Afro-Finnish band Maajo return with their third album, “Water of Life,” a fluid celebration of various influences. Supported by two preceding singles, “Better Days” and “Unelmissani,” the album is the group’s first release with the Brooklyn, NY-based tastemaker label Wonderwheel Recordings. Maajo’s signature Afro-Balearic sound meets late eighties new age and fusion, with touches of modern soul. The addition of two band members, Waina and Gilbert K, as well as featuring artists Issiaka Dembele and Ismaila Sané, has rooted the album’s stories in a diverse range of backgrounds, featuring vocals in no less than six different languages. 

Gilbert K’s drum grooves pay tribute to the late Tony Allen’s legendary heritage and the percussion experiments on a more melodic and atmospheric tip. Cold synth pads and 303 squeaks blend with warm guitars, fretless bass, and Issiaka Dembele’s sublime kora harps and balafon mallets. “Water of Life” shows a band at its maturation point, reaching the cross-cultural coalescence of Finnish-African sound that’s ready for the dancefloor or home-listening. 

The three vocalists take centre-stage on the album: Waina hails from Zambia and sings in Nyanja, English and Finnish; a renowned musician in Zambia for over two decades who now calls Finland home, Waina wrote a song that reached the finals of the 2020 Afrimusic contest. Gilbert K primarily sings in his native Mauritian Creole while comprising part of the percussion line. He made his way to Finland by way of South Africa and China, eventually winning the Voice of Finland show. Gilbert K has played with such legends as Tony Allen, Andy Summers, Diana King, and Suzanne Vega. Ismaila Sané is from the Casamance region of Southern Senegal and sings in Wolof (a widely-spoken language in West Africa) on “Ndekete,” and in Jola (a smaller language in Casamance) on “Èwàn”. 

Maajo is a sonic, linguistic, and cultural melting pot that has come together in Tampere, Finland, like a tropical breeze from the cold north. Their musical explorations lead from equatorial soundscapes to the woods and moods of their native Scandinavia. African influences, electronic beats and organic rhythms, ethereality and the sounds of nature all make up the patchwork sound of Maajo. 

Not only is Maajo’s music a way of travelling to faraway places, the songs themselves have travelled all over the globe. Maajo has evolved from a sample-based electronic music project to a full-sized band, including African vocalists and musicians. The group has put out two full-length albums and three EP’s on Queen Nanny records, in addition to a release on German label Permanent Vacation. Maajo has received the remix treatment from artists such as Luke Vibert and Call Super, and has toured festivals and clubs internationally. The band has built a dedicated international following having been championed by the likes of Gilles Peterson (Worldwide FM), Tom Ravenscroft (BBC Radio 6), and Tim Sweeney (Beats In Space), while they’ve been featured by KEXP (Song of the Day), Resident Advisor, Ransom Note, and Pan-African Music. 

“Water of Life” is out on Wonderwheel Recordings October 14th, 2022, both digitally and as an exclusive, limited-run 2xLP.

Buy LP Here

Maajo - Balafon Compagnement

Magik

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7szM4uumy7fwMVz2LQhVTQ?si=ipA8murBTUmYhTEMSR0HIg

Download

Salsa Mami

Press Release:

At last, fresh installments in our acclaimed much-loved singles series: open-hearted, bittersweet, Afro-tropical, mash-up postcards from all over the world, pictures to the here and now. As always Electronico Afrotropicalismo carries the swing. We’ve managed to identify KUPPO in the forgotten jungle of Santa Lucia, intoxicated by exotic cocktails and beautiful women! Carried him in the studio to perform his “Principe De Plata Y Oro” Afro-Tribal Tech alter-ego, full of groove and positive vibes while LARRY SKG, a Lobo Fuerte gentleman of the modern Cumbia/Ghetto-Latin electrotropicalismo, was caught in a Greek mysterious island playing chess with a caretta- caretta and was forced to end up with a slow motion hypnotic n' exotic Broken Samba retaining the haunting yet beautiful melancholia of a faded Summer! 

Dash Selektor - Afro Horror (Larry SKG Broken Samba Remix)

"Real Cumbia Activa & Tropikhongo presentan “Delicia EP”, producción original que cuenta con remixes de Bleepolar, Sistema Beat Andino, Tribilín Sound, DJ Pucho y Scooby Dub.

“Delicia”, es una canción que representa el placer de gozar la vida al ritmo de una melodía pegajosa. En conjunto con su instrumentación evoca a los distintos sabores tropicales de Latinoamérica, aderezado con un groove hipnótico.

