Costuleta - "Tchiriri Kuduro" And Two Other Videos Of Angolan Kuduro Music/Dancing

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides information about Kuduro, a contemporary Angolan originated music/dance genre.

This post also showcases three videos of Angolan young adults and children dancing kuduro.

Selected comments from the discussion threads of these YouTube videos are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/04/buraka-som-sistema-sound-of-kuduro.htmlfor a companion post on Buraka Som Sistema's record "Sound of Kuduro".

****
INFORMATION ABOUT KUDURO (MUSIC/DANCE)
Excerpt #1:
From http://africasacountry.com/2012/12/kuduros-international-wave/ "Kuduro’s International Wave"
by Boima Tucker, December 24, 2012
...."I first became aware of Kuduro when searching out Angolan Hip Hop on the Canal Angola website back in 2006 (I hadn’t realized it then, but my first exposure was through a Jamie Foxx routine). I was introduced to it as a ghetto music, rejected by the upper classes in Luanda, and wildly popular amongst youth living on the margins of the city’s socio-economic life. At that time Kuduro wasn’t huge on the international radar, but I was to soon become part of that wave of international bloggers, djs, dancers, producers, singers, and young people around the world who would pick up on and promote the sound incubated in Angola.

In that initial international exposure, non-Angolans briefly entertained questions of origin and authenticity, as web-savvy Angolans who were experiencing Kuduro first-hand were still the central source of information on the culture. Frenchman Frederic Galleano was the first Northern DJ to venture to Angola to collaborate with people on the ground in Luanda. At that time, Galleano was quoted in interviews saying that the only real Kuduro comes from Angola. His project would draw some attention in Europe, and set the stage for the French mainstream integration of Kuduro in the wake of the Coupé-Decalé explosion in Paris*.

The US-based record label Mad Decent did a National Geographic type podcast on the genre, and without any form of formal international distribution Kuduro started to enter the vocabulary of Internet-savvy young Americans and Europeans. I remember at that time it was often just characterized as the “next Baile Funk” in international media, and hipsters in the Northern capitals paid it some brief attention before moving on to the next black music from a strange and exotic place (like Chicago).

The first major international group who spoke of producing Kuduro was Lisbon-based Buraka Som Sistema, a group of mostly Portuguese young people who heard the sound from peers and neighbors in their multicultural and cosmopolitan city. Buraka Som Sistema would come to define Kuduro for much of the genre’s audience outside of Africa. DJ Znobia was also an early star, and he would even appear alongside Buraka Som Sistema on a Mad Decent produced EP. But it was actually Costuleta, the Angolan amputee based in Paris who spread the genre across the rest of Africa, and beyond Northern hipster circles."...
-snip-
A Costuleta video is showcased as Video example #1 below.

* Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/03/three-videos-of-cote-divoires-coupe.html for a pancocojams post about Coupé-Decalé music/dance.

****
Excerpt #2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuduro
"Kuduro (or kuduru) is a type of music and dance originally developed in Angola in the 1980s. It is characterized as uptempo, energetic, and danceable. Kuduro began in Luanda, Angola in the late 1980s. Initially, producers sampled traditional carnival music like soca and zouk from the Caribbean, and also semba from Angola and laid this around a fast 4/4 beat.

The kuduro is similar to the Kizomba rhythm. The lyrics are usually in Portuguese...

According to Tony Amado, self-proclaimed creator of Kuduro, he got the idea for the dance, after seeing Jean-Claude Van Damme in the 1989 film Kickboxer, in which he appears in a bar drunk, and dances in a hard and unusual style.[3][4] As Vivian Host points out in her article, despite the common assumption that "world music" from non-Western countries holds no commonalities with Western modern music, Angolan kuduro does contain "elements in common with punk, deep tribal house, and even Daft Punk."[5] And although Angolan kuduro reflects an understanding and an interpretation of Western musical forms, the world music category that it fits under, tends to reject the idea of Western musical imperialism.[5] DJ Riot of Sistema said, "Kuduro was never world music... It wasn’t born on congas and bongos, as some traditional folk-music. It was kids making straight-up dance-music from, like, ’96. Playing this new music, this new African music, that feels straight-up political in itself."[6]

