DJ Znobia - Cuba em Angola

  • Raw, minimal kudoro meets bleepy techno, taken from an essential compilation profiling one of the genre's progenitors.
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  • Sebastião Lopes, AKA DJ Znobia, is Angola's master of street music. An early pioneer of kuduro, the visionary producer is believed to have shaped the genre in the '90s with barebones FL Studio productions that referenced the rhythms of homeland. Whereas other kuduro producers have embraced a more forceful sound with straightforward techno basslines, Lopes keeps his rhythms scanty and limber. His crackly, lo-fi sound—highly influential to the evolution of African diasporic club music yet oft-forgotten—can now be easily accessed on a new four-volume retrospective, Inventor, on Nyege Nyege Tapes. "Cuba em Angola," a potential hint to the shared heritage of African communities across the globe, shows just how powerful Lopes' remarkably simple, unembellished production can be. Built around layered synths, spliced vocal samples and jerky, sauntering drum patterns that move with the grace of a rumba dancer, it's easy listening yet vibrant enough for movement. A classic techno-but-not-techno moment.
RA