REG050 
Producción: RCA & Tropikhongo
Masterización: Álvaro Ernesto
Arte: David Bugueño
Producción Ejecutiva: Colectivo Regional 
Sello Regional, Diciembre 2016.

Free Download

RCA & Tropikhongo - Delicia (Tribilin Sound Remix)

In the second year of the Hystereofônica compilation, “resistance” is the word that echoes when the time comes to mature the fight and improve the work.
Talking about continuity and expansion of the feminine network is talking about resistance; not just in the brazilian scenario but in the whole world. 

After one year of the reverberations since the first compilation, countless support and connections with other similar initiatives in several countries, we begin to dig out our history from solid rock, with the ancestral examples and looking towards the future.

Music by https://soundcloud.com/di_ne

Jupiter91 - Nhamandu

Lascivio Bohemia: https://facebook.com/lasciviobohemiaec 

Edmoon Records 2018, Quito - Ecuador. 
https://bit.ly/edmoonrecords

Flamenco Saudade

Lascivio Bohemia - Flamenco Saudade

Moonanga - Tropical Moon (Folcore 097)
BUY HERE: https://folcore-records.bandcamp.com/album/tropical-moon
Folcore Records website: https://folcore.org

Watch Moonanga video teaser here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-hBGL10qD0


This is the story of two universes united by one same project. 

Born from the fusion between world & electronic music, Moonanga brings out an innovative and captivating style. They dig for inspiration in different genres such as Digital Cumbia, Electro-World, Neo-Traditional, Tropical Bass or even Psychedelic Rock. 

This duo, formed by Maud Cavalade (accordion, slam, organ, kalimba) and Sébastien Cheppe (guitar, machines) will take you on a borderless journey. 

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C’est l’histoire de deux univers, uni vers un même projet. 
Né d’une fusion entre world & Electronic Music, Moonanga distille un style innovant et envoûtant.

Ils puisent leurs inspirations dans des styles tel que la Cumbia digital, 
l’Electro World, le Néo Trad, Tropical Bass ou encore le Rock Psychédélique.

Ce duo formé par Maud Cavalade (accordéon, slam, orgue, kalimba) 
et Sébastien Cheppe (Guitare,machines) vous transportera dans un voyage au delà des frontières.

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Es la historia de dos universos unidos por un mismo proyecto.
Nacido de la fusión entre el mundo y la música electrónica, Moonanga presenta un estilo innovador y cautivador.

Investigan musicalmente en busca de inspiración en diferentes géneros como Digital Cumbia, Electro-World, Neo-Traditional, Tropical Bass o incluso Psychedelic Rock.

Este dúo, formado por Maud Cavalade (acordeón, golpe, órgano, kalimba) y Sébastien Cheppe (guitarra, máquinas) lo llevará a un viaje sin fronteras.

Recorded at Studio Moonanga, Toulouse France
Mix and Mastering by Sébastien Cheppe at Studio Moonanga

Artwork:
Maud Cavalade - painting
David Auriol - graphic design

All tracks writing by Maud Cavalade and Sébastien Cheppe at Studio Moonanga.

All rights reserved - Maud Cavalade, Sébastien Cheppe and Folcore Records

Moonanga Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moonanga/

Moonanga - Guyana

Buy/stream 'Otun' now: montoya.lnk.to/otun

While the internet’s universality means once-inaccessible traditional and indigenous styles of music across the planet can be appropriated, sampled, and commodified with ease; it also means they can be integrated and celebrated, reflecting humanity’s idiosyncrasies as well as our shared communality. Montoya, recently signed to ZZK Records, personifies the very best of this musical globalism.

Montoya, who grew up in Colombia and now resides in Italy, entered music as a classically trained violinist. He’s keen to stress his gratitude for this adolescent education, not only in how it exposed whole new worlds of music, but permitted him travel places and sample different cultures from a young age, including playing at such renowned orchestra theaters as Gran Teatro de La Habana in Cuba and the Musikverein in Vienna. This classical upbringing naturally informed his inclusive, and methodically exacting, attitude to songwriting and production.

The pan-international musicality of his Montoya project is rooted in the musical diaspora of his native Colombia. This diaspora is vast; indigenous folk music hailing from Amazonian and Andean tribes; the cosmopolitan synthesis of modern reggaeton and traditional salsa taking place in Bogota and Medellin, and the Afro-Caribbean stylings of Cumbia and Champeta. Fusing the multi-layered precision of his classical education, his innate curiosity for Latin and “world” music, and affection for melodic electronica; his discography is at once ambitious and comfortingly familiar, as desirous of a catchy harmony as conceptual melding of Latin folk and modern electronics.

