Kussondulola
Kussondulola is a reggae band from Lisbon .
history
In the early 1990s, the three Angolans Janelo da Costa (vocals, guitar), Messiah Santiago Botelho (percussion) and Daddy Bé (actually Carlos Pereira, bass) founded the band in their adopted home Portugal, in the greater Lisbon area ( Moita and Amadora ). The name means “movement” or “change” in Kimbundu , but was also the name of Janelo's great-great-grandmother, the head of the band. From 1994, the band expanded with other musicians who were mostly of Angolan descent or from other Portuguese-speaking African countries: Betinho Feijó (guitar), Carlitos Semba (guitar), Dom Lanterna (keyboard), Mike Pemba (trumpet), Litos Graça (Drums), and sanguito (saxophone). Later Nando (drums) and Múcio Sá (guitar) joined the band collective. The musical direction was roots reggae and dancehall reggae variants, enriched with influences from African, especially Angolan traditional music.
They were the first pure reggae band in Portugal to give concerts on a regular basis and to appear offensively with reggae-related symbolism and rhetoric. After numerous concerts, EMI - Valentim de Carvalho signed her in 1994. After the release of their debut album in 1995, their fame increased and they played regularly in Portugal and Spain, especially in Galicia , where they became regular guests on the TV show "A Cantar con Xabarin" and recorded a song in Galician with a video clip to match. Her second album was subsequently also released in Spain. They also appeared at major festivals in Portugal, e.g. B. in Vilar de Mouros and at the Festa do Avante! .
The following albums became increasingly less catchy, the influences of African and especially Angolan music increased, and both lyrics and performance of the band became less carefree. Founding member Messias left the band in 1999 and founded Mercado Negro . The band with its expanded collective of artist friends, DJs and musicians is still active, but less present in public. Her Internet address (kussondulola.com) is no longer active and her appearances have become less frequent.
reception
According to their own statement, the band moves in the geographical-cultural triangle Angola-Portugal-Jamaica. This style was accessible to a relatively large audience in the early 1990s, as the texts are written in Portuguese and deal with topics such as peace, humanity and the desire for understanding and an intact environment and society. The cheerful reggae rhythm, which at that time was not ubiquitous among the general public in Portugal, and the corresponding demeanor of the band attracted attention: the international, at the same time novel and familiar demeanor and the carefree mood of the band, plus the hopeful news about the decade-old one Civil war in Angola, a country with which Portugal has a historically close relationship, were some of the reasons for the high level of acceptance and the relatively large interest in the band. After the appearance of other reggae bands and the simultaneous further development of Kussondulola away from pure reggae, but also the massive appearance of other modern music from Angola ( Kuduro , Kizomba ), the interest of the general public has shifted, reinforced by a stronger thematic focus of the Volume based on African themes. Kussondulola stands against more recent trends both in Portugal and from Angola itself, and its independent orientation away from a mass market became increasingly evident. In Angola itself they are quite well known, but without being considered trendsetters in the current urban music scene. In the international reggae scene, on the other hand, they are recognized, but could not achieve greater awareness due to language barriers and the lack of a planned international distribution.
Discography
- 1995: Tá-se bem
- 1998: Baza not baza
- 2001: Amor é ... bué
- 2002: Vive! Tens de viver (live)
- 2004: Cumué? (Best of)
- 2005: Survivor
- 2006: Guerrilheiro
- 2007: Mayombe 4CD box (with new album Madié , the Christmas album Natalício , and live recordings including DVD)
- 2010: Amaakamka
literature
- Salwa Castelo-Branco “Enciclopédia da música em Portugal no século XX, C – L” Temas e Debates, Lisbon 2010 ISBN 978-989-644-098-5 .
Web links
- Kussondulola at Discogs (English)
- Kussondulola at Allmusic (English)
- Page about Kussondulola (port.)
Individual evidence
- ^ Salwa Castelo-Branco "Enciclopédia da música em Portugal no século XX, CL" 1st edition, Temas e Debates, Lisbon 2010, page 676/677
- ↑ http://cotonete.clix.pt/artistas/biografia.aspx?id=1457
- ↑ http://www.lastfm.pt/music/Kussondulola
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original from December 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.clanentertainment.com/1411006/info.html ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
