The Portuguese capital of Lisbon may not be where you expected Europe’s most exciting, raw and raucous new music to spring from, but then you probably hadn’t reckoned on the arrival of Buraka Som Sistema. Their sound, an alchemic mix of Jurassic bass, crackling African polyrhythms and party-starting mischief is, they say, “the sound of kuduro”.
The band recently visited Angola, Africa’s second largest diamond producer and birthplace of kuduro, the bombastic electronic dance music that has helped make them Portugal’s hottest musical property. “We were searching for the Black Diamond!” laughs Joao Barbosa, better known as Lil John. “A lot of people don’t realise that there are these huge cities in African countries. Everyone thinks it’s all lions and safaris, but it’s not,” he says. “Kuduro comes from these cities. It doesn’t come from traditional music, it exists as a reaction to it. It’s anti-world music. At the beginning of the ’90s it wasn’t anything more than an Angolan guy trying to make techno or house. But because he doesn’t think like a German guy or an American guy, because his mind thinks in a different way in terms of rhythm, he developed this amazing new take on old sounds.”
Nowadays kuduro is big business. With a legion of MCs and producers and an uncompromising attitude it has become Africa’s answer to hip-hop. It says a lot about the music that, literally translated, means ‘hard ass’. The sound soon spread to Portugal via Angolan immigrants, arriving in the Lisbon suburbs where Barbosa grew up. He had been producing music with old school friend Rui Pité AKA DJ Riot and the pair decided to start incorporating kuduro into their sound. “We grew up on bass music: jungle, drum and bass, hip-hop and dubstep. We love it all. So 50% of our music is that stuff, as much as it is kuduro. We took the rhythmic construction and added our own ideas.”
The pair began a club night to showcase this new hybrid strain of kuduro. “The night was called Buraka Som Sistema: Buraka, the area, and Sound System. So that’s where the name comes from. It’s also where the band grew from. We developed our own little web of people and it started from there.” It was at this club night that Andro Carvalho, known as Conductor, introduced himself. The trio would become the core members of Buraka Som Sistema. MCs like Kalef, an integral part of the band’s live shows, were also regulars.
Barbosa is keen to stress that Buraka’s sound is notably different from the kuduro you find in Africa. “It wouldn’t be honest of us to say this is pure kuduro,” he explains. “We had a big show in Lisbon on Friday and we invited this group of dancers, there were six of them. They’re one of the best kuduro dance groups in Lisbon and two of them are white kids. There is a new generation of kids growing up around Lisbon and they reflect what we’re doing. There’s a fusion of cultures, Angolan and Portuguese.”
The band made the trip to Angola in order to further understand kuduro and to work with a number of MCs. “People were really receptive to our work,” says Barbosa. “They really understood that we weren’t trying to colonize their sound and sneak back to Europe with it. They understand the difference between their sound and ours. A lot of kuduro doesn’t generally use synthesizers or basslines and the people we hung out with understood that this was what made our sound popular with European audiences. Everyone we met wanted to work with us because of the challenge as well. We don’t really do proper kuduro beats so they wanted to try and rhyme over our kind of beat.” The fruits of this trip will appear on Buraka Som Sistema’s forthcoming album, ‘Black Diamond’.
The title was inspired by the diamond trade and all its flaws. While in Angola the band met an entrepreneur who ploughed his considerable diamond profits into a record label, a lonely example of the country’s resources benefitting its people. “It’s terrible the way the money from diamonds leaves that country,” say Barbosa. “The money should be used to develop cities and the whole structure of the country, but instead millions and millions of dollars pour out, and the diamonds end up in bracelets that people wear on stage. Our diamond is different. It’s black and it’s rough, fresh from the mine. It represents the whole process, from the ground up.” Barbosa has recently discovered more meaning in the name. “I went to Cape Town a few months ago and found out that a black diamond was a second generation black guy from humble beginnings who’s made it in life. A self-made man. That’s us too.”
