2012 was a busy year for Man Recordings boss Daniel Haaksman. First, he started his own weekly radio show „Luso FM“, focussing on eletronic dance music from the Portugese speaking world, i.e. countries like Angola, Brasil, Mozambique or Portugal on German public radio „Funkhaus Europa“.
Parallely, Daniel produced remixes for Kry Wolf, Lord Nelson, So Shifty, Makina Del Karibe and Bonde Do Rolê, and also released his “Rambazamba Remixed” album, plus his much acclaimed compilation of Brasilian Tecno Brega. In between, Daniel travelled the globe DJing, including Angola to play at “União Electronica” festival. While out clubbing in Angola ́s capitol Luanda, Daniel instantly fell in love with the city ́s local house sound.
The Luanda house sound is called Ku House (a mixture of Kuduro and House). The „Ku“ in „Kuduro“ (literally meaning „hard ass“) stands for booty. Besides, Angolan house is in dialogue with local music styles as well as the South African style of house music. Far from the raging, raved up vibes of current European ghetto club music, Angolan house tunes add a subtle form of deepness, mixed with frantic beats and hypnotic Portugese vocals.
Thus for his brand new single, Daniel teamed up with Angolan singer and culture impressario Coréon Dú and produced “Lemba”, originally a Semba tune on a lavish woman named Lemba. Coréon Dú is the brains behind the popular Angolan reality-style dance competition programme „Bounce“, also running „Os Kuduristas“, an internationally travelling roadshow programme promoting Angola’s unique kuduro style of rapping and dancing.
CORÉON DÚ
„Lemba“ is a unique Berlin-Luanda cooperation of Afro house made with a minimalist Berlin twist. Featuring a plain, percussive beat, a speaker busting sub-bass, a subtle arpeggio and the beautiful voice of Coréon Dú, this stripped down track has all it takes to become the big cross-culture club tune of spring 2013. This is a tune that could easily be played both at Berlin ́s Berghain club and Berlin ́s street carnival, the “Carneval Of Cultures”. Yes, it ́s both for house heads and barefoot dancers.
But then that ́s what Daniel Haaksman ́s music is always about: Establishing cultural bridges and sonic exchanges, incorporating the legacy of European bass music, while keeping a keen eye on the dancefloor. Drop “Lemba” and you ́ll feel Daniel Haaksman ́s vision.
Listen to it here:
DJ Feedback:
Laurent Garnier: “Great stuff!”
Riva Starr : “Bravo, Daniel”
Sinden: “Love Haaksman stuff”
Roundtable Knights: “First time I hear about Ku House and I love it!”
Foamo : “Whoa, love this!”
Oliver $: “This is a hit!”
Acid Washed: “Beautiful, this is big!”
Toshio Matsuura (UFO, Tokyo) : “Nice step!”
Shirkhan (Exploited): “Hot stuff, will play this!”
Schlachthofbronx: “Yeah, Haaksman in house!”
So Shifty : “Lemba goes hard, great vocals!”
Isa GT: “Amazing direction, Daniel. Tired of noisey stuff. This is both stylish and heavy!”
Scottie B: “Great!”
Bert On Beats: „Love it!“
Wildlife!: “Dope!”
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