“The Koalas are known to be friendly and peaceful creatures. The truth is that they can be very rebellious. A new breed of urban immigrant koalas, called “KOALAS DESPERADOS”, loves next to eucalyptus especially phatt beats and breaking the rules! These Koalas go from time to time on a pilgrimage to a secret place in an urban jungle. There, they meet with other rebellious koalas to create the “Desperados Sound” and spread their spiritual message: Legalize Eucalyptus !”
Let’s face it: there’s far too many projects out there trying to unite musicians from around the globe under the world beat banner mainly for sheer marketing- or promotional reasons in the first place. „Done with good intentions“ in most cases then is indeed not quite the same as „well done“…
The KOALAS DESPERADOS dare to differ from that very theory by nature. Cologne/Germany based reggae producer TEKA and his partner in crime, MANAR (Montpellier/France), easily managed to integrate 17 musicians and 17 vocalists from 15 countries in an organic way during the production time of this album… that way giving the (pretty urban) KOALAS DESPERADOS sound enough time to grow, developing more of that common ground with time rather than just enjoying and recording the first chemical reactions of instant collaboration.
The finest beats and riddims, many voices in even more languages, global urban vibes in the mere sense of words, the KOALAS DESPERADOS are much rather an outernational „work in progress“-network than just another studio project with guests coming together for a certain purpose and then go their individual ways again.
Thilo „TEKA“ Jacks and Manar El-Abed have come a long way together, knowing each other since school days and having spent lots of time in closely related band outfits and door-to-door rehearsal rooms of the 90s Frankfurt reggae and punk scene.
While TEKA went on to become co-founder and inhouse-producer of Cologne/Germany based reggae label ROOTDOWN records, mainly taking care of his own FLASHPOINT studios, Manar decided to move to Montpellier (in the south of France) and joined the pro active scene based around the infamous hangout bar “Rebuffy” as a DJ and producer… this way managing to build an impressive amount of contacts to local musicians and MCs.
It wasn’t until 5 years later, when a common friend from „back in the days“ reunited them.They got in touch again, only to immediately start working together right on the spot. And so, the multi cultural, genre bashing musical mix comes naturally to the KOALAS masterminds… both hardly ever did anything else than working on music with talent from all over the world.
„Nobody who took part in this production only mailed a few soundfiles,“ TEKA explains, „we happened to really work and get deep in my studio with almost every KOALA face to face. We all liked this idea from the very beginning… to pull on one string at the same time with dedication, because everybody was feeling it. We all identify with the KOALAS philosophy big time… which causes quite a lot of unexpected extra dynamics.“
Every member has a lot to offer and to bring to the huge KOALAS DESPERADOS table. While D-Flame, Nosliw, Laura Lopez-Castro or Maxim are household names on the german popular music scene, other KOALAS ring quite a few bells in their home countries as well. Stand out talents like Paco Mendoza (Argentinia), Jaqee (Sweden/Uganda), portuguese MC Bezegol, female MC Ms Maiko from Gran Canaria, Macaco and Nubla from Barcelona (Spain) or Hector Gomez a.k.a. Lhabanero (Cuba) guarantee a perfect balance between quality and quantity of musical in- and output.
And that is also why the styles and genres that come together in the KOALAS DESPERADOS sound are as many and versatile as the cultural backgrounds clashing here. Urban sound fueled by Reggae and HipHop for sure… yet at the same time melting in Fado from Portugal, Afrobeat vibes from Burkina Faso and Kamerun and a variety of latin elements as well.
In 2009, the times of all these styles being just something like „exotic flavours“ are definitely over: the KOALAS DESPERADOS enjoy their organic urban life in the global village… and it sure comes natural to them: Legalize Eucalyptus!
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TRACKLISTING:
01. LEGALIZE EUCALYPTUS [INTRO]
02. VENGO
FT. PACO MENDOZA, AKUA NARU & BEZEGOL
03. ALL NIGHT LONG
FT. MACACO, JAQEE & BEZEGOL
04. ELE FANAN
FT. KORBO & LAURA LOPEZ CASTRO
05. KEEP MARCHING
FT. JAQEE, BEZEGOL & NUBLA
06. FADO CHUPAO
FT. A NAIFA & LAURA LOPEZ CATSRO
07. TEMPU
FT. BEZEGOL & KORBO
08. ME VOY
FT. PACO MENDOZA, MSMAIKO, NUBLA & DJ TILLO
09. EMIGRANTE
FT. LHABANERO & D-FLAME
10. WILLST DU DABEI SEIN?
FT. MAXIM, JAQEE & CHOZPAREI
11. AWU
FT. YANNICK OWONA & BEZEGOL
12. SECURITY
FT. JAQEE & NOSLIW
13. NEGRO
FT. FOREIGN BEGGARS, LHABANERO & DJ TILLO
14. LO QUE TIENEN
FT. NUBLA, MSMAIKO, LHABANERO & DJ TILLO
15. KOALAS ALL-STARS OUTRO