South African Renaissance man (artist, singer, producer and video game enthusiast) Spoek releases “Pula” under Vidafone’s #First musical collaborations. Get excited.
We have covered some of his earlier mixtapes here and here. They are amazing and you should get them. Full stop.
For this single, Spoek traveled around South Africa collecting songs from the nation’s many different cultures. He then teamed up with SA artists Mash.O and DJ Spoko (who we’ve also covered) to mix everything together to create something new.
The scope of this project is impressive. Spoek is representing the shared culture of South Africans by exploring his country, in his own words, “…visiting and recording the work of great musicians from different cultures, generations, areas and tribes.” It’s almost as if Alan Lomax had drum machines and a sampler in addition to his trusty recorder. Throughout the song, we are presented with a range of sounds from the electronic to the acoustic, and a range of places from the village to the city.
It’s a hell of a mix. Be sure to check out his tumblr to see some great photos of the trip as well.
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