Dangerous trips to Angola by Muzzicaltrips (Semba, merengue, kizomba selection from Angola 70s)

Muzzicaltrips taking part of various musical projects including radioshows, I'd like to share some "dangerous trips" or "viagens perigosas" in Angola realised recently for Radio Capsao. A special musical selection based on dusty records, archives from golden era from this country culturally influenced by portuguese colonists, by other lusophone colonies, by Cuba and the Caribbean, and for sure by specific african musical  heritage. Wars and instability during the 60s to 80s also influenced a unique musical production : semba, merengue, kizomba, but also political music and struggle songs (or propaganda songs, depending on point of view), reflecting a wide spread imperialist oppression feeling.

Minguito and Conjunto Merengue - Pensando Conforme o Tempo (Angola 70s)

(Merengue MPA-4056).

Blind accordeon player Domingo Luis Garcia (Minguito) recorded throughout the 70s with various bands  from Angola as Os Kiezos, and here with Conjunto Merengue on this beautiful 7 inch.

Bonga / Tiao / Jo Maka - Racines (Angola+Brazil+Guinea, 1978)

(Playa Sound SF202).

A kind of "Black Atlantic" musical mixture is here well represented with this album from Bonga (Angola), Tiao Tocha Perazzo (Brazil) and Jo Maka (Guinea). Slaves from Benin, Angola and Congo were transplanted in brasilian Nordeste. From these african roots, afro-brazilian generations developed both sacred music (candomble) and popular music (samba). This beautiful album is a nice way to meet up again musically. 

MIX /// Tropical Round Trip #3 by Muzzicaltrips (A sound travel around Cuba, Colombia, Peru, Guadeloupe, Benin, Ivory Coast, Angola, Nigeria...)

David Zé - Merengue San Antonio (Angola, 1974)

(Rebita R:1128, Fabricado por FADIANG - Fabrica de Discos de Angola).

From the 60s, electric wave hit Angola with a big influence from northern neighbor Congo and his typical electric guitar rhythms. But more traditional Angolan rhythms like semba or rebita are also often integrated into new music productions, same way as external influences (from Brasil or West Indies, including merengue) which made Angolan music a really rich and rhythmically diversified mixture, despite the few quantity of vinyls that could survive up to now.

Mangalha - The biggest vinyls collection in Angola

Jose Henrique Ribeiro, famous in Luanda as "Mangalha", comes back in this interview on his vinyl collector experiences in Angola.

He begun to collect and spin records from the late 60s, following angolan music evolution and influences from abroad. He had up to 26 000 LPs, shaking angolan dancefloors during 40 years.

It is said in Luanda that when somone wants to organise a party with low budget for food and drink, he needs to choose Mangalha as DJs sothat the guests only care about dancing...

We can also observ here that preserving a country's cultural heritage assumes a political character as sometimes confused with resisting to external influences, in this case white portuguese colonists