Buraka Som Sistema was an electronic dance music project from

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, specializing in a fusion of

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

beats with the African

zouk Zouk is a musical movement pioneered by the French Antillean band Kassav' in the early 1980s. It was originally characterized by a fast tempo (120–145 bpm), a percussion-driven rhythm and a loud horn section. The fast zouk béton of Martini ...

and

kuduro Kuduro (or kuduru) is a type of music and dance from Angola. It is characterized as uptempo, energetic, and danceable. Kuduro was developed in Luanda, Angola in the late 1980s. Producers sampled traditional carnival music like soca and zouk bé ...

genre. It is generally credited with creating the "zouk bass" and "progressive kuduro" variant and has received an MTV European Music Award. In 2015 Buraka Som Sistema said they would be taking an hiatus starting in 2016, and on July 1st 2016 they performed live for the last time in Lisbon.

Origins

Buraka Som Sistema was founded in 2002 by Branko (João Barbosa), Rui Pité (DJ Riot), Andro Carvalho (Conductor) and Kalaf Ângelo. Barbosa and Pité were

producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

from the Cool Train Crew collective, for which Kalaf was a frequent vocal collaborator. They were interested in creating a kuduro project, and had previously worked together as 1-UIK Project. They met Carvalho, a hip-hop producer from

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

and member of the hip-hop band Conjunto Ngonguenha, while he was in Portugal. Buraka Som Sistema is the Portuguese word for word translation for Buraka Sound System, keeping the English word order (the correct translation would be "Sistema de Som da Buraka"). They took their name, Buraka, from the

freguesia ''Freguesia'' (), usually translated as "parish" or "civil parish", is the third-level administrative subdivision of Portugal, as defined by the 1976 Constitution. It is also the designation for local government jurisdictions in the former Port ...

(urban district) of Buraca in the city of

Amadora Amadora () is a municipality and urbanized city in the northwest of the Lisbon metropolitan area and 10 km from central Lisbon. The population in 2011 was 175,136, in an area of 23.78 km² (9.2 sq mi). It is the most densely populated mun ...

, in the suburbs of

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Career

Their first release was ''From Buraka to the World'', an EP released on the Portuguese label Enchufada, which include the single "Yah!", featuring vocals by Angolan hip-hop MC Petty. It was followed by another Petty vocalized track, "Wawaba", and a re-release of ''From Buraka to the World'', expanded to a full album. After touring in several European countries, including playing at the

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

and

Roskilde Festival The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. It was created in 1971 by two high school students and a promoter. In 1 ...

, the three producers released "

Sound of Kuduro "Sound of Kuduro" is a kuduro song by Buraka Som Sistema featuring DJ Znobia, M.I.A., Saborosa and Puto Prata, from their album '' Black Diamond'' released in 2008. The song was recorded in Angola, and a video for the song was recorded in 2007 ...

" in 2007, which features rapping by M.I.A., DJ Znobia, Saborosa and Puto Prata. The track was a precursor to their second album, ''Black Diamond'', which was released in 2008 by

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

, followed by a new single, "Kalemba (Wegue Wegue)", with vocals by Pongolove. They are currently signed on to Aftercluv Dance Lab, a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

EDM label launched by

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

. On July 1st 2016 Buraka Som sistema curated Globaile, a music event at the

Torre de Belém ''Torre'' (plurals ''torri'' and ''torres'') means ''tower'' in seven Romance languages (Portuguese, Spanish, Galician, Catalan, Italian, Occitan and Corsican) and may refer to: Biology * Muir-Torre syndrome, the inherited cancer syndrome * ' ...

grounds, as part of the

Festas de Lisboa João Manuel Vinhas Festas (born 9 October 1967), simply known as Festas, is a former Portuguese professional footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of f ...

, where they performed their last concert.

Usage in media

Their song was featured in

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...

video game such as "Kalemba (Wegue-Wegue)" featuring Pongolove in ''

FIFA 10 ''FIFA 10'' (titled ''FIFA Soccer 10'' in North America) is a Association football, football Simulation video game, simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was release ...

'' and "Restless" in ''

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

''. "Hangover (Ba Ba Ba)" is also featured in the video game ''

Just Dance 2016 ''Just Dance 2016'' is a 2015 dance video game developed and published by Ubisoft. Unveiled on June 15, 2015, during its E3 press conference as the seventh main installment of the series, it was released in October 2015 for PlayStation 3, Play ...

''. Their song Bota also featured in a 2014 adidas advert featuring

Dani Alves Daniel Alves da Silva (born 6 May 1983), known simply as Dani Alves (), is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Liga MX club UNAM and the Brazil national team. Widely considered one of the greatest full-backs of ...

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Awards

In the

MTV Europe Music Awards 2007 The 14th annual MTV European Music Awards were held at the Olympiahalle in Munich, Germany on 1 November 2007. The show received a total of 78 million votes, the most in MTV Europe Music Awards history. Foo Fighters opened the show, with frontman ...

they were 8th (out of 19) in the New Sounds of Europe International Competition and were one of the nominees for Best Portuguese Act. In the

MTV Europe Music Awards 2008 The 2008 MTV EMAs (also known as the MTV Europe Music Awards) were held at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England, on 6 November 2008. It was hosted by Katy Perry. This was the second time the awards have taken place in England. Nominations Winne ...

they were awarded the Best Portuguese Act and were nominees for Best European Act.

MTV Europe Music Awards

The

MTV Europe Music Awards The MTV Europe Music Awards (originally named MTV European Music Awards, commonly abbreviated as MTV EMA) are awards presented by Paramount International Networks to honour artists and music in pop culture. It was originally conceived as an al ...

is an annual awards ceremony established in 1994 by

MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly as MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV, a 24-hour music and entertainment TV channel that began broadcasting on August 1, 1987, as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initially, MTV serve ...

. , - , rowspan="2", 2007 , , Buraka Som Sistema , , New Sounds of Europe , , , - , Buraka Som Sistema , , Best Portuguese Act , , , - , rowspan="1", 2008 , , Buraka Som Sistema , , Best Portuguese Act , , , - , rowspan="1", 2009 , , Buraka Som Sistema , , Best Portuguese Act , , , -

Golden Globes

The Golden Globes is an annual awards ceremony by Portuguese TV station

SIC The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; "thus", "just as"; in full: , "thus was it written") inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any e ...

. , - , rowspan="1", 2009 , , Buraka Som Sistema, , Group Of The Year, , , -

European Border Breakers Awards

The

European Border Breakers Award The European Border Breakers Award (EBBA) was an annual prize awarded to recognise the success of ten emerging artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year. ...

is an annual awards ceremony for artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year. , - , rowspan="1", 2009 , , Black Diamond , , European Border Breakers Award, , "European Border Breakers Awards 2010"
Ec.europa.eu. Retrieved February 21, 2012 , -

BEFFTA Awards The Black Entertainment, Film, Fashion, Television, Arts and Sports Awards (commonly abbreviated as BEFFTA) are an awards ceremony aimed at honouring the best entertainment, showbiz, leadership and sports personalities from the black and ethnic ...

Buraka Som Sistema won the BEFFTA International Entertainment Icons award on October 25, 2014. They tol
Sound And Motion magazine
that they "were honoured to collect an award."

References

BBC article

Don't Panic: articleBuraka Som Sistema interviewBuraka Som Sistema RBMA lecture

External links

Enchufada labelBuraka Som Sistema Essential MixOfficial Website
*http://kalafangelo.com/ {{Authority control Portuguese electronic music groups Universal Music Latin Entertainment artists MTV Europe Music Award winners