Afropop Worldwide

Batida, the nom de plume of Portuguese-Angolan producer Pedro Coqueñao, has been on our radar for a few years now. Starting off as the creator of a radio show that mixed '70s Angolan music with the current sounds of Angola and Lisbon, Batida has gone on to pursue that same concept as an artist in his own right. Two years ago, he dropped the outstanding Tirei O Chapéu mix, along with his self-titled debut LP, both of which mixed music by semba luminaries like Elias Dia Kimuezo with the hottest dance styles of Lisbon and Luanda. For more on those styles, check out our Hip Deep show, “Angola: Kuduro and Beyond.”

Batida's new track, “Pobre e Rico” samples from a track by Matadidi Mário, an Angolan musician, who started his career in the Congo in the early '70s. The song starts out with jump cuts that imitate the start-stop sound of an old record before Mário’s band takes over with funky bass and explosive horns. Batida’s production lends the song a dreamlike quality, with the '70s grooves overlapping with kuduro rhythms and occasionally breaking for dialogue from what we can only imagine to be a gritty piece of '70s Angolan filmmaking. The song’s newly released video is a minimalist piece of spectacular dance choreography. Set in a dimly lit garage, the video shows one man dancing with artistic fervor to this original take on an old sound. The song will be part of Batida's new record, Dois, to be released Sept. 29 on Soundway Records. Recorded in his garage studio over the course of two years, the album will feature, among others, the ubiquitous Afropop favorite Spoek Mathambo. We eagerly anticipate this full-length release, and for now, you can find us in a garage somewhere learning all those dance moves.