The final instalment in Gareth Stephens investigations into the lesser-known tracks from the Mr Bongo catalogue that have found their way into various samplers and hard drives.

Claudia

Brazilian artist Claudia is a Mr Bongo HQ favourite and here her song Deixa Eu Dizer (the first releases in our Brazil 45's series) gets used in both House and Hip Hop.

 
Mulatu Astatké

A forthcoming Mr Bongo release a 7”, as part of the new Africa 45's series later in the year, the killer 'Yègellé Tezeta' by Ethiopian legend Mulatu Astatké is the basis of Nas & Damian Marley's 'As We Enter'.

Tom Zé

Tom Zé is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, innovator and composer who was hugely influential in the Tropicália movement of 1960s Brazil. Zé is often thought of as Brazil’s answer to Zappa or Captain Beefheart; a true innovator and maverick. This in mind, he’s an unlikely source for a modern r&b dance floor banger, but here his guitar line from 'Jimmy Renda-se' features on Ameriie’s 'Take Control'.

BONUS BEATS

A couple more unexpected examples that we found include some mainstream pop artists that have used a rare source as inspiration.

Firstly C.K Mann’s 'Asafo Beesuon' beat been used by the Pussy Cat Dolls:

... Usher borrowing from Ebo Taylor’s Heaven:

We are waiting for Pharrell to loop up Hareton & Meta now ;)

These are just a few we came across, if you know of any other please lets us know. A little prize is up for grabs to the best train spotted sample.

We've created a Spotify playlist featuring all of the tracks from the blog posts: