An Odd Place

Maybe you want to know what pop music from a part of the world unfamiliar to most people in other parts of the world might be like. To start with, I'll take you to Mozambique. A Portuguese colony until 1975, there was a decidedly Portuguese influence on Mozambican pop with a subtle South African undertone. The nearest "offshore" pirate radio station to South Africa was, remarkably, in Lourenco Marques (now Maputo). It was called Radio LM and played a lot of the popular tunes of the day. The most famous singer in Mozambique in the 60s was Joao Maria Tudela, and his first big hit was in 1959 with the song "Kanimambo." He died recently in April 2011 in Portugal. Here is a clip of Kanimambo: