Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
Buraka Som Sistema is an electronic dance music project from Portugal, specializing in a fusion of techno beats with the African kuduro genre, and are generally credited with creating the "progressive kuduro" variant and have been awarded an MTV European Music Award.
Origins
Buraka Som Sistema was founded in 2006 by João Barbosa (Li'l John), Rui Pité (DJ Riot), Andro Carvalho (Conductor) and Kalaf Ângelo.
Barbosa and Pité were producers from the Cool Train Crew collective, for which Kalaf was a frequent vocal collaborator. They were interested in creating a kuduro project, and had previously worked together as 1-UIK Project. They met Carvalho, a hip-hop producer from Angola and member of the hip-hop band Conjunto Ngonguenha, while he was in Portugal.
They took their name, Buraka, from the freguesia of Buraca in the city of Amadora, part of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. Som Sistema means Sound System in Portuguese.
Career
Their first release was From Buraka to the World, an EP released on the Portuguese label Enchufada, which include the single "Yah!", featuring vocals from Angolan hip-hop MC Petty. It was followed by another Petty vocalized track, "Wawaba", and a re-release of From Buraka to the World, expanded to a full album.
After touring in several European countries, including playing at the Glastonbury Festival and Roskilde Festival, the three producers released "Sound of Kuduro" in 2007, which features rapping by M.I.A., DJ Znobia, Saborosa and Puto Prata. The track was a precursor to their second album, Black Diamond, which was released in 2008 by Sony BMG, followed by a new single, "Kalemba (Wegue Wegue)", with vocals by Pongolove.
Awards
In the MTV Europe Music Awards 2007 they were 8th (out of 19) in the New Sounds of Europe International Competition and were one of the nominees for Best Portuguese Act. In the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008 they were awarded the Best Portuguese Act and were nominees for Best European Act.
MTV Europe Music Awards
The MTV Europe Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony established in 1994 by MTV Europe.
Golden Globes
The Golden Globes is an annual awards ceremony by Portuguese TV station SIC.
European Border Breakers Awards
The European Border Breakers Award is an annual awards ceremony for artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year.
