Buraka Som Sistema will perform in Counterculture on November 1. The wild beats of Angolan Kuduro music has been big in Lisbon clubs since the late 90s but Buraka Som Sistema – AKA J-WOW, Riot, Kalaf and Conductor – have fused it with twenty first century electronics to create a whole new sound. Now this electro ghettotech take on their favorite South West African music has is quickening and corrupting dancefloors all over the world on the basis of an EP with sounds not many have heard before.
After the immediate success of their debut album ‘Black Diamond’, Buraka Som Sistema spent the last 11 months working on the follow-up ‘Kombo’, for which they recruited collaborators like Sara Tavares, Roses Gabor, Terry Lynn and Afrikan Boy, as well as Blaya, who after spending three years on tour with the group has already become an indispensable presence on stage. The result is a merger between the two universes in which Buraka shines – the concert arenas and the clubs – a record that finds the guys getting comfortable with their role as a band.