New releases last two weeks: Funk

Review: In 1969, Duo Ouro Negro travelled to the US and came back changed. By 1972, they channelled said many cross-country encounters with Black Power politics, spiritual jazz and liberation struggles into Blackground: a bold, pan-African statement recorded not in Luanda but Lisbon. The Angolan duo, already global stars in Portuguese-speaking circuits, were heard fusing jazz-funk with messages of decolonisation and Black identity, summed up in Raul Indipwo's cry: "Don't forget your blackground." A decade later, in 1981, the record was reworked with fresh arrangements and additions like the instrumental 'Iemenja' and the percussion-heavy 'Aruandai'. This new edition from Digei De Bairro brings that fiercely rhythmic and politically charged LP back into circulation, a vital slice of Lusophone jazz-funk with global intent.