Conscious lyrics have been Terrakota’s trademark since its beginnings, so when the band turns to afrobeat, you’d better make sure it’s outspoken! On ‘Slow Food’, recorded with KotaCool Afrobeat Orchestra (PT) including members of Cool Hipnoise and Cacique 97, Terrakota is staying true to afrobeat’s tradition of music with a message, telling people to eat ‘good food’ – vegetables, healthy stuff – and to stop eating all that crap fast food and advising that soon, the only way out will be planting yourself…
Terrakota making afrobeat shouldn’t surprise as the band has an afrobeat sideproject, the KotaCool Afrobeat Orchestra, that has done some powerful gigs around Lisbon the past
year.

Slow Food - Radio edit

"Coro da Primavera" composed by Zeca Afonso 
This is a version recorded by terrakota for the album RE-intervenção from Orfeu 2011

Coro da primavera

Junior- Lead Vocals / Gonçalo- Lead vocals, Caipira guitar / Alex- Electric Guitar / Francesco Valente- Bass / Nataniel Melo- Congas, Kayan / Paulo das Cavernas- Pandeiro, Berimbau / Marc Plannels- Sitar, Kangira, little percussions / Selma Uamusse, Anastacia Carvalho- Backing Vocals 
Artwork- Sara Baga

Terrakota - Entre O Céu E A Terra

Junior- Lead Vocals, Rhythm guitar / Alex- Electric Guitar / Gonçalo- Kora / Francesco Valente- Bass / Nataniel Melo- Water drum, percussions / Paulo das Cavernas- N'Goni / Selma Uamusse, Anastacia Carvalho, Marc Plannels- Backing Vocals 
Artwork- Zair Pacheco e Sara Baga 

Terrakota - Heartist

Junior- Lead Vocals / Alex- Electric Guitar / Francesco Valente- Bass / Gonçalo- Electric Guitar / Nataniel Melo- Tama / Márcio Silva- Drums / Marc Plannels- Shekere / Paulo das Cavernas- Djembé / Selma Uamusse, Anastacia Carvalho- Backing Vocals 
Artwork- Alex e Sara Baga 

Terrakota - Social Insecurity

Over the past ten years, Terrakota has forged its own pan-African and trans-Atlantic rootsworldkota sound. On its sixth studio album “Oxalá”, the band embraces its Portuguese roots while diving more deeply into their rock influences. A message of hope for humanity.

“Oxalá” is a Portuguese word, of Arabic origin, venerated in Brazil. It comes from the Arabic expression “inch'allah”, an expression often used in Portuguese (“se Deus quiser”). In Portugal, Oxalá stands for the desire for something to happen. Followers of the Afro-Brazilian religion candomblé know Oxalá or Obatalá as the first orixá (Nigerian yoruba god), creator of the world, men, animals and plants.

“Oxalá”, one word, one expression but a lot of meaning, a place where many cultures collide and intermingle. A word that comes from the Arabs, who were based in Portugal for centuries and left their marks, before it was introduced in Lusophone countries via the trans-atlantic slave trade. These darkest pages of human history somehow intrigue Terrakota, following the ancient trade routes, but turned upside-down, from the New World back to Africa, drinking from the fantastic musical diversity that has been spread around the world through slavery.

For Terrakota, Oxalá, that desire for something to happen, can be understood as a political statement, a desire for humans to go back to a lifestyle in harmony with the nature that surrounds us, for a world without borders where cultural encounters are the norm, a No Man's Land where no man can claim the land is theirs. The critical status of the human societies and the planet serve as a base for a conscious message to which the band will not renounce.

Portuguese roots
Terrakota's first albums were inspired by travels to Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, while also incorporating influences from Latin America. The fourth album is clearly marked by their trip to India. This one is inspired by an internal travel, giving light to Portuguese songs built on top of their Afro-explosive melting pot: Afro-Brazilian rhythms, soukouss, reggae, afrobeat, gnawa, influences from India & beyond.
Africa remains the main source, the starting point from where the band looks for the perfect alchemy to get to their trademark modern roots sound, where all borders, distances and barriers are wiped out.

