Black Motion – Angola Swing (Bonus Track) Ft. Spice Drums, Studio Bros, Thabo Roy Mabogwane, Mpho Thobejane, Miguel De Assis Carvalho Batista & Fabio Miguel Da Almeida Pinto

The title is built from a place and a movement. Angola is a country with a strong musical heritage, including genres that have travelled across Africa and the Portuguese-speaking world. Swing suggests a sway, a rhythm you can feel in your shoulders before you realise you are dancing. Together they paint a picture of a night out with the continent in one room.

I like that the title crosses borders. South African dance music has found audiences far beyond its home, and records that name another African country show an awareness of the wider family. In Nigeria we know this well, since Angolan music has always had fans here, from kizomba to kuduro. Naming a track after that link feels like a handshake across the continent.

The record closes Pula le Maatla as a bonus, with Spice Drums, Studio Bros, Thabo Roy Mabogwane, Mpho Thobejane, Miguel de Assis Carvalho Batista and Fabio Miguel da Almeida Pinto on the credit. Those last two names have a Portuguese-language feel, which fits the Angolan idea in the title, though I will leave the details of their roles to the credits.

It is a good way to end a long listening session, when the night is almost over and nobody wants to be the first to leave.

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