This morning, we celebrate the very last days of summer in pleasant company, with London’s mysterious cumbia collective Malphino.
Malphino’s name is a combination of the original members’ respective nationalities: ‘Mal’ bridges David’s Malaysian origins with Alex’s Phillipino-‘Phino’- roots. In 2010, the two joined Japanese percussionist Yu Sato on accordion and tuba during his obscure Latin-oriented nights organized at the Haggerston, in the east of London, where they would re-imagine Latin tunes and interpret Italian film soundtracks. While the regular event gathered a small community of musicians, the initial abstract concept of Malphino, as an outer-national, mystical band coming from an imaginary tropical island, was born.
The collective of diaspora musicians and visual artists has also created a colourful image which complement the fantastic and playful vision created by their sound.
Malphino’s selection
Manzanita Y Su Conjunto - Arre Caballito
Malphino: ” I like the melancholic but happy tone to the song on Sunday morning… Amazing guitar melody. “
Camarão - A Casa De Anita
Malphino: ” The groove pushes me to hyper active from Sunday morning… No time to sleep over :) “
Juhana Sattar & Orkes Kelana Ria - Mengapa Berduka
Malphino: ” Sometimes I like imagining a landscape and story with this tune on Sunday morning… Not sure what she is singing but I see some visuals. “
MailTape’s selection
Malphino - The Sleep Tree
Jules: ” With its debut album ‘Visit Malphino’ released in May 2018, the band is transcending the borders of Japan, Colombia, Malaysia, France, the Philippines and the UK and taking the listener to an imagined tropical and colourful idyll. This song is a poetic mix of warming bass lines, reverb and echo effects which evokes visions of fantasy and escapism. “
Bana - Canta Cu Alma Magoada
Jules: ” I discovered this song listening to the compilation homage to the music of migrants of Cape Verde released by Ostinato Records. Originally sung by Pedro Rodrigues this cover by Bana, a hugely popular morna singer who started in the music business in the 1950s, is a perfect invitation to dance.” “
Alex Figueira - Guacuco
Jules: ” This song is taken from the first release under his own name of the founder of the Amsterdam-based label Music With Soul Records. “Guacuco” refers to a Venezuelan sea food delight, said to have extraordinary aphrodisiac properties and usually sold across the many coastal towns in the country. It is hard to believe that this song which mixes African and Brazilian percussions with acoustic and heavily Wah’ed electric guitars is a one-man creative effort. “
Sébastien Tellier - Aller vers le Soleil
Jules: ” This song taken from Tellier’s Brazilian journey to his childhood memories “L’Aventura” is a divine escalation which will always get you out of your apartment, searching for fantastic landscapes and random adventures. ”
That’s it for this morning! As always thank you so much for listening. Much love and respect to Malphino for their Sunday selections, and to Anaïs Marthe Caura for this brilliant illustration.
