Biography
Batida ("beat" in Portuguese) serves as the umbrella for an endeavor launched by Angolan/Portuguese DJ Pedro Coquenão, who also records under the alias DJ Mpula, fusing loops drawn from 1970s Angolan recordings with present-day strains of electronic dance music. Multiple strands of music, dance, visual work, and radio programming have marked the project's activity since its arrival in the early 2010s, with three releases standing out: the 2012 album Batida, the 2016 set Konono No. 1 Meets Batida, and 2022's Neon Colonialismo.
What began as a radio program spotlighting fresh African sounds soon grew into an expansive multimedia undertaking that incorporated audio pieces, visual art, live dancers, percussionists, and any additional elements Coquenão chose to incorporate. The 2009 Portuguese collection Dance Mwangolé marked an early milestone, after which Batida material surfaced on globally distributed compilations starting in 2010. Soundway Records issued the project's first full-length statement, the self-titled Batida, from the U.K. in spring 2012. Two years later Soundway followed with Dois, an album tracked inside Coquenão's Lisbon garage studio. Shortly afterward he hosted the Congolese percussion ensemble Konono No. 1 at the same location, joined by guitarist Papa Juju and MC A.F. Diaphra among others; the resulting Konono No. 1 Meets Batida appeared on Crammed Discs in 2016. Subsequent joint singles included 2018's "Banza Rémy (Bonga meets Batida)" and 2020's "VaiVai," the latter featuring IKOQWE, Ikonoklasta, Raz & Alfa. The panoramic Neon Colonialismo surfaced in 2022, drawing contributions from Bonga, Mayra Andrade, Poté, Nástio Mosquito, Octa Push, Lia de Itamaracá, DJ Dolores, João Morgado, Botto Trindade, and additional voices.
What began as a radio program spotlighting fresh African sounds soon grew into an expansive multimedia undertaking that incorporated audio pieces, visual art, live dancers, percussionists, and any additional elements Coquenão chose to incorporate. The 2009 Portuguese collection Dance Mwangolé marked an early milestone, after which Batida material surfaced on globally distributed compilations starting in 2010. Soundway Records issued the project's first full-length statement, the self-titled Batida, from the U.K. in spring 2012. Two years later Soundway followed with Dois, an album tracked inside Coquenão's Lisbon garage studio. Shortly afterward he hosted the Congolese percussion ensemble Konono No. 1 at the same location, joined by guitarist Papa Juju and MC A.F. Diaphra among others; the resulting Konono No. 1 Meets Batida appeared on Crammed Discs in 2016. Subsequent joint singles included 2018's "Banza Rémy (Bonga meets Batida)" and 2020's "VaiVai," the latter featuring IKOQWE, Ikonoklasta, Raz & Alfa. The panoramic Neon Colonialismo surfaced in 2022, drawing contributions from Bonga, Mayra Andrade, Poté, Nástio Mosquito, Octa Push, Lia de Itamaracá, DJ Dolores, João Morgado, Botto Trindade, and additional voices.
Albums
