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Pele

26/01/2021Portuguese Producer Batida Joins Forces With Angolan Rapper/Activist Ikonoklasta On Forthcoming Debut LP
 

Batida, Batida, the name definitely rang a bell. A quick search of the archives revealed that we had indeed covered the Angola-born and Lisbon-raised producer Pedro Coquenão, alias Batida, a few years back, during his involvement with legendary Congolese 'thumb piano' outfit Konono No.1 for Belgian label Crammed Discs. We breathed a sigh of relief. After all, Batida "ranks among the leading exponents of the new wave of African electronic music."

With another album project in the making, Batida's name recently resurfaced under the pseudonym IKOQWE, a new collaborative project alongside "Angolan rapper turned iconic activist" Luaty Beirão, aka Ikonoklasta. Last Friday marked release day for their first single "Pele" (transl. skin), an infectious first glimpse of their forthcoming debut longplayer "The Beginning, the Medium, the End and the Infinite", to be released March 5th on Crammed Discs.

Drawing equal inspiration from hiphop and traditional Angolan music, "Pele" is an impressive first indicator of the album's potent palette of sounds, including "drum machines, vocals in Angolan slang, Umbundu, Portuguese and English, discussions about neocolonialism, iniquities and falsified history, radio sounds, utopian solutions" and more. And if that didn't pique your interest, "Pele" was released with a subtitled companion video as well as two banging remixes by ways of afro house legend Boddhi Satva and UK 'disco noir' band MADMADMAD. This one's a definite rump-shaker!

AUTHOR: Lev Nordstrom