Corre Riba, Corre Baxo - Abel Lima e Les Sofas

Corre Riba, Corre Baxo - Abel Lima e Les Sofas

3:08

Nos Bida, 1977

Written by Abel Lima, Americo Brito, and Nouhoun Coulibaly

This song ("Run Up, Run Down") is the kind of track that evokes dancing on the beach while holding aloft a sloshing, fruity drink.  Lima is Cape Verdean, but here he leans hard into a sound that's part Caribbean street party, part sweaty African funk jam, with just enough island seasoning to keep it unmistakably from home.  Legend has it, I read, that this fusion style was born when a crate of synthesizers washed up on a Cape Verde beach. The song's built on a swaggering, walking bass line, while the guitar slips in sunny little licks that flirt with Latin riffs. Hip-swaying bongos keep the Latin rhythm going. And then there's Lima belting, shouting, grinning through the verses, backed by a ragtag choir of voices that sound like they're all halfway through a street parade.  An irresistible party of a song.