Now that Diplo has his new house imprint, Higher Ground, he has teamed up with up-and-coming French DJ and producer, Born Dirty (Mika Abadie), to bring us a manifestation of Brazil’s music history in modern, electric terms: ‘Samba Sujo.’
If you do not speak Brazilian Portuguese and are too lazy to find a translation app, the title means ‘Dirty Samba.’ Samba is a style of music and dance that originates in Brazil and is celebrated all over the world. The original sample of ‘Samba Sujo’ is one of the most famous samba songs to come out of Brazil, ‘Magalenha’ by Sergio Mendes featuring vocals from Carlinhos Brown. The track was originally released in 1992 and quickly became both a dance and fixture of Carnival.
Diplo and Born Diity’s infuse this already lively song with modern electricity. Using most of the first verse of the original, they tighten up the track, bringing in more of a sound palette to build suspense and flesh out the bass line. With a more succinct iteration of the vocal sample, they are able to delve deeper into the groove of the song. These talented producers pick up the pace with modern ambient bass back drops but stay true to the Afro-Brazilian drums. There is also a quirky, squeaky noise that loops in and out keeping the tone light, silly, and free- very much the vibe of Carnival. There are a few drops drizzled through out that soak up plenty of tension from the layers of bass, dramatic pauses, and clusters of the vibrant vocals. It’s a delicious track, blossoming with soul, and irresistible to dance to.
Check it out below.
<iframe width=”100%” height=”300″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”no” allow=”autoplay” src=”https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/709282666&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true”></iframe>
