Coming hot off the heels of their recent mix tape for Diplo’s MadDecent DJ duo Jess & Crabbe present “Bazzerk – African Digital Dance”on Mental Groove Records, a unique compilation showcasing extensively the real sound of Kuduro over two discs and a total of twenty-seven tracks.
The genre first appeared a couple of decades ago in Angola, as European and American electronic music influences reached the African continent. Combined with traditional Angolan culture, it rapidly birthed Kuduro, a dancefloor movement based primarily on raw efficient electronic instrumentals but also encompassing melodic vocals and dance. From the mere instrumental + vocal animation formula that was Kuduro in its first decade (late 80’s to early 90’s), it has evolved into a legitimate movement and specific genre of its own. Vocalists migrating from the Angolan rap scene to Kuduro enriched and empowered the scene with quality vocals to compliment and complement the instrumental productions. An energetic dance style influenced by the daily life in Angola and traditional dances such as Ladjum or Milindro was appended as another crucial element. If you can’t make the audience follow your dancing, you’ve failed. And there you have it, Kuduro as it is today: a worldwide-spreading phenomenon based on the three key ingredients that are a blasting electronic track, stimulating vocals that can range from rapping to singing, and frenetic infectious dancing.
From Angola throughout the world, Kuduro has already found new homes in other countries such as Portugal, Cape Verde, France, and Brazil amongst others who adopted the raw style and added their own distinctive twist to it.
Precursor Geneva-based label Mental Groove has a history of unearthing the music you’ll be dancing or listening to next. Meanwhile, Jess & Crabbe have been extensively researching and promoting the Kuduro genre for the last couple of years, putting out mixtapes and putting on parties. They presented the label with a compilation project that Mental Groove couldn’t be more thrilled about, and two years of thorough research later finally comes “Bazzerk – African Digital Dance Music”, a comprehensive and genuine portrait of the singular Kuduro movement, from its original Angolan form to the various Portuguese, French, or South-American declinations it incepted.
DJ Wilson - Doutro Mundo by Low Life Inc
ZazaTwins - Instru Coupe Decale by Low Life Inc
Diamond Bass - Stereotype (Global Bass version) by Low Life Inc
