Listen: Roberto López – Criollo Elektrik

“Listening to Criollo Electrik is to be first struck by the fact that it does incorporate words to be – not sung so much as chanted. Somehow, to say that this is “African” begins to sound dismissive even before the word is uttered. That word, after all, has been given a continent, it is true, but being African is about all of our collective humanness. This “humanness” is another aspect of the record, Criollo Electrik. It is vibration before it becomes music, so that when it does become music, played principally on guitar and bass, with keyboards and all manner of drums. However, the vibrations – each throb actually – comes from the unintelligible (to us) syllable sung by Adan de Dios, Emelina Reyes Salgado and Teresa Reyes Salgado.” — Raul da Gama