marrabenta (mozambique)

the sweetly rolling rhythms of marrabenta may not sound particularly insurrectionary
but during mozambique's war of liberation
the colonial portuguese authorities moved ruthlessly to stamp it out
believing music was a medium of revolution
they failed of course and since independence marrabenta has defied years of civil war
to become an all-singing all-dancing emblem of national identity
combining an affinity with other tropical rhythms such as salsa and calypso
with distinctive elements of island tradition
the songlines description of marrabenta conjures up images of high-energy music and dance
not unlike various other styles of music from the african continent
but when trying to track down an atypical tune ex youtube
mostly what i found was more examples of the global influence of hip-hop
so lots of clips of young african males emulating their brothers in america
an unfair comment probably as their roots are right there and also in the music no doubt
the other dominating form of modern marrabenta seemed to be young women
also in a way emulating their western peers and singing/performing with the s word uppermost
digging deeper i came across a performer by the name of wazimbo
singing a beautiful tune that though not the afore-mentioned fast all-singing all-dancing style
it is still pure and authentic marrabenta - guess they also need time out with a quieter number
seems wazimbo's claim to fame is as lead singer of a hugely popular group in his home country
orchestra marrabenta star de mozambique
seems they had significant success in europe in the early nineties
but disbanded upon returning to their now peaceful country in 1995
there is something quite familiar about this lovely song
seems it has been used by microsoft for an advertisement
and also by sean penn in his film 'the pledge' from 2001
it's a gem of a song
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