Whether the word Kuduro comes from the Kimbundu language, native to northern Angola and means “location” or from the Portuguese expression meaning “hard ass” or “stiff bottom” is debated but there’s no argument that the dance is sexy. As one watches the dancers of this Angolan music style jutting their bottoms and swinging sensuously to the rhythm of the hard-hitting Kuduro beat, one can see how the Portuguese translation makes sense. Born in the suburbs of Malange in the 90’s, Kuduro has recently become the darling of some European DJs, and the blog ‘Raízes e Antenas‘ [Roots and Antennas] brings an historical perspective.

Peace in Angola after decades of war — first the war for independence against the Portuguese troops and followed by an equally bloody fratricidal war — has brought forth the development of varied and rich musical forms, and also their discovery by audiences at home and abroad. We are not saying that there was no music being made and recorded before that — check it out the recording in the box , already referenced months ago in this blog, or in the recent compilation, all of them created in the last years of Portuguese domination — or the innumerable recordings from Kizomba artists edited during the civil war. But, in recent years, new genres were born and have grown with unstoppable strength — especially the very Angolan version of the hip-hop, and also the Kuduro and the Tarrachinha.
Tarrachinha - The Sexiest Music in the World (and Other Musics from Angola) - Raízes e Antenas

“No Dancing da ‘Mãe Ju’ começa-se a dançar às 14h
e só se pára quando nasce o dia”
“In ‘Mãe Ju’s Dancing, we start to dance at 2 pm
and stop when the new day comes”
Documentário Mãe-Ju - Caboindex

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