Lisbon trip music #3: Funaná, Batuko and a smidgen more Kuduro

This is what you get when you don't post your new record finds immediately: high-profile sites like Ghetto Bassquake and Discobelle get there first. Oh well, at least it'll teach me not to dawdle, and I do have a second CD to show off with.


Projecto Funaná & Batuko 2010 was one of the first records I bought, and it's a banger. Every blog I've read seems to have gone with the high-profile male performer and the lead-in track on this one (I have to pinch myself not to start making modernity and gender analyses), but some of the other music on here is just as interesting. This one is lighter and subtler yet has these magical show-off synth vs. accordion passages:

Isa - Bu Podi Vivre (Mediafire)

And then there's the Batuko. Never really got into the genre before - a capella chanting doesn't appeal to me much - but plonk in synth drones and you've got créol-deconstructed, counterpublic Deep Forest, except with humour. You've gotta love it, right?

Voz D'Africa - Mudjer Soltera (Mediafire)

(Incidentally, I also like the self-proclaimed status as the Voice of Africa, in relation to this.)



Funaná e Batuko 5 was my other purchase, and this one included some really good stuff too. This piece of pure stereo mayhem - headphones are a must - is quickly emerging as my favourite Funaná track ever:

Zé de Titina - Passa Sabe (Mediafire)

Some crazy distorted vocals and super-spread, super-diverse instrumentation, it all gets a ridiculously intense towards the end.

Next, since I have a soft spot for small children recording pop-- here's the Cape Verdean entry in the youngness league, Telmo. He sounds, and looks, to be about four.

Telmo - Amor (Mediafire)

And finally, for some reason, maybe cross-promotion, there's a ridiculously hard-hitting Kuduro track on the CD as well, totally intense stuff on the border towards gabba, if you can imagine African gabba.

Puto Cossa - Ja Ta De Mas (Mediafire)

But wait, there's more! Next up, whenever that may be, is kizomba and zouk...