The band has again invited guests to make the music even richer, special people with whom the band has a privileged relationship: traditional Alentejo singer Vitorino, Indian singer Mahesh Vinayakram, French rapper Florian Doucet, beatmaker & producer Beat Laden, Kumpania Algazarra's horn section, and backing vocals by the Lisbon-based Selma Uamusse (Mozambique) & Anastácia Carvalho (Angola), without forgetting a brilliant text by the Angolan rapper Luaty Ikonoklasta.

After parting ways with vocalist Romi and two sabbaticals, Terrakota has added fresh blood with the young and talented singer/multi-instrumentalist Gonçalo Sarmento, the gracious performer/dancer Diana Rego, as well as new drummer Márcio Pinto and percussionist Paulo das Cavernas. These new elements and the extra years of travelling for the veterans have brought Terrakota to an even more mature sound, concising lyrics and the guts to do some songwriting in addition to their explosive Afro-world sound.
The Portuguese globetrotters have reached new highs and are ready to take Europe by storm and get back to the international festivals to make the audience dance to their positive vibes and energizing live performance!

www.terrakota.org

Oxalá

Kutch Nahi feat. Mahesh Vinayakram

Cegueira

Wari feat. Florian Doucet

Heartist

Deserto Amanhã

Bankster

Oxalá feat. Vitorino

Social Insecurity

Mexe Mexe feat. Beat Laden

Entre o Céu e a Terra

Jah Flow

Gira Giro

1st track from the "RECOOKED SESSIONS EP" 2012

Released by Optimus Discos, you can download your free copy here:

http://optimusdiscos.pt/discos/destaques/re-cooked-sessions

The magicians of the Afro-Portuguese música mestiça are back! 
On the ‘Re-Cooked Sessions’ EP they reinvent several songs of ‘World Massala’ and ‘Oba Train’, and they add two new, inedited tracks. The fusions are even more dared, an explosive cocktail of music from motherland Africa, the Caribbean, India, the Sahara and Brazil.

It’s not a remix album like the others as it’s the musicians themselves who have revitalized their
music. Massala Dub, Chelo Habibi Dub and Ayam Dub are three dubs from the album ‘World
Massala’ with added vocals by the carnatic singer Mahesh Vinayakram, the Bollywood star
Vasundhara Das and percussions by Kuthla Khan of Rajasthan Roots. Helio Bentes, the charismatic
singer of the mythical Brazilian reggae band Ponto de Equilibrio, lends his characteristic voice to
So Free. On Move On, Florian Doucet, former singer/rapper of the Belgian reggaeband Family Jammin’, reflects on the actual global indignation and Occupy movements, a reggae that is embellished by a kamelen’goni.

The three last songs are bonus tracks: Afro-power remixes of the hits Oba Train, Pé Na Tchon
and Slow Food. Oba Train Remix gets additional raps by the Angolans Conductor (Buraka Som
Sistema) and Ikonoklasta (Batida, Conjunto Ngonguenha). Pé Na Tchon Remix has been totally
remodelled by the unique flow in Cape-Verdean Creole by the mysterious K Kota. Slow Food
Remix has undergone Beat Laden’s ‘clubbing’ treatment to detonate the dancefloors!

Terrakota - So Free ft. Helio Bentes

2nd track from the "RECOOKED SESSIONS EP" 2012

Released by Optimus Discos, you can download your free copy here:

http://optimusdiscos.pt/discos/destaques/re-cooked-sessions

The magicians of the Afro-Portuguese música mestiça are back! 
On the ‘Re-Cooked Sessions’ EP they reinvent several songs of ‘World Massala’ and ‘Oba Train’, and they add two new, inedited tracks. The fusions are even more dared, an explosive cocktail of music from motherland Africa, the Caribbean, India, the Sahara and Brazil.

It’s not a remix album like the others as it’s the musicians themselves who have revitalized their
music. Massala Dub, Chelo Habibi Dub and Ayam Dub are three dubs from the album ‘World
Massala’ with added vocals by the carnatic singer Mahesh Vinayakram, the Bollywood star
Vasundhara Das and percussions by Kuthla Khan of Rajasthan Roots. Helio Bentes, the charismatic
singer of the mythical Brazilian reggae band Ponto de Equilibrio, lends his characteristic voice to
So Free. On Move On, Florian Doucet, former singer/rapper of the Belgian reggaeband Family Jammin’, reflects on the actual global indignation and Occupy movements, a reggae that is embellished by a kamelen’goni.

The three last songs are bonus tracks: Afro-power remixes of the hits Oba Train, Pé Na Tchon
and Slow Food. Oba Train Remix gets additional raps by the Angolans Conductor (Buraka Som
Sistema) and Ikonoklasta (Batida, Conjunto Ngonguenha). Pé Na Tchon Remix has been totally
remodelled by the unique flow in Cape-Verdean Creole by the mysterious K Kota. Slow Food
Remix has undergone Beat Laden’s ‘clubbing’ treatment to detonate the dancefloors!

Terrakota - Massala Dub ft. Vasundhara Das & Mahesh Vinayakram

3rd track from the "RECOOKED SESSIONS EP" 2012

Released by Optimus Discos, you can download your free copy here:

http://optimusdiscos.pt/discos/destaques/re-cooked-sessions

The magicians of the Afro-Portuguese música mestiça are back! 

Here, on the track "Move On", they invited the French singer and great friend Florian Doucet, member of the Colombian group La Chiva Gantiva, to reflect on the actual global "Indignados" and "Occupy" movements... 
a heavy hitting reggae riddim that is embellished by a kamelen’goni, establishing the inter-continental connection between the Caribean, Africa and Europe.

We hope you enjoy it!!!

Terrakota - Move On ft. Florian Doucet

The magicians of the Afro-Portuguese música mestiça are back! 
On the ‘Re-Cooked Sessions’ EP they reinvent several songs of ‘World Massala’ and ‘Oba Train’, and they add two new, inedited tracks. The fusions are even more dared, an explosive cocktail of music from motherland Africa, the Caribbean, India, the Sahara and Brazil.

It’s not a remix album like the others as it’s the musicians themselves who have revitalized their
music. Massala Dub, Chelo Habibi Dub and Ayam Dub are three dubs from the album ‘World
Massala’ with added vocals by the carnatic singer Mahesh Vinayakram, the Bollywood star
Vasundhara Das and percussions by Kuthla Khan of Rajasthan Roots. Helio Bentes, the charismatic
singer of the mythical Brazilian reggae band Ponto de Equilibrio, lends his characteristic voice to
So Free. On Move On, Florian Doucet, former singer/rapper of the Belgian reggaeband Family Jammin’, reflects on the actual global indignation and Occupy movements, a reggae that is embellished by a kamelen’goni.

The three last songs are bonus tracks: Afro-power remixes of the hits Oba Train, Pé Na Tchon
and Slow Food. Oba Train Remix gets additional raps by the Angolans Conductor (Buraka Som
Sistema) and Ikonoklasta (Batida, Conjunto Ngonguenha). Pé Na Tchon Remix has been totally
remodelled by the unique flow in Cape-Verdean Creole by the mysterious K Kota. Slow Food
Remix has undergone Beat Laden’s ‘clubbing’ treatment to detonate the dancefloors!

5 Chelo Habibi Dub feat Mahesh Vinayakram & Kutla Khan

6 Oba Train Remix feat Ikonoklasta & Conductor

7 Pé na Tchon feat K Kota

8 Slow Food Remix

On its fourth studio album "World Massala", Terrakota keeps on mashing up frontiers to bring together music and people from around the world. With the help of some surprising special guests, the ambassadors of Portuguese multiculturalism keep on expanding their musical horizons, to Rajasthan, Angola, classical India, urban Cuba, and beyond.

World Massala

Kay Kay

I Am

Slow Food

Ne Djarabi

Pé na Tchon

In 1999, their seed was planted in Burkina Faso. It sprang in Portugal and, since then, has spread its fruits around the world, between musical research expeditions and live shows on the most important world music festivals. Recently, they have been given recognition by the Songlines Music Awards 2011, with a nomination in the Best Group category.With Terrakota, the world map is turned upside down, and borders are swept by their multilingual music, as if Portuguese, Creole, Wolof, Spanish, English, Arabic, were a single language. Carrying a passport for a ride around the world, their dance steps journey across mandinga and afro-cuban rhythms, soukous, maracatu, arab music, rap, chimurenga, and, more recently, indian music influences. Their work speaks for itself: it joins together different people, languages and cultures. It struggles for a recognition of the universal human nature: strong political beliefs become embodied in the energy of their shows. But their solid musical identity, always inventive and well seasoned, is constantly being built and improved, with traditional and contemporary elements, on a global scale.

Terrakota

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