30/12/2024
Here is Gwyn's pick for our end of year record round up: Nídia & Valentina, Estradas ()
"This album is a collaboration between two solo musicians: London-based experimental drummer and composer Valentina Magaletti, and Lisbon-based Nídia,
associated with the Príncipe Discos label, which has blown a lot of minds with new Afro-Portuguese music. Visiting Lisbon at age 20, I discovered a rich African culture: people, music, food and drink - a result of colonialism in Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe.
This album's unique sound is informed by Angolan styles like batida and tarraxinha: raw constructions of sub-bass and SO much syncopated percussion. Sampled sound and vocals are deftly worked in to add colour and feeling, occasionally reminiscent of grime. Even with the heavy focus on rhythm and drums, songs are structured in interesting ways, with much warmth and life within. I look forward to people dancing in new ways to these tracks."