Music
Semba: the Angolan rhythm behind kizomba and the songs of independence
Semba is a dance music from Luanda that rose in the mid-twentieth century and became tied to Angola's…
semba
Music
Waldemar Bastos: the Angolan singer of exile and longing
Waldemar Bastos, born in Angola in 1954, left his homeland in 1982 during the civil war. His 1998…
Arts + Culture
From Luanda’s parties to dance schools in Lisbon and London: how kizomba grew out of semba
Kizomba emerged in Angola in the late 1970s and 1980s as an evolution of semba, softened by the…
Arts + Culture
A track athlete in exile recorded Angola 72 in Rotterdam. Bonga’s voice became the sound of Angolan longing
Bonga, born Barceló de Carvalho, was a record-breaking Angolan athlete in Portugal before he became a singer. In…