Kuduristas use body movements that often emanate movement/stillness, incoordination, falling, pop & lock, and breakdancing. This style of dance seems to “break down” body parts into isolations and staccato movements, serving as a reflection of debility and the mixture of abled/disabled bodies in performance. Popular Angolan dancer Costuleta, whose leg has been amputated, is known for his captivating performances displaying dexterity and sexuality. The incorporation of debility complicates normative notions of “abled-ness” while recalling motifs of black survival throughout the Diaspora, specifically in relation to the land mines planted by the Portuguese army that has left many Angolans amputated.[7]

Terminology
The name of the dance refers to a peculiar movement in which the dancers seem to have hard buttocks ("Cu Duro" in Angolan Portuguese), simulating an aggressive and agitated dance style."...

****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: Costuleta - Tchiriri Kuduro



Son Zouk, Uploaded on Jan 28, 2009

Un ti clip du concept Kuduro
-snip-
WARNING: Some of the images in this video may be sexually suggestive.

Recall this quote from the article given above as Excerpt #1: "It was Costuleta, the Angolan amputee based in Paris who spread the genre across the rest of Africa, and beyond Northern hipster circles.".

Here are some selected comments from this video's discussion thread. The numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only.
2014
1.Jason Fortes, 2014
"kuduro est cap verdien
-snip-
"Kuduro is Cape Verdian [meaning it originated in the Cape Verde Islands*]
-snip-
*Cape Verde Islands are off the western coast of the African continent, near Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania. Like Angola, Portuguese is an official language in Cape Verde. The four other African nations where Portuguese is an official language are Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Equatorial Guinea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese-speaking_African_countries

**
Reply
2. mariechou37, 2016
"Non c angolais"
(Google translate French to English)
"No. It is Angolan".

****
2015
3. Belfi Ebubu Nzale
"Ça c'est notre dance à tous les angolais angolano"
-snip-
(Google translate from French to English)
"This is our dance to all Angolan angolano" [followed by an internet symbol for love]

**
4. Mzell Assani976
J'kiiiifffffff graaave!!!!!
-snip-
"J' kiffe" is a French adaptation of Arabic meaning "I appreciate it a lot" [in standard English -"I really like it"] = grave {French] = seriously.

**
5. Florence kakou
"J'aime trop c'est comme me sa que je dance"
-snip-
(Google translate from French to English)
"I like it too like it's my dance"

**
6. FaiscaOPC
"2015 Sempre a bombar"
-snip-
(Google translate from Portuguese to English)
"Always pumping"
-snip-
"Pumping" is an African American Vernacular English term which (in this context) means that the song (or specifically, the song's beat) is very good.
-snip-
There are several other YouTube uploads of this same video. In the discussion thread for one of those videos, several commenters mentioned how impressed they were with how well Costuleta, the lead artist in this video, danced with one leg.

****
Example #2: Toques de Kuduro Angola 2009



kellystress007, Uploaded on May 8, 2009

Toques Angola 2009 é muita karga no momento

(Google translate from Portuguese to English and http://translate.translation-services-usa.com/karga/basque/english/)
2009 Angolan ringtone - It has a lot of weight at the moment.

My guess for the standard American meaning of "é muita karga no momento" = It's very popular right now.
-snip-
Here are three comments from this video's discussion thread.
1. Italo Adriano B. C. Marcelino, 2013
"That is kuduro. O/

**
2. gasnate, 2013
"it´s very similar to piqueria de champeta in Cartagena Colombia, here the african influence is huge."

