African Fabrics
“A Picture of a pipe isn't necessarily a pipe, an image of 'African Fabric' isn't necessarily authentically [and wholly] African.” –Yinka Shonibare
Global tastemaker, DJ, producer, labelhead and urban bass music connoisseur Daniel Haaksman, who apart from his weekly Luso FM radio show on Funkhaus Europa recently brought us his sonic Duck Rock essay, returns to our speakers with his personal interpretation of what African music in the 21st century sounds like.
To be released on Febuary 26th via Man Recordings, Haaksman’s latest “African Fabrics” LP challenges our still very much outdated perception of 'the dark continent', blending traditional African genres with bass music styles from the northern hemisphere in a futuristic, dancefloor-oriented approach:
The album explores South African pop rap, Ugandan party rap, Mozambique coffee rap, Colombian champeta guitar sounds and Angolan Portuguese kuduro punk as well as a Zimbabwean street choir going strong on a Chicago-bred footwork beat.
Afro-Juke? Tarraxo-Trap? Kuduro-Club? Whatever you want to call it, “African Fabrics” reflects the many layers of social fabric our realities are composed of, while commenting on “the widespread cliché of 'African Fabrics' representing the wild continent with its deserts and lions, while actually coming from the Netherlands”.
Watch the beautiful video to the album's first single "Rename The Streets", which draws attention to the names of questionable colonial figures still gracing Berlin street signs today. Also be sure to check out the DJ Spoko remix in the player above.
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