Jun 9/06

Cogwheels, machetes and football

Matt Yanchyshyn @ 07:37

LINK FIXED

As promised, today I’ll continue with my World Cup Africa series by featuring music from Angola. Nobody really expects the Angolan team to win, but it’s great that they’ve made it this far.. and as far as I’m concerned, Angola is already winning.

This country, long ravaged by 27 years of ultra-violent civil war, is finally recovering. Luanda is on the up, landmines are on the down, and inflation has dropped from highs in the mid-300s to around 10-20%. Let’s hope that Angola continues its recovery and becomes the stable, oil-rich and democratic country that it could be.

José and Moises Kafala are two brothers from Angola who sing in two-part harmony over smooth, well-played acoustic guitar. They’re one of the few contemporary Angolan groups to be heard outside of the country. They’ve released two albums since forming in Luanda in 1987, Ngola and Salipo. Both of today’s tracks are off Salipo.

Allez Angola!

Kafala Brothers – NGuxi
Kafala Brothers – Crucifiuxo

Tags: angola

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5 Responses to “Cogwheels, machetes and football”

1. Amal @ 16:33 on 2006-06-09
   

   this is great. thanks. i have been lurking at your blog on a weekly basis and i truely feel enlighten reading the wealth of information.

   thanks

2. AfroM @ 20:37 on 2006-06-09
   

   Crucifixio – Absolutely beautiful, mournfully so but beautiful. Thank you.

3. jean-luc @ 10:49 on 2006-06-11
   

   Modern african nations have a very big growing up youth. In Angola, Kizomba and Cabozouk is very popular. But on the other side (beside semba…) do they have their own young youthbeat where they get crazy and dancing: Kuduru, I never heard a wild strange mixed music with hard rhythm then filed under kuduru… (kapverdeans like it also…)

   Do you want have a test?
   Check one of their best stars Dog Murras http://www.murraspower.com/ (track “midexa”)

4. The Entroporium @ 19:14 on 2006-06-11
   

   World Cup World Tour #8: Angola…

   Benn loxo du taccu bails me out (again) on Angola, another country without a whole lot of recent recorded music. A 27-year civil war will do that for you. I’m also sorry to report that a Google Images search……

5. Allan W. @ 06:54 on 2006-06-12
   

   Awesome. Thanks for letting us in on these undiscovered treasures! Listening to this music transports me back to Africa in ways that I hadn’t expected.

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