Producer and NTS WIP development program participant Alcides Simoes, best known for his rough kuduro music under the moniker of Nazar, has just released a new single titled “Elavoko 1”, under an entirely new artist alias, Yaera.
This new move builds on an eventful start to the decade for Alcides, who has enjoyed critical acclaim for his breakthrough debut LP Guerilla, which received positive reviews by everyone from Bandcamp Daily, Resident Advisor and Pitchfork to the Financial Times and Guardian.
The new working name of Yaera is the product of meditation throughout 2020’s pandemic, and where Nazar was used to release hyper-masculine, aggressive productions that invoked memories of Angolan civil war, Alcides’ new alias Yaera is intended to have a more open-ended, multi-faceted approach - interrogating not just conflict, but his heritage and identity.
Alcides describes the new alias as necessary in “preparing myself for a post-Guerilla journey, centering myself before anything else”, and goes on to describe the new single: “the name - Elavoko 1 - comes from Umbundu and means hope... rough kuduro reassembled with the Yaera ethos”.
“Elavoko 1” is accompanied by an official music video directed by Rob Heppell, who created an abstract film during the height of lockdown, attempting to create a cathartic release from the stifling environment of a global pandemic. Watch the clip below.
