Africa-Press – Angola. Filipe Mukenga’s new musical album entitled “songs and destinations” was released this Saturday in Luanda, after being postponed for more than 30 days, for health reasons.
However, he admitted that the album “Canções e Destinos” could be the last of his career, as it doesn’t make sense to record an album every ten years.
“I’ve already let people know that I intend to say goodbye to music because recording my albums every ten years doesn’t make sense. I still want to leave on my own two feet because I don’t want to leave an image of a chaotic Mukenga behind. need to hold someone’s arm, I want to go out in the big door with this big project that is Tritonalidades”, he expressed.
The 74-year-old Angolan composer had scheduled the launch, which would coincide with his 60 years of career and life, for the seventh and ninth of September, respectively, in two venues in the Angolan capital.
According to the musician, the album began to be conceived after contact with producer and journalist Guelmo Cruz, at a time when he was having difficulty recording a new album.
“The conception wasn’t difficult, just the selection of the themes, Guelmo, as he listened, suggested it but we couldn’t have more than thirteen songs, I didn’t need to compose more songs, so everything was done after contact”, he explained.
Filipe Mukenga indicated that the album was recorded between Luanda, Portugal, Brazil and Peru, with the executive and artistic direction of Guelmo Cruz and Chalana Dantas, with arrangements, basic programming and keyboards by Nelo Paim and Valdemir Hailé.
On this album, the singer and composer chose to set to music poems by writers he likes, with emphasis on Portuguese writers Manuela Baptista and Vanessa Pereira.
From the first Portuguese poet, he gave the touch on “Para Além do infinity”, “Give me roses in life”, “Come with me, give me your hand” and “I left at night”, while from the second he worked on “Alva Pedra from the sidewalk” and “Terra Molhada”.
For the evening period, a new show called “Show dos Kotas” is scheduled at Club S, in which Mukenga will perform alongside Calabeto and Dom Caetano.
One of the great names in National Culture, Filipe Mukenga was recognized for his artistic career, in 2021, when he received the National Culture and Arts Prize.
Francisco Filipe da Conceição Gumbe, singer and composer, or simply Filipe Mukenga, was born on September 7, 1949, in Luanda, where he began singing very early.
The artist who defines his music as NMA, Nova Música de Angola, began singing and composing in the 60s, strongly influenced by Anglo-Saxon music, namely The Beatles and French music of the time.
He stepped on stage for the first time in the program “Chá das seis”, held at the old Cinema Restauração, in Luanda, at just fourteen years old, performing the song “Donne tes seize ans” by Charles Aznavour, but was not successful and returned later.
During his youth, he played in rock bands such as “The Five Kings”, “The Black Stars”, “Indómitos”, “Apollo II”, “Brucutos” and “Os Rocks”.
With his friend José Agostinho he formed Duo Missosso and began the search for collections of the traditional songbook.
At the beginning of the 80s, as a result of his musical eclecticism, he focused on dissonant national sounds and created NMA, Nova Música Angolana, open to the world, with “various styles and musical trends, which include the collection of traditional music, the influences of popular music, Brazilian music, rock and the rhythmic and vocal suggestions of Jazz”.
In his discography we find “Novo Som”, “Kianda Kianda”, “Mimbu Iami”, “We Are We” and “Meu Lado Gumbe” and several projects with his musical partner, Filipe Zau, with emphasis on the trilogy “Canto da Mermaid – The Enchantment”.
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