**
Reply
3. krw this, 2017
"dont know about that african influence but the music bpm is almost the same"

****
Example #3: MK Kuduro - éwé éwé (2011)



Bizness Label Group Uploaded on Jun 25, 2011
-snip-
Here are some selected comments from this video's discussion thread. The numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only. (Google Translate from Portuguese to English)

2012
1. Maxperm
"Alô irmãos de Angola
É Nós Samba de cá, Kuduro de lá"
-snip-
"Hello brothers from Angola
We are Samba from here, Kuduro from there"
-snip-
The reference to "samba" indicates that the commenter is from Brazil.

**
2. joshua mason
"the kid in the hortons shirt is cool"

**
3. Bob bobber
"haha representing in the TIm Hortons t-shirt... :P awesome :)"
-snip-
"Tim Horton" is a popular fast food restaurant chain in Canada that is especially known for its good coffee.

**
4. E Osei
"off da chain"
-snip-
"Off da chain" and "off the chain" are now retired African American Vernacular English complimentary phrases.

**
5. Erivaldo607
"Eu sei que nem todo o mundo é igual, mas muito Latinos e Brasileiros deveriam saber k o k vocês dançam não é Kuduro, nem cópia é, então por favor n critiquem e nem insultem esses miúdos, pois o que eles estão a dançar é o verdadeiro Kuduro. Aprendam que o Kuduro não se descreve, apenas sente-se!!!! Soh um país faz o verdadeiro Kuduro...e esse país é Angola (Nguimbe)."
-snip-
"I know that not everyone is equal, but a lot of Latinos and Brazilians should know kok you dance is not Kuduro, nor copy is, so please do not criticize or insult these kids, because what they are dancing is the true Kuduro . Learn that Kuduro does not describe itself, just sit down !!!! Soh a country does the true Kuduro ... and that country is Angola (Nguimbe).
-snip-
This comment is representative of a number of comments in this and the other "Kuduro" YouTube discussion threads that I read which not only made it clear that "Kuduro" dance/music originated in Angola, Central Africa, but also criticized the Brazilian music/dance form that calls itself "Kuduro". Particular harsh criticism is leveled against Don Omar, a Puerto Rican performer who is known for his Reggaeton records and who in 2010 popularized the song entitled "Danza Kuduro" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zp1TbLFPp8. Neither the music nor the dancing in Don Omar's "Danza Kuduro" video have any thing to do with Kuduro.

**
6. Kilamba Ferreira
"o kuduro naiceu em angola quando eu tinha 14 anos agora tenho 33 anos
o meu filho ja sabe o que é o kuduro talvez o meu neto vai tambem saber entao o kuduro vai ficar mesmo pra sempre"
-snip-
"The nativist kuduro in angola when I was 14 years old now I'm 33 years old
My son already knows what kuduro is maybe my grandson will also know then kuduro will stay forever"
-snip-
The word "nativist" here probably means something like "original".

**
7. Lyly Duarte
"muito legal essa dança"
-snip-
"Very cool this dance" [This dance is very cool.]

**
8. Fabrício Marçal
"Aqui no Brasil estamos curtindo muito o KUDURO, abraço irmão Angolanos
-snip-
"Here in Brazil we are enjoying KUDURO a lot, hug brother Angolanos"

**
9. Cleber David
"Kuduro de verdade, que vem do povo angolano!"
-snip-
"Kuduro really comes from the Angolan people!"

**
10. Alex Rodrigues
"é legal, nada ver com o kuduro do brasil que diga de passagem é uma bosta"
-snip-
"It's cool, nothing to do with the brazilian kuduro that says in passing it's crap"
-snip-
“That says in passing” may mean that is a fad now.

**
11. Eugenio jesus
"esse sim e o verdadeiro kuduro"
-snip-
"This yes and the true kuduro"

****
13. MUNDO CURIOSO, 2015
"Esse é o verdadeiro kuduro não aquilo visto na TV, só para lembrar herdamos essa cultura então se isso é ou loucura também somos loucos pois faz parte da nossa origem."
-snip-
"This is the real kuduro not seen on TV, just to remember we inherit this culture so if this is crazy or crazy we are also part of our origin."

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.