A Kuduro – what it is and where it comes from?
Kuduro – the edgy electronic music from Angola with its expressive dance movements – celebrated its 15 years of existence with “Kuduro não para“, a major event held in August 2011 in the capital’s Cidadela stadium. Debates on who it was that first created kuduro continue. In 1996, Tony Amado coined the name of the genre with his piece “Amba Kuduro” (“Dance Kuduro”) with its characteristic dance steps. Kuduro hits are usually a combination of song and dance step. Most singers are excellent dancers themselves or perform with supporting dancers.
Angolans have been producing and listening to electronic dance music known as Batida since the end of the 1980s. The dancing steps with their illustrative names like “Açúcar” (“Sugar”) or Ti Nogueira (“Uncle Nogueira“) are closely linked to everyday life and can be traced back to carnival dances and other traditional dances from Angola’s provinces. At the end of the 1990s, the DJ Sebem spread the sound of, and the enthusiasm for, kudoro across Luanda, with his dialy radio show. As many Angolans left the country because of the civil war, close ties with the Angolan diaspora turned Lisbon into the second capital of kuduro. By 2007 kuduro had made it into the international club scene. Stars with international connections, a broad mass movement of male and female singers and dancers across the country, and a solid founding myth – kuduro shows all the signs of a genre well established in the musical scene.
Kuduro pieces are usually recorded in small studios in the Musseques, Luanda’s informal settlements. Usually DJs produce these 140 bpm fast instrumental tracks entirely on their computer. The strongly rhythmic arrangements may include elements of carnival rhythms such as Kazukuta or Kizomba melodies. Depending on the character of each piece, dramatic sound effects are incorporated. The male and female singers come into the studio for voice recording based on ready composed texts. Under the DJ’s creative direction the voice tracks are recorded and fitted into the instrumental tracks. All DJs mark their recordings with an audio logo of their own called “intro”. Street vendors and the sound systems of collective taxi busses soon spread the sound across the city.
Since 2009 kuduro has become part of the mainstream media: once a week DJ Sebern provides emerging and established kuduristas a platform in his weekly TV show “Sempre a subir” (“Always on the way up”, TPA2). During a big gala show in , the radio programme “Top Kuduro” (Radio Educadora) voted Bruno M. the best kuduro singer.
Piercings, tattoos, extravagant hairdos and outfits in primary colours make up the kuduro style. Indeed, style (“suegue” or “swag”) is a big factor in Luanda.
Severe physical disabilities are widely spread in Angola and kuduristas do not let amputations or crutches stop them from getting styled and performing acrobatic kuduro dances.
The interaction with the camera and an anticipated audience intensifies the carga – the intensity of dance and voice performance that are so important to kuduro.
Stefanie Alisch, 29 September 2011
