Kizomba-infused new single and its breathtaking music video “SRA” announces the forthcoming release of Branko’s third album, OBG.
Buraka Som Sistema co-founder and Enchufada label-head Branko presents OBG, his third album. The artist’s most personal and reflective work to date, it’s a letter of love and thanks to the community around him, to Portugal’s breathtaking landscapes, and to the syncopated, window-rattling rhythms that emanate from the clubs and car stereos of Portuguese cities. João Barbosa dedicated his career to elevating the unique club music hybrids–mutations of kuduro, kizomba, zouk, baile funk and more that were spreading in the communities around him.
OBG is described as an album of organic textures and inviting rhythms, created in Branko’s signature style, and inspired in part by a series of outdoor DJ-sets performed and streamed from beautiful locations across his native country. Opener “SRA” starts with a “beckoning and enchanting vocal loop that was sampled from a compilation of traditional Portuguese songs,” wasting little time setting the tone with warm piano chords and a low-slung, kizomba-esque beat.
Like most of the track names on the album, the album’s title is borrowed from Portuguese SMS language, and means “Obrigado” – thank you. OBG sees Barbosa travel back in time to give thanks to the formative years of his creative journey; a period when there were no tours and no audience, just the motivation to hear, interpret and disseminate the sounds of the city around him.
OBG, out April 8 via Enchufada.
Find Branko in our Songs of the Week playlist on Spotify and Deezer.