Buraka Som Sistema concerts are explosive affairs. This is a band well versed in the art of partying, so the political nature of some of their music may come as a surprise. “Some of our songs – like ‘Yah!’ – are about nothing. They’re just party tracks,” says Barbosa. “But when we made ‘Sound Of Kuduro’ with M.I.A. we knew the world would be listening. We knew 80% of the people listening wouldn’t be able to understand the verses [like all Buraka songs, they are delivered in Portuguese] but we wanted there to be substance for those that could understand. So that song is, as the title suggests, about the history of kuduro. It started there. Some of the songs tackle political concepts and issues, both Portuguese and Angolan. We don’t claim to be Public Enemy, we’re about making people dance, but if you can throw some words on top of that music, words that make sense, helpful words, then perfect.”
Words by Scott Wright
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Fish Mode
“We usually hang out around an area called Bairro Alto. There’s loads of bars, restaurants, and small clubs. Before dinner we might go to Nubai café for a cocktail. These last few days I’ve been on my fish mode, so going down to the Belem area and getting some fresh fish on the grill is definitely a necessity! Round summer time a typical Lisbon meal is definitely fish or meat grilled with some rock salt and whatever you have to go with it. After dinner we might go for drinks at Maria Caxuxa, Bicaense, Clube da Esquina… there’s loads of them!! If we make it to the next level – wasted – then onto LUX. We go here three or four times a year when we have our Enchufada parties.”
The Burbs
“Some of us live in Lisbon and others in the suburbs, near where we grew up. Me and DJ Riot met in high school, a long time ago. We used to go round each other’s houses and try to make music on computers. Throughout our whole evolution we’d DJ at different parties in the suburbs, like the night that eventually kick started the band. It’s hard these days to get away from tourism in a European capital, but to show you the real city I would probably give you an introduction to the suburbs. We could visit Amadora, which is where I grew up or Buraka or Queluz. Inevitably we would end up in some Angolan friend’s house eating ‘muamba de galinha’ and ‘funge’!”
The Scene
“Lisbon had the worst music scene possible during the ’90s. Everybody was in grunge cover bands. It just wasn’t very interesting. Hip-hop made Lisbon interesting again. Because it became possible to do everything yourself in one room and invite all your friends over to rap. It was just easier to be creative like that. Music is closer to the room where it was made. A lot of bands got picked up, but it’s complicated here. There are a lot of small labels who only have one or two acts. We’ve always been into bass music of all kinds. Riot and I have been producing for years. At the moment I really like Macacos do Chines and Octapush.”
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Clash’s A to Z:of Portugal
Amadora
Portuguese city nearby Lisbon, where Lil John and DJ Riot grew up.
Bairro Alto
One of Lisbon’s oldest and most animated districts. Bel ém Picturesque Lisbon district, near the coast.
Bicaense Stylish
Lisbon lounge bar (Rua da Bica Duarte Belo, 38-42, Bairro Alto).
Buraka
One of Lisbon’s sprawling suburbs.
Clube da Esquina
Lisbon nightclub that opens mid-afternoon. (Rua da Barroca, 30-32, Bairro Alto.)
Enchufada
Label run by Buraka Som Sistema. Funge Angolan dish, usually made from cornflour.
Kuduro
Unruly Angolan dance music.
LUX
Lisbon nightclub and home to Enchufada label parties.
Macacos do Chines
Crazy Portuguese hip-hop group.
Maria Caxuxa
Another great bar in Bairro Alto. Mini-Mercado Fridge-obsessed Lisbon nightspot.
Muamba de Galinha
An Angolan chicken and palm oil stew. Musicbox Lisbon’s premier venue.
Nubai café
Laidback bar in sunny Plaza Doctor Collado, Lisbon. Octapush Purveyors of awesome Portuguese club music.
Queluz
One of Lisbon’s many suburbs, home to large Angolan community.