So far, under the moniker Montoya, he’s produced the stirring 2015 album Iwa and 2016 Ep Lux, where you can detect him refining his cooking skills of the indigenous and the electronic. He’s also remixed the gifted Ecuadorian Nicola Cruz’s pleasantly plodding “Cumbia del Olvido”, adding another layer of melody with a soothing string arrangement. Moreover he’s played Sonar Bogota and Musicbox Lisbon, and various European venues, but his latest album Otun looks set to both break him properly on the continent, and produce his best work so far; a fiery and flavourful gourmet dish, with British expat producer Richard Blair providing refinement as a proverbial sous chef.

On Otun, the breadth of Montoya’s influences and tastes is at its most striking; the dulcet techno hum of “La Pastora” is perforated by sprightly flutes and percussion, while lead single “Solo Quiero” deploys a languid reggaeton pattern beneath Bogota rising star Pedrina’s distorted, wilting croon anticipating a euphoric synthesiser-lead climax. The title track, featuring a sultry guest vocal from Nidia Gongora, is a fierce and vigorous club anthem, amplified by hissing synth pads and sordid breakbeats. Even a more straightforwardly techno track like “Tatacoa” is stylized with intoxicating Indian vocal samples, and more traditional folk selections like “Orun” still use an inobtrusive bassline drone. Montoya’s palette is simultaneously expansive and curious, yet coherent, with a steadily melodic electronic through-line running through Otun’s duration.

Montoya absolutely sustains ZZK’s pedigree of platforming the most exciting and inventive electronic artists from Latin America, joining the storied legacy already built by the likes of Nicola Cruz, Chancha Via Circuito, and King Coya. Whether it’s through the intricate patterns of his synthesisers or the analogue beauty of his violin, what unifies his instrumentation is the candid expression of Montoya’s experiences, ideas and dreams: “I want to feed me of all these emotions, composing and putting into music all that I’ve lived.”

Otun

Montoya - Piedras Marcadas

7" VINYL / DOWNLOAD ➡️  https://smarturl.it/Romperayo_Tacutun

https://soundcloud.com/romperayo is a musical journey through Colombian tropical folklore of the second half of the 20th century, a mischievous and modern interpretation of the up-tempo rhythms of “Descarga”, “Guaracha”, Afrobeat and the psychedelic sounds of ’70s cumbia.

Led by drummer Pedro Ojeda, the “capitán” of the new generation of Colombian percussionists who also plays in Frente Cumbiero, Ondatrópica, Los Pirañas, and Mucho Indio, Romperayo’s novel approach to tropical rhythms has conquered the international live scene with 3 European tours in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
The band has released 4 albums and 3 singles to date, on 5 different labels from the UK, the US, Japan and France.

By cleverly incorporating urban sounds and sampling techniques into the tropical music of the past decades, Romperayo embodies the avant-garde of Colombia’s modern music scene.

"Tacutun / Cumbia Reggae Funky" is the 6th release on our "Galletas Bailables" 7" & 10" series.

Tacutun / Cumbia Reggae Funky

GRAB IT HERE !

Romperayo - Tacutun

BE a fumbiamber@: www.facebook.com/canalh.info
Follow me on twitter: twitter.com/Canalh

This is what you could listen to if you'd come to my house in Medellin. It's the sound of my street, of my room, and it's the sound of my life. 

Reviewed sur le blog "le Goûter" http://tinyurl.com/3bmfe6r

Playlist: http://radiocanalh.blogspot.com/2011/03/cumbia-de-colombie-cumbia-colombiana.html

Photo: Canalh
Graphic design: http://laurabte-grafica.tumblr.com/


Canalh - San Juan con la 70

Contact & Bookings :: info@folcore.org
Bandcamp :: https://folcore-records.bandcamp.com
Send us your music :: folcorecrew@gmail.com
No Facebook · No Instagram · No Twitter · No Linkedin
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Folcore Records is a label based in Barcelona, dedicated to release djs, musicians and producers who blend future with roots music. With more than 14 years of life, Folcore Records has launched more than 170 releases from artists coming from all over the world, with a special focus on the new sounds of Latin America.
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Folcore Records es un sello con sede en Barcelona, que publica trabajos de djs, músicos y productores que principalmente se dedican a la fusión de música electrónica con sonidos autóctonos, folklóricos y tradicionales. Con más de 14 años de vida, Folcore Records ha publicado más de 170 lanza mientos en formato digital y físico, de artistas procedentes de diversas partes del mundo, con un especial enfoque en los nuevos sonidos de latinoamérica.

Moonanga - Guyana

Folcore Records

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