On a sunny Rio de Janeiro afternoon in 2017, high up in one of the city’s hillside Favela communities, Ziminino emerged. Led by Brazilian producer and artist Ricô Santana alongside friends and producers Rafa Dias and Boima Tucker (Kondi Band), Ziminino canon global black music through an Afro Brazilian lens. Initially inspired by Youtube clips of London grime MCs, footwork dancers in Chicago and trap producers in Atlanta, the self titled album is the product of a desire of the trio to celebrate Africa’s contribution to global culture and comes at a time of vulnerability for black people living in a Bolsonaro governed and divided Brazil.
With lyrics in French, English and Portuguese, and with references to a diversity of black rhythmic genres, Ziminino bridge the gaps that typically separate people of African descent around the world.
The 10 track journey of soulful, electronic and Brazilian experimentalism is the debut release for Los Angeles based label INTL BLK. Ziminino doesn’t shy from it’s ‘hard to define’ cover. The front side leans hip hop with reggae, trap, funk, and bossa styled acoustic guitar driven MPB (Musica Popular Brasilera is essentially pop music of the day), whilst the backside leans into electronic territory, black roots with some shaking bass.
Ziminino is led by Ricô Santana, a veteran of the electronic and hip hop scenes in the Brazilian state of Bahia. He began playing bass guitar with the Bahian hip hop group OQuadro but it was the dreamy, futuristic, afro-folkloric and R&B stylings that drew new resident of Rio De Janeiro Chief Boima towards a collaboration. The third member of the production trio is Rafa Dias AKA ÀTT00XXÁ who was behind the controls for the biggest Carnival song in Bahia last year: Elas Gostam (Popa de Bunda). With over 2.5 million views on YouTube, and over 7.8 million streams on Spotify, this song was a game-changer in the musical landscape in Brazil.
Chief Boima is the spiritual leader of both the label and the Kondi Band, a collaborative project led by Sierra Leonean thumb piano player Sorie Kondi that released via the UK based Strut label in 2017. Central to the label’s mission is to re-vitalise the notion of Africa and black people as a contemporary force for and driver of global culture and not, as it regretfully recognises, as a historical and retrospective sidenote. Chief Boima’s role as activist, writer, musician, DJ and record label owner sees his movements cross continent and cultures. He was previously tour DJ for Michael Franti’s Spearhead, has lived in various Latin countries now back in LA, whilst penning and commissioning articles for website ‘Africa is a Country’ of which he is managing and music editor.
Brazil’s race divide
This project arrives during an important time for Afro Brazilian people. For centuries, black Brazilians have struggled to gain equal rights and recognition for their contribution to society. Transnational solidarity has been hampered by the general viewpoint that Africa is a place of ancestry, not contemporary connection. During the years of the economic boom under the PT government, Afro Brazilians saw positive change and advances in social status thanks to educational and economic reforms. However, the corruption that pervaded behind the scenes of this era led to a political backlash, and the Brazilian political right seized power. Afro, Indigenous and LGBTQ Brazilians took much of the brunt of attacks from reactionary politicians, culminating with the well-documented murder of Rio de Janeiro activist Marielle Franco, and the election of far right homophobic, racist and misogynist Jair Bolsonaro.
Resplendent with Brazilian references – guitars, percussion, harmonies – Ziminino reveals a pastiche where candomblé drums segue into Toquinho-esque bossa twangs overlaid with grimey electronic stabs. What Brazilians Marky and XRS did for the global drum n bass scene at the end of last century, Ziminino switch the dial for 2019, revealing a slow release gourmet of Brazilian sounds perhaps better catered for a new generation of post dubstep enthusiasts.
Ziminino is capoeira and carnaval, but it is also 808 kicks, Congolese snares and black pride. This album brings to light the empowerment and beauty of African and Afro Brazilian culture.
The Ziminino EP drops on March 22nd via LA based label International Black. Order your copy here.