Comfusões takes Angolan Pop music from the golden 60ies and 70ies to Brasil. The songs by legendary singers like Teta Lando, Artur Nunes or Bonga are passed on into the hands of the most exciting Brasilian producers of today.

For a long time now Angola has been cut off from the rest of the world due to the civil war raging in the country until 2002. Times have changed. Today the economy is booming and also the magic of the countries music is starting to move beyond the borders of the African continent. Kuduro being the latest craze spreading into the international club culture. Long before that in the 60ies and 70ies some of the most soulful tunes ever to come out of Africa had been recorded in Angola. It is the melancholy of Portuguese Fado infused with African rhythms (not unlike Capeverdean music) that makes this music so special.

The title of this compilation is a play with words: meaning either “confusions”, or “with fusions”. The project is a confusing meeting and mingling of two cultures with a shared language (Portuguese) and a somewhat related, yet different history. It is not about conserving culture. It is about continuing a story of exchange that started long ago when the first Africans were forcibly brought to Brasil and over time helped create a vibrant music that has touched people throughout the world.

Mastermind behind the project is Maurício Pacheco. He has been active in the Brazilian music scene since 1994, producing for artists like Fernanda Abreu and Jussara Silveira, and founding the Capoeira-HipHop band Stereo Maracanã. As a producer, he has travelled frequently to Angola since early 2000. After the end of the civil war the pacified country has seen a booming economy and a tremendous cultural growth. Since then Maurício worked with some great Angolan artists, such as Paulo Flores or Elias Diá Kimuezo (the king of Angolan “Semba” music) or more recently kuduro star Dog Murras.

For Comfusões he went digging for the roots of Angolan Pop at the RNA (Angolan National Radio) archives and listened to piles of master tapes and CDs, mainly from artists that were at the height of their carreers in the 60ies and 70ies, like Teta Lando, Artur Nunes or Carlos Lamartine. After selecting the tracks, Maurício passed the music on to some of his friends back home like Mario Caldato jr (producer of the Beastie Boys, Tone Loc, Jack Johnson, Beck…), Dj Dolores, Moreno Veloso, Kassin and Berna Ceppas & many others. The result is the first volume of a project that explores fusions between two cultures that have more in common than the language: Angola and Brasil.

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