Newen Afrobeat – Grietas – KLOF Mag

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Afrobeat music from Chile might sound incongruous, but whether you are a fan of the genre or are new to it, ignoring Grietas, the latest release from Newen Afrobeat, would be a mistake, such is its driving power, authenticity, and message.

Turning the clocks back to 2009, the streets of Santiago pulsated with the sounds of reggae and cumbia, with Afrobeat barely featuring on the Chilean music scene. Newen Afrobeat, through founder Nicholás Urbina, set about changing that situation. After rehearsing for two years and honing their skills for a further couple of live performances, they released their eponymous debut album in 2013. Quintessentially Afrobeat, drawing on the legacy of Fela Kuti, the album also featured distinctive Latin colourings. The monumental first track, Santiago, which opens with a sampled three-minute speech from the then President of Uruguay, Jóse Mujica, originally delivered to the United Nations General Assembly in 2013, extolling anti-poverty and pro-people social policies, firmly established the group’s musical credentials and stance in this regard.

Since then, hard work and positive exposure have catapulted the group into being one of the world’s leading exponents of Afrobeat to have originated outside of Nigeria. Touring across four continents, they have performed twice at Felabration, the annual Fela Kuti celebration, and undertaken a series of concerts at the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos. Collaborations and well-earned friendships with many of Nigeria and Afrobeat’s pioneers, including Tony Allen, Oghene Kologbo, and Seun Kuti, have enhanced their reputation.

With two previous albums dedicated to their hero, the aforementioned Afrobeat pioneer, Fela Kuti, Grietas is the group’s fifth album proper, comprising all original compositions, with their distinctive Latin stamp once again exemplifying their open-minded and evolutionary approach to the Afrobeat genre. Furthermore, the album’s title translates as ‘cracks’, a direct reference to climate change, specifically the rapid heating of the Earth and the scarcity of water, together with lyrics in other songs challenging corporate and capitalist greed, the social and environmental awareness and conscience upon which the group was founded, continues to be apparent. 

Many personnel changes have taken place, and on this latest release, guest singers and players augment the 14 credited band members. Spearheaded by female lead vocalist Francisca Riquelme, ably supported by backing singer Ivania Arteaga, the twin guitar attack of Martín Concha and Sebastian Crooker, bass of Benjamin Astroza, drums of Roberto Gevert, percussion of Alejandro Orellana and African percussion of Tomás Pavéz are enhanced by a powerhouse brass section comprising Enrique Camhi, Diego Gonzalez and Mauricio Sanchez, trumpets, Klaus Brantmayer, alto sax & flute, Vicente Aravena, tenor sax, and Aldo Gomez, baritone sax.

With the six tracks on the album clocking in at around 30 minutes, it’s undoubtedly a case of quality over quantity, which is immediately apparent with the opening title song. Featuring guests Lido Pimienta, the Colombian-Canadian musician, songwriter and leading cumbia exponent who provides lead vocals and Leo Bañados on maracas, Grietas is a plaintive cry calling for the need to protect the planet and sustain the earth. Glorious polyrhythms and North African-style desert blues guitar licks provide the perfect background for Lido to express her powerfully emotive lyrics that highlight how poorer nations are affected by the melting ice cap, sea level rises, and forest fires.

Featuring the Afrobeat legend Dele Sosimi, a key member of Fela Kuti’s Egypt 80 band, with whom he also worked extensively in the studio, Mare Mare was recorded in York, I believe the day after Dele had guested on several songs with the band at The Crescent, York, during their 2022 summer tour of Europe. Providing lead vocals and keyboards, Dele presents a song, sung in a mixture of Spanish, (the females), and pigeon-English, (Dele), which plays on a Yoruba proverb about a dog that doesn’t follow a whistle. Funky in the extreme, the Latin percussions, flute and propulsive horns underscore Dele’s hypnotically resonant bass voice, contrasting with the skittish, higher-registered vocals from Francicsa and Ivania.  

Lloverá, one of the two tracks not to feature a guest, is an upbeat, brass fuelled piece, replete with thumping bass lines and vocals possessing a pop-sensibility, especially in the refrain, climaxing in an ethereal, almost celestial moment or two of vocal magic.

Joe Vasconcellos, the Chilean singer and composer of Latin rock, and for three years a member of one of the country’s most famous bands, Congreso, provides lead vocals on Somos el Presente. The opening run of bass notes heralds an ultra-funky number as Francisca sings of patriarchy, power addiction and the fatalities of war before myriad vocal exchanges and strong, infectious layers of percussion and lead guitar breaks give way to lyrics calling for action in tackling pollution, better education and justice before the song fades with a dub-plate-like ending.

The only instrumental cut on the album, notwithstanding the odd whoop and ululation, is Widin, with its funk-soul-brother guitars and horns, a thunderous bass line totally in tandem with the reverberating percussion, together creating a compelling, driving beat.

All too soon, we are into the final track and six minutes of pure joy. Es la vida (It’s Life) features Brazilian singer and social critic Chico Cesar. An exponent of MPB, Música Popular Brasileira, which identifies middle-class urban music, often acoustic and politically aware, here he sings in North-East Brazilian Portuguese, alongside Francisca’s Spanish, on a track which probably veers most away from Afrobeat. Exhilaratingly energetic, the song leaves us looking optimistically towards the future,

“Hacia el futuro viajan mis pies
Confiando en lo que encontrarán”

“Newen” translates from the indigenous Mapuche language as “strength”, and there is no doubt that this word characterises the message and immense, horn-fuelled, rhythmically irresistible sounds found on Grietas.

Grietas is released on Lichens Family on 29th April 2024.

Bandcamp: https://newenafrobeat.bandcamp.com/