Alpacas Collective New cd ‘Big Words’ will be released on November 11th

‘Big Words’ (LP/CD/DIGITAL) will be released on November 11th on the group’s label Catalpas Records. 
'Big Words' release shows: November 11th - Hnita Hoeve, Heist-Op-Den-Berg, December 2nd - Café Café, Hasselt, January 13th - Het Depot, Leuven
​

Alpacas Collective is a funk band based in Louvain, Belgium. The band runs on its favorite music from Lagos to Addis Ababa, from Augusta, Georgia to New Orleans, bringing it all back home in a way unlike any other band would.funk is the basis, flavored with afro, jazz, boogaloo, soul and oriental vibes.
Live energy is generated by a stage-filling crew of eleven on drums, sitar, percussion, bass, guitar, organ and horns. Studio magic is conjured up with the occasional help of friends performing their signature tricks. 

After finding their voice and soul on their well received debut album ‘Seven Wisdoms of Plutonia’ (October 2022), they are excited to release the second collection of Alpacas tunes one year after! From of the adventurous spaces of Plutonia , from where Alpacas Collective emerged, this gang of fanatic music lovers continue their trip through new places with new friends on the new album ‘Big Words’.

‘Big Words’, basically deepens those musical traces, takes the listener on a journey of discovery through a world of afrobeat, deep funk, hindustani raga mixed with psycho-dub and creole rap. 
​
Besides their solo performances, Alpacas Collective have supported and helped warm stages for Budos Band, Poets of Rhythm, Mulatu Astatke, Lefties Soul Connection, Quantic Soul Orchestra, Cody Chessnutt and more. In the summer of 2023 Alpacas Collective went abroad for a first mini-tour playing shows in Zagreb (Klub Mocvara, Croatia), Tolmin (Sejeta Festival, Slovenia)  and Munich (Import Export, Germany).

​.Alpacas Collective once again invites you for an enchanting musical trip. After finding their voice and soul on their well received debut album ‘Seven Wisdoms of Plutonia’ (October 2022), they are excited to release the second collection of Alpacas tunes one year after! From of the adventurous spaces of Plutonia , from where Alpacas Collective emerged, this gang of fanatic music lovers continue their trip through new places with new friends on the new album ‘Big Words’. 

‘Seven Wisdoms of Plutonia’ was a tasty blend of smells and musical spices from Lagos to Addis Ababa, from Augusta, Georgia to New Orleans, and from Delhi to sci-fi worlds on a tasty crust of deep funk. The album went on to receive global support from the likes of Dom Servini (Wah Wah 45’s/UK), Aldo Struyf (bandleader Mark Lanegan), Massimiliano Conti (Ness Radio/IT), DJ Mukambo (BE), Dusty Groove (US), David Patterson (JFSR/Mo Wax/UK), Stefaan Vandenberghe (Sdban Records) and more. 

The new album ‘Big Words’, basically deepens those musical traces, takes the listener on a journey of discovery through a world of afrobeat, deep funk, hindustani raga mixed with psycho-dub and creole rap.  
Studio magic is once again conjured up by percussionist, composer and producer Frederik Kühn,  with the creative contributions and improvisations of befriended artists, doing their signature tricks. 

Thanks to these new collective collaborations, this record breathes creative freedom and the pure joy of creating together; But it also is a musical reflecting of resistance, against the downgrading of morality and consciousness, against one-sided thinking, against the curtailment of liberty and justice, against the destruction of the environment. 
On title track ‘Big Words’ the collective pays homage to the late great Fela Kuti, with a political afrobeat song, dissing politicians’ hollow speech; On the song ‘Movéfèzè’ - creole for villains - rapper Nèg Madnick denounces the rich plantation owners who have poisoned his beautiful Caribbean island Martinique with toxic pesticides; ‘Boyoma’ has an irresistible African funk-groove helped by multi-talented West-African griot Zouratié Koné on his sparkling ngoni; ‘What Could I do’, is propulsed with joyful horns, pumping organs and jazzy flutes on funky grooves; Both ‘Bhimpalasi’ and ‘Gunkali’ with the Joël on his bewitching sitar, give the album a spiritual Indian touch without forgetting the hips, heart and belly. The mesmerising ‘Surrounded’ in itself sounds like the soundtrack for a musical and cinematographic wandering from the East to the West, the ever expanding journey of Alpacas Collective…  

Album credits: 
Recorded, Mixed & Produced  by FREDERIK KