Every now and then, producers will come along with a starting point outside the sonic establishment and blow the whole thing open again. Buraka Som Sistema are such producers. The basic premise of the Portugese 4-piece is to blend traditional Angolan kuduro rhythms (taken from the colonial and actual roots of its members) with contemporary grime and baile-funk production techniques. By attacking the contemporary dancefloor from the edges of its traditions, they instill it with a new burst of vitality and inventiveness.
Listening closely to the timbres used across Black Diamond, there’s a remarkable reliance on sounds which have long since lost their power due to overuse and cliche. And never forget that world music has a long history potted with folks attempting to ‘update’ traditional rhythms for ‘contemporary’ audiences via digitisation, the majority of which end up sounding like insipid, sanitised, westernised shadows of their actual selves. But because they show no fear, this combination of the untouchables in the hands of Buraka Som Sistema (along with their guest vocalists) somehow comes across as one of the most vital things I’ve heard in a very long time.
There is no respite across the 13 tracks. The album moves in a massive wave of offbeat syncopation. The most common rhythm, the kuduro rhythm, consists of a pounding 4-to-the-floor kick, but with the snares accenting the offbeats either side of the 2 and 4, rather than on them, as in traditional dance rhythms. This produces a continual loping effect which, even at quite fast tempos, allows space for a sexy swagger. Of course, if it was just a borrowed rhythm that the album had going for it, it would tire very quickly. On top of this bedrock are long lost electronic blasts, the kinds of tacky synth sounds ‘serious’ producers would no longer go anywhere near. These are deployed in short sharp bursts over growling synth lines which have obviously come from the producers’ immersion in ‘grimey, teched-up and crunked-out urban happenings’, as the bio likes to put it.
There aren’t really standout tracks as everything is brilliant, but ‘Sound Of Kuduro’ is the lead single and has an infectious 4-way vocal battle between Znobia, MIA, Saborosa and Puto Prata (and features one of the few English lyrics on the album courtesy of MIA – I won’t be commenting much on the lyrical content as my Portugese is almost non-existent). ‘Tirozo’ features some bravely minimal snare’n'bass rhythms in the verses with some strange synth buzzes and polyrhythmic percussion samples in the breakout sections. ‘General’ introduces some township jive guitar figures, some more blobby bass and, again, off kilter rhythm stabs all over the place. Indeed, across the whole album, while the repetition of the contemporary dancefloor is served well in the pounding main rhythms, there is always a new polyrhythm or percussive destabiliser flying by as nothing actually stays constant for long at all. ‘YAH!’, featuring teenage MC prodigy Petty, sticks to stripped back 808 kuduro with whiny 90s synth buzzes. The description sounds completely retrospective but the actual track sounds like little I’ve ever heard before.
I can’t recommend this album highly enough, particularly if you’ve become jaded by 20 years of contemporary dance music. It has obvious links to recent baile-funk, dancehall and electro, but feels much more driving and intense than those. I challenge you to put this on and not move some part of your body in time. But more than that, it also stands up as a listening experience, testament to the intricate skills of Buraka Som Sistema’s three producers, along with their inhouse MC and host of sympathetic guests.
Adrian Elmer
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