Mandinga Beat (Brazil)

Mandinga Beat is a Brazil-Africa collective formed by Brazilian guitarist, singer, and producer André Sampaio and Angolan DJ and producer Joss Dee, joined by singer and percussionist Victória dos Santos. Their sound grows out of direct encounters with African musical traditions through travels across Mali, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Angola, and beyond, weaving afro-beats, kuduro, and African electronic music together with samba, ijexá, and the percussion of Candomblé terreiros. Traditional chants and rap coexist in their songs alongside dub and reggae textures, producing a transatlantic sound that moves between ancestral and contemporary urban music.

Featured Song:

“Criança Rica” (Wealthy Child) is performed in the style of semba, the Angolan popular music that is widely recognized as a direct ancestor of Brazilian samba, brought to Brazil through the transatlantic slave trade. The connection runs deep: both traditions share rhythmic structures, call-and-response patterns, and an emphasis on percussion rooted in Bantu cultural heritage. The song makes these connections explicit by name-checking the African musical instruments marimba, mbira, and berimbau and the martial art form jogo de Angola, a relative of Brazilian capoeira.

Artist Website

Featured on:

Click image to learn more