The result of a collaboration between Guts, Francisco Sousa and the Heavenly Sweetness label, the Bandé Gamboa project is the symbol of the musical encounter between Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, the time of a cover album.
Busy defending the music of the Portuguese-speaking African diaspora for more than ten years, producer Francisco “Fininho” Sousa has now decided to bring in some new blood rather than compiling old tracks once again. According to him, contemporary African music is often relegated behind the mountain of re-releases that are now available to a Western audience that has long ignored this culture. These ancient treasures of highlife, Afrobeats and soukous are now overshadowing a whole generation of authentic artists who deserve to be heard as much as their elders.
He uses this observation as a pretext to bring a secret weapon: 16 years of digital archives made up of songs with exceptional potential but which, due to a lack of quality in production or recording, did not have the desired effect on the dance floor. Inspired by Amílcar Cabral, a political strategist and figure of the liberation of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, Francisco asked two groups from these countries to bring some of these songs up to date. He thus built a bridge between Bandé, a lively neighborhood in Guinea, and Gamboa, the famous beach of Praia in Cape Verde, to give a modern version of gumbé and funaná, hoping that contemporary youth will find something to their liking.
Co-produced by Guts, the twelve tracks on Horizonte strike an attractive balance between talking to music fans in both countries and captivating Western audiences. The song “Dunia” leads the way with its inspired funaná tunes and its polished production.
The album Horizonte is scheduled for June 12th on Heavenly Sweetness / Pura Vida Sounds.