mário rui silva: stories from another time 1982-1988
Francisco Espregueira
Born in Luanda in 1953, Mário Rui Silva has dedicated his life to researching and interpreting angolan popular music. During his fifty years of career he lived between Angola and Europe, sharing times and spaces with several key musicians in the artistic history of several African countries. As a faithful disciple of Liceu Vieira Dias, legend and co-founder of Ngola Ritmo, Mário Rui Silva acquired a technical, political and spiritual understanding of his country's musical culture. Through Liceu's hand, he understood its traditional rhythms - the semba and kazukuta of the '40s and '50s helped to create an emancipatory feeling of national pride and collective strength, awakening his listeners to the racism and tyranny of colonial rule, alleviating the conflicts of a country artificially created by the European powers.
Time Capsule, a publisher focused on reissues that capture the feelings and sound experiences of all times and spaces, has just dropped an unmissable collection of some of the best works by Mário Rui Silva. Stories From Another Time brings together three albums released between 1982 and 1988: Sung’Ali (1982), Tunapenda Afrika (1985) and Koizas dum Outru Tempu (1988) portray one man's quest for the musical depths of his nation. These are absolutely essential rediscoveries, in a country that was looking for its own roots, torn away by colonialism.
These roots are meticulously explored in Mário Rui Silva's guitar studies. We listen to sweet acoustic ballads, hypnotic moments of groove, while the guitar of the Angolan researcher and intellectual seduces us with melancholy, tenderness and respect for the tempo. Reflecting nearly a decade of work, it is possible to find a diverse range of influences: from traditional angolan and West African rhythms, to brazilian bossa nova and european jazz.
Stories From Another Time 1982-1988 carries a cultural importance that is impossible to measure. It also conveys a sense of discrete beauty, which is as elegant as it is accessible. Simple, and complex. Not that it goes without saying, but this reissue has garnered heartfelt praise from several artists from completely opposite musical currents. We’re talking about Ben UFO, Gilles Peterson, Esa Williams, Mano Le Tough, among others. Available on vinyl and on the usual platforms, what a pleasure it is to hear, in repeat mode, these beautiful songs… Stories From Another Time by Mário Rui Silva is, and will be for many years, an essential compilation in various music collections.
“There was a need within me to contribute in doing new things. In the sense of solidifying the music of Angola that was the result of the meeting of two cultures, and wanting to value the Angolan part whenever possible”