Pongo set fire to the dance floor at Roskilde’s Gloria stage at last year’s festival. Now, the queen of neo-kuduro is ready to take over ALICE in May with her visionary and hard-hitting combination of electropop, hip-hop, techno, breathtakingly fast Angolan rhythms, and irresistible dance moves. The concert is presented in collaboration with the Embassy of Portugal in Denmark and Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua in Portugal. DJ Jolie opens the night.

Pongo doesn’t casually go by the name the queen of neo-kuduro. The Angolan Lisbon-based dancer, singer, and electronic musician is a star on the international club scene and can, like few others, make audiences go wild with her hard-hitting combination of electropop, hip-hop, techno, and breathtakingly fast Angolan rhythms like semba and kizomba.

Behind the artist name Pongo stands 31-year-old Engracia Domingos da Silva, born in Angola in 1992, who grew up with a wealth of music and rhythms, from traditional Angolan kuduro to Caribbean zouk and Brazilian beats. When she fled to Portugal with her family at the age of 8 from her homeland’s raging civil war, she took her musical roots with her and later brought them into play on Lisbon’s kuduro scene. Here, she was spotted by the iconic band Buraka Som Sistema, which made kuduro big on the Portuguese club scene in the early 2000s and invited her to feature on the single “Kalemba (Wegue Wegue)” (2009) – a huge hit that brought Pongo to the world’s attention. The single also laid the foundation for Pongo’s signature sound: empowering and liberating music that invites to dance and overcoming fear, sorrow, and despair.

The same unequivocal messages permeate the single “Tambulaya” (2018) and especially her first EP “Baia” (2018), where memories from her homeland are brought to life in a sound universe ranging from kuduro, melancholic pop, dancehall, and EDM with lyrics in both Portuguese and Kimbundu. Recently, she has captured the attention of the international music press with her performance in A COLORS SHOW and especially with her debut album “Sakidila” (2022). Pongo’s visionary barrier-breaking music connects kuduro to afrobeats, favela funk, and afrofunk, demonstrating powerful and highly addictive party music that one can’t help but go into ecstasy to. ALICE presents Pongo in collaboration with the Embassy of Portugal in Denmark and Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua in Portugal.

Said about Pongo:
“The Neo-Kuduro Diva You Should Know About” – Trace.TV
“You Need to Hear Pongo’s New Blend of Kuduro and Electronic Pop” – Okayafrica
“An affirmation of dancing’s power over strife” – Pitchfork
“Eclectic and irrepressible” – Line of Best Fit
“Rampant chants atop thunderous kick drums and restless percussion” – The Fader

DJ Jolie
Based in Copenhagen, born in Aarhus and of Tanzanian descent, Jolie explores sounds from Africa and the African diaspora. From beats with Highlife samples to Gqom, Kuduro and beyond, she aspires to bring you unique selections, old and new that are not necessarily found on the top music charts. Jolie has been spinning on various stages in Denmark, Uganda and Sweden spreading heaps of knowledge, range and soul. She just played Nyege Nyege fest, and is now opening for Pongo at ALICE!