Marrabenta
Piquenique
Ochestra Marrabenta Star De Mocambique featuring Wazimbo
Audio CD (May 20, 2000)
Label: Piranha
Catalog: #1043
ASIN: B00000DFIV
Total Playing Time: 53:57
Rating: 5 Stars 
Buy
this album
Maputo is at the heart of Mozambique's thriving music industry.
Living in a former Portuguese colony, the indigenous people of
Mozambique have melded a melange of African musical styles into
a rhythm all their own; Marrabenta. The music of Mozambique is
heavily influenced by the immense popularity of West African soukous,
a sound that has infected the heart of Marrabenta. But Marrabenta
is infinitely more than traditional soukous. Marrabenta is also
influenced by tropical Latin sounds, woven into a tapestry of
brilliant horns, diverse rhythms, and brooding, haunting lyrics.
Yet the music is contagiously uplifting, the breaks from one musical
style and cadence to another lending a pleasant diversity to the
topography of the music.
Marrabenta Piquenique illustrates the Mozambican Marrabenta style
with perfection. The disk begins with a series of infectious tracks,
influenced heavily by soukous. The disk then begins a subtle change,
slowing the musical pace and injecting a distinctly Latin ambiance.
The disk then slows further, a slow lilting ballad contrasting
the energy of the previous songs brilliantly.
In the liner notes of the album the lyrics have been translated
into both English and French; something I have never seen done
before. The lyrics are both fascinating and humorous. Here a few
examples:
Song 4: A va saty VA lomo
When I think about lazy people it reminds me of Cicita.
Yup, that's the entire song. Seems like they say a lot more than
that to me!
Song 6: Magumba
Look at all the problems we have
The life is so expensive
So Let us season the cabbage with peanuts
You'll be happy
You'll be fat
You'll be full
Very profound. Strangely, it makes perfect sense.
Song 10, Part 3: Rapsody
In the Manhica train
There was a woman
With a crocodile on her back
Her name is Sabina
When asked what she had on her back she said:
It's my baby
The people asked: Open the cloth
We would like to see the baby.
When she opened it, even the collector run away
And lost the ticketpuncher
Ticketpuncher?
Marrabenta Piquenique is a fabulous disk, offering extremely
diverse look at a musical style rarely heard outside of Africa.
