Nandele Maguni
Mozambique
B. 1981
Nandele Maguni is a beatmaker and DJ born in 1981, in Maputo, Mozambique.
Son of the first black director of the Mozambican National Radio after the independence, he is exposed early on to the music of Fela Kuti, Kanda Bongo Man, Hugh Masekela, Steven Kakana, Miriam Makeba, amongst others. Furthermore, growing up in a family from the Makonde tribe and influenced by his father he listens to the music of Michael Jackson, Kool And The Gang, Bob Marley, and Toots And The Maytals. All these great musical references shaped Nandele´s taste and in the 90s he was already freestyling to hip-hop beats, on Sundays, on the National Union Of Journalists.
In 2004, Nandele takes up the drums on the hip-hop group Projecto Kamuflado, playing in many venues and drawing the attention of some producers. After a short residency on the historic bar Gil Vicente, with the Boom Bap Crew, Nandele is invited to stay in Gil Vicente´s resident band as a presenter and singer. At the same time, he DJs sets throughout Maputo. His growing interest in electronic music leads him to start producing his own beats and form a new audiovisual project called Awesomakossa. In 2013 he was invited to be the DJ of the band Azagaia & Os Cortadores de Lenha.
His first solo project was an instrumental EP named “Argolas Deliciosas”, transl. Sweet Rings, released in 2015 and mixing Instrumental hip-hop, dubstep, trap, and psychedelic beats.
In 2020, he released FF, for the label Cotch International, this time mixing techno with experimental hip-hop, and positively reviewed by Resident Advisor