PRE-PARTY Interview 3PM Holiday Inn Lobby – October 4, 2013
Met him after a bit of a wait in the hotel lobby….I was told to ask for Tiago…only to find out his name is Santiago! After reading up about him on Tribe Records website and rummaging around on Youtube, I was itching to ask him tons of questions! He looked excitedly ready to get the party started when describing his vision of music and where to take the Kazukuta sound. This is what I found out:
Tonight he expects a full house and I assure him that “Solid Garage parties at Bunda Lounge are never cold!” About the crowd he says ‘The Angolan community-my people are great….I want to move all people, I love dancers…I want all kinds of people to move-this makes me incredibly proud’. All his responses are measured with a tiny anecdote of positivity.
After the meeting he mentions that the album preview is already out>> https://bit.ly/2UJg5Nm and after hearing his thoughts on music-making and production I dug in and was absolutely floored! For Djeff to say that Kazukuta will be creatively finding ways to fuse musical genres sounds like a typical producer-type statement…..Have a listen to the Tribe/Kazukuta Soldier Ascension sampler… I’ll even review it for you! House music dancers will love this, African music lovers will love this, Tech music lovers will love this, deep & soulful house music lovers will fall in love with the other three!
Mr. Kazukuta works in the lab and brings Bossa Nova, Traditional Angolan, Nu Jazz and Tech together! Instead of a segmented mixture you get incredible fusion across all tracks!
As a young and wise DJ/producer/musician from Angola, he sites MAW and Erick Morillo as heavy influences and he clings to their sense of expression of music! The Luandese scene is ‘crazy with parties every night of the week and every DJ is busy because there are parties everywhere…Angolans love to enjoy themselves’ he laughs. He holds a residency in Portugal (where he was born) and after finishing his studies in graphic design, he decided to embark on what we see today and moved to Angola. You can see from this move that he is always pushing further and higher to demonstrate more of what the Angolan sound can bring to the scene.
This recent tour has had him travelling quite a bit and after asking him his fave places he mentions San Diego and Toronto as places he’d consider staying! He describes Toronto as ‘clean, calm and VERY clean’. (I chuckled at this.)
Kazukuta Records is moving forward dropping more music by Djeff Afrozila and new artists BZB (see Voce Me Chamou) he says keep on the look out for them! He is currently working with local artists-many of whom don’t quite yet understand what it means to make music beyond Angola he says ‘I want to prepare them for where they want to go….in Angola when we make a song or two it becomes a hit and plays everywhere…..when you leave Angola-sometimes people have never heard of that song or know who you are’. He advises those looking to pursue their dreams to always have a plan, go for your goals and NEVER lose faith…he stresses to always believe in what you are doing.
Even though I couldn’t be at Bunda last night-one things for sure! If you were as blown and speechless last night as I was after reviewing Soul Ascension and meeting him in person- you need to check out the album!
Djeff is off to Montreal, Mexico and then Haiti to complete his tour….we wish him much success as he is bringing a new kind of energy! I simply asked him what keeps him going and he says ‘Music is the essence of life, I love to live….when people love the music that’s House!’
2020 Update: He dropped ‘Enlightened Path’ a few days ago-it’s an upgraded, eclectic sound check out the live premiere mix! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9YwC2M8JUU
-shine
From I <3 NY to TORONTO and Everything In Between..... 