Typesun - Last Home ( Dj Nature Remix )

Space Echo - The mystery behind the Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde finally revealed!

In the spring of 1968 a cargo ship was getting ready to leave the port of Baltimore with an important shipment of musical instruments. Its final destination was Rio De Janeiro, where the EMSE Exhibition (Exposição Mundial Do Son Eletrônico) was going to be held. 

It was the first expo of its kind to take place in the southern hemisphere and many of the leading companies in the field of electronic music were involved. Rhodes, Moog, Farfisa, Hammond and Korg, just to name a few, were all eager to present their newest synthesisers and other gadgets to a growing and promising South American market, spearheaded by Brazil and Colombia.

The ship with the goods set sail on the 20th of March on a very calm morning and disappeared from the radar on the very same day.

One can only imagine the surprise of the villagers of Cachaço, on the Sao Nicolau island of Cabo Verde, when a few months later they woke up and found a ship stranded in their fields, in the middle of nowhere, 8 km from the sea. 
After consulting with the village elders, the locals had decided to open the containers to see what was inside but the news had travelled fast and before they knew it, colonial police had already arrived and secured the area. 

Portuguese scientists and physicians were ordered to the scene; and after weeks of thorough studies and research, it was concluded that the ship had fallen from the sky. One of the less plausible theories was that it might have fallen from a Russian military air carrier. The locals joked that the government had wasted their tax money again on a useless exercise, as a simple look at the crater generated by the impact could explain the phenomena. “No need for Portuguese rocket science to explain this!” they laughed. 

What the villagers didn’t know, was that traces of cosmic particles were discovered on the boat. The bow of the ship showed traces of extreme heat, very similar to traces found on meteors, suggesting that the ship had penetrated the hemisphere at high speed. That theory also didn't make sense as such an impact would have reduced the ship to dust. Mystery penetrated the event.  

Finally, a team of welders arrived to open the containers and the whole village waited impatiently. The atmosphere, which had been filled with joy and excitement, quickly gave way to astonishment. Hundreds of boxes conjured, all containing keyboards and other instruments which they had never seen before: and all useless in an area devoid of electricity. Disappointment was palpable. The goods were temporarily stored in the local church and the women of the village had insisted a solution be found before Sunday mass. 

It is said that charismatic anti-colonial leader Amílcar Cabral had ordered for the instruments to be distributed equally in places that had access to electricity, which placed them mainly in schools.
This distribution was best thing that could have happened - keyboards found fertile grounds in the hands of curious children, born with an innate sense of rhythm and these children picked up instruments that were easy to use and would become instrumental for modernising local rhythms such as Mornas, Coladeras and the highly danceable music style called Funaná, banned by the Portuguese colonial rulers until 1975 probably due to the fact that it was too sexy!

Observation was made that the children who came into contact with the instruments found on the ship had prodigious capabilities to understand music and learn instruments. One of them was the musical genius Paulino Vieira who by the end of the 70s would become the country´s most important music arranger. 

8 out of the 15 songs presented in this compilation had been recorded with the backing of the band Voz de Cabo Verde lead by Paulino Vieira, the mastermind behind the creation and the promulgation of what is known today as “The Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde”. 




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Dia Ja Manche  - Dionisio Maio (Leave a comment for Dionisio, tell him how much you love his song !)

Up next on Phonica Premieres is a seriously groovy cut from International Soleil Band off the new Soundway 12".  Ta Lassa is an '80s West African Disco crossover from the International Soleil band straight outta Guinea. Composed by Gnamakoron Sidi Diabaté it was originally featured on an album released in 1983 by French Warners offshoot WAM (West African Music) - a short lived label that recorded about 20 releases of West African music released in France. Also Featuring Mory Djely Kouyate this track was a staple of the 22 band's repertoire in the 1970s (in which many of the ISB played) - famous for their recordings on the legendary state-run Editions Syliphone label. We've decided to premiere the extended (DJ friendly) Hide & Smile edit on the A side. There's throbbing bass and keyboard interplay punctuated by classic Guinee guitar lines, metronomic drumming and 80s synth sweeps eventually drops into a more recognisable Guinean vocal outing. This beautiful 12" will be out on the 20th of May and you can reserve a copy on our website: j.mp/TaLassa

Buy Vinyl

Phonica Premieres: International Soleil Band - Ta Lassa (Hide & Smile Edit) [SOUNDWAY]

Patrick Cowley - Somebody To Love Tonight [Dark Entries, 2015]

MARUMO - Khomo Tsaka Deile Kae

Invisible Escape

Fuga Ronto - L'uomo Invisibile

12" Vinyl released 16 March 2018.

Soundway Records presents the debut EP from The Mauskovic Dance Band – a heady, tropical blend of cumbia, Afro-Caribbean rhythms and space disco, culminating in a vibrant hypnotic groove destined for bustling dancefloors.

With each band member of varying heritage, the group draws inspiration from diverse genres: primarily Afro-Colombian styles such as champeta, palenque, cumbia and the picó soundsystem culture, as well as the Afro-Disco and No-Wave scenes in their current base of Amsterdam. The city’s hotbed of underground producers has also brought an electronic edge to the band, with vintage drum machines and synthesisers effortlessly melding with Afro-Latin rhythms and slick guitar riffs to create a contemporary sound rich with cultural influence.

Down In The Basement EP

Continue The Fun (Space Version)

From the forthcoming reissue Basa Basa - Homowo (Vintage Voudou, VV-001).

Order the vinyl: https://vintagevoudou.com/products/basa-basa-homowo-together-we-win-basa-basa-experience-themba-matebese

Download the album: http://basabasa.bandcamp.com

Basa Basa - African Soul Power

Smooth, Italo boogie from @nu-guinea taken from their new album Nuova Napoli, the result of extensive research into the funk and disco sound of their Neapolitan hometown.

Read more & buy: http://www.stampthewax.com/2018/03/02/premiere-nu-guinea-ddoje-facce/
Listen on Youtube: http://bit.ly/ddoje-facce

Nuova Napoli

Nu Guinea - Ddoje Facce (STW Premiere)

Available from https://www.mrbongo.com/products/african-dances-vinyl-lp-cd

First official reissue of the extremely rare full-length album by Lagos-based bandleader Shina Williams. Clean copies of the original currently sell for up to £500.

The record was born in 1979 when Shina put Biddy Wright, Fred Fisher, Saliu Alabi, Prince Bola, Tutu Shoronmu, Tunde willimas and several other decorated Nigerian musicians – who played with the likes of Fela Kuti, SJOB Movement, Sonny Okoson, King Bucknor amongst others – together to record. The result is ‘African Dances’, a timeless fusion of afrobeat, electronics, boogie and disco.

Includes his most well-known song, ‘Agboju Logun’ that Williams knew was ground breaking – “I want to show the whole wide world that Africa is alive with modern musicians to reckon with anywhere,”. This album version is a different mix to the two-track 12” that came out under on Earthworks, Rough Trade in 1984.

Official Mr Bongo reissue. Replica original artwork. Licensed direct from Shina Williams.

Agboju Logun

Mas Profundo

Bruxas - Más Profundo

Tropical vinyl specialists, record store and reissue label

Basa Basa - African Soul Power

Vintage Voudou

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