Taking place from April 25th – May 5th, the London Latin Music Festival has also revealed this year’s support acts including The Otherness, Sofree, and more

One of the leading forces of Portugal’s contemporary music scene, singer-songwriter Dino d’Santiago is confirmed to play at this year’s La Linea Festival on Saturday 4th May at Rich Mix in East London. He joins a hefty bill announced earlier this year featuring the likes of Antonio Sanchez with his Grammy-winning ‘Birdman’ live score, a UK debut from revolutionary Cuban-Malian band Las Maravillas de Mali, ‘The Queen of New Cumbia’ La Yegros, and lauded Mexican singer-songwriter Carla Morrison.

A Portuguese singer of Cape Verdean descent, Dino uses traditional rhythms mixed for modern dancefloors with a range of instruments and electronics, and lyrics in both Creole and Portuguese, connecting different Portuguese-speaking communities around Lisbon with the wider world. His track “Nova Lisboa” has become that city's anthem.

At La Linea, he will perform material from his latest album Mundu Nôbu, which pulls in styles from across the Portuguese-speaking world from Mozambique, Cape Verde, and Angola to Guinea, São Tomé and Brazil. Collaborators on the record include Seiji, an English producer who made his name in the club scene in the 1990s, writer, producer and engineer Rusty Santos who has previously worked with Animal Collective and DJ Rashad, as well as Kalaf and Branko of Buraka Som Sistema, an EDM Portuguese group that helped bring Angolan kuduro to European audiences, and popularised a fusion dubbed zouk bass.

In addition to d’Santiago’s concert, the festival has also revealed details of this year’s support shows, which include Patagonia’s rising star rock gods The Otherness (“Authentic, quality, passionate rock, these guys really mean it – Steve Lamacq, BBC Radio 6Music) who will open for Los Auténticos Decadentes at the Electric Brixton, French-Spanish duo Sofree showcasing their unique take on electro-hip hop beat making fused with Latin soul ahead of Yelfris Valdes’s gig at Rich Mix, and a DJ set from London’s longest running cumbia club night, Arriba La Cumbia!, before The King of Cumbia Celso Pina takes the stage.

Tickets for all La Linea shows are on sale now and available from https://www.comono.co.uk/la-linea/.

“Dino d’Santiago Is Bringing Funaná to the World” – Rolling Stone