Sanna Almajedi speaks to Maria Chávez preceding her performance, Topography of Sound (2007–now), at e-flux. The conversation is followed by an excerpt from the live show, Maria’s first public live show since a medically induced sabbatical.
Playing Kuduro, Talk. Kuduro is the electronic dance music of a generation born and raised during Angola s traumatic and protracted civil war. It started life on Angola s margins, in the clubs and ghettos of the nation s capital, Luanda, before being co-opted by the government to become the official, state sanctioned sound of post-war Angola.
Broadcaster and music obsessive Edward George takes us on a journey through the social history of Kuduro. He looks at what this insistently joyous club music can tell us about the relationship of dance music to the machinations of state power, and what is left unsaid both during and in the aftermath of the civil war.
In this the final episode, Edward looks at the international manifestations of Kuduro as it migrates from Angola into the global sphere. He traces how kuduro was co-opted by the Angolan state and how, through a series of high profile world tours and festivals, it was transformed into a propaganda tool of the Dos Santos government, w