Addressing Angolan traits in a study of African cultural extensions overseas, ethnomusicologist Gerhard Kubik made the plain observation that it’s impossible to “perceive African music merely as the ‘roots’ of something else,” that African music and dance “forms as products of people living in various African cultures which have changed continuously in history, absorbing and processing elements from inside and outside the continent, creating new styles and fashions all the time…”
That permanent outcry signals especially hard in the sound of Dotorado Pro. I screamed, you screamed, we all screamed for Dotorado Pro’s “African Scream,” which went viral when he was just 16 years old. DJ Maboku and DJ Lycox also screamed.
Now, Enchufada — the label behind releases by artists like Branko and personal favorite Sam Blans — unleash Dotorado Pro’s new EP Rei Das Marimbas, “still fusing marimba and afro-house beats” and exploring sounds “of his native Angola, coupled with a keen understanding of Europe’s electronic club music styles.” Of course, Angolan music is always changing, soaking up features both internal and external and producing anew.
So get refreshed and listen to Rei das Marimbas’s seductive closer “Mister Kalimba,” with plush synths pouring like water on heated-rock-solid rhythms; its breezy, wafting percussion is the only thing that marks this track off from a blistering sauna.
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