.
The song launched Kuduro into a foreign spotlight for the first time and allied BSS with an emerging web-savvy clique of disparately located global acts taking exotic urban soundtracks to the masses. Alongside artists like Brazil’s Bonde Do Role, Britain’s MIA, and America’s Diplo, cross-pollinating ghetto-sounds were uniting hips in motion, and making world music the coolest it has ever been.
An explosive multi-decked live show was assembled, involving physics-defying dance troupes and rotating rapid-fire MCs, exporting the unhinged mayhem across the world. More music, including the rampaging cavalcade ‘Sound Of Kuduro’, featuring number one fan-girl MIA, would help earn them MTV Europe Award nominations, invitations into Damon Albarn’s revered Africa Express project, and ensure that whether it be in high-brow broadsheet features or ram-jammed club scenes, Buraka look set to be one of 2009’s most talked-about acts.
In between globe-trotting trips exporting their unequivocal sound far and wide, the group set-about work for their debut album for the Fabric label. While Kalaf admits that their primary starting point is always, “making people dance like hell, sweat like hell and scream like hell,” there’s more to ‘Black Diamond’ than may meet the eye. The title is a reference to the inherent corruption in the oil and diamond businesses, subjects close to home, and one of various cultural dialogues that take place amongst their rowdy collisions. Kuduro music itself came about as a response to Angola's tempestuous and uncertain social and political climates - recurring themes in the long-player. Indicative of the record’s boundary-smashing appeal, it was recorded in a variety locations, from their native Portugal and Angola, to a variety of London studio hotspots.
Tracks like ‘Skank & Move’ with Kano roar with an unruly bass-quake only possible in the post-grime era. Baile kingpin Deize Tigrona brings the Brazilian nastiness funk carioca-style on ‘Aqui Para Vocês’, nodding to BSS’ South American allies, whilst Angolan scud-missile Pongolove is one of the various spitters to showcase the irresistibly stark, hypnotic charms of their trademark sound on ‘Kalemba’. It’s an album that’s as inclusive as it is fiercely driven and focused. Buraka have a mission completed. They’ve successfully taken one of planet earth’s most exciting and previously underexposed dance phenomenons and rebirthed it with the ferocity and fun to capture the whole world’s imagination. ‘The Black Diamond’ is their manifesto, where’s your vote?