Buraka Som Sistema Interview

Buraka Som Sistema Interview

12 February, 2009
by: Markspoonfed

One of the positive effects of globalisation has been the increase in cultural exchange and the rising interest in arts and music from outside the Western bubble. Recording artists from Brazil, Cuba or Mali have shot to global stardom, raising their country’s international profile and potentially boosting local economies. At the same time, however, the label ‘world music’ is embedded within an ethnocentric world view which distinguishes between the familiar and the unusual, the Western and the Other. The consumer is encouraged to ignore the incredible range and diversity of non-Western sounds in favour of reductive narratives which define musical traditions solely through their perceived exoticism.

Now, however, the Empire is striking back – musicians from previously marginalised areas are breaking into the mainstream with their own hybrid sounds and demanding to be heard. One band which perhaps epitomises this trend more than any other is the Lisbon-based Kuduru collective Buraka Som Sistema. Since DJs such as Switch and Diplo started playing their records a couple of years ago, their Angolan-inspired ghetto-funk has been slaying dancefloors all over the world, and last year’s album "Black Diamond" was released to massive critical acclaim. We spoke to MC Kalaf, who left Angola for Lisbon in 1996, about shifting balances and future plans:

Buraka Som Sistema are pioneers of Kuduru. Can you tell us a bit about the genre, and how it has evolved?

It all started in Luanda, with a bunch of kids trying to make techno. In the process of doing it they came up with the new genre by mixing techno and house with African rhythms and Angolan music. There’s a strong Angolan community in Lisbon, so a lot of artists and musicians started playing it, that’s how it came to Europe.

Kuduru has gone from Luanda to Lisbon, and now Buraka Som Sistema are bringing it to the rest of the world. Do you see this as part of a rising interest in music from places that have previously been on the peripheries of the music scene?

Yes, I think people are becoming more and more interested in finding out about music from places like Africa. People are focusing more on other countries, other cities, not just New York and London: people want to know what’s going on in South Africa, in Luanda, in Rio. But not only in terms of what is traditionally considered world music: people want to find out about what goes beyond world music. Stuff like what Buraka is doing. We want to do something urban, something fresh, something that represents the realities of today.

On your LP "Black Diamond", you refer to ‘New Africas’. What exactly do you mean by that?

There are African cities on the African continent, and then there are African cities in Europe, in places like London, Portugal and Paris. For example, there are far more Cape Verdeans in Europe than in Cape Verde itself. A lot of them live in Rotterdam, so people consider it to be a New Africa in terms of the cultural impact that those people are bringing. New Africa also refers to the new relationships between the Western world and Africa, which are very different to, say, in the '60s or '70s. Now we all know about our favourite African restaurants, our favourite African musicians. African culture is now an important part of Europe, but Africans have kept parts of their identity, an African way of living and doing things. Buraka try to preserve this African identity, without being nostalgic or creating an image of a pure, untouched Africa. It’s all happening around us; you can turn two corners in Paris and suddenly find yourself in the Congo. It’s amazing for us to be part of this change.

You’ve worked with artists from London such as M.I.A. and Kano. What do you think of the London scene, how does it compare to Lisbon and Luanda?

We were really inspired by the London scene; everything we know about music was developed here. So for us, coming here is like visiting Mecca. In Lisbon, we always received music from other places, from London and America, without giving anything back. Now it’s like: this is what we received from you and now we want you to listen to us! It’s the same in Luanda. We want to give something back with Kuduru, our dance music which represents what we feel and what we experience.

What are your plans for the future? Do you have any releases or collaborations coming up?

For now we are busy touring, promoting the "Black Diamond" LP which is coming out in different places at different times. We’ve just come back from Australia, and we’re heading to Japan and America over the next few months. We have a lot of remixes and productions with different artists coming up that I can’t reveal. But I can confirm that we will be working with Brodinski in the near future.

Despite not speaking any Portuguese, I find myself singing along to your tracks. So what exactly does ‘wegue wegue’ mean?   

It’s a new word which doesn’t actually mean anything; it just sounds good with the music. People keep asking us about it though, so I guess we need to think of a meaning for it!

Check out our review of Buraka Som Sistema playing live at the Scala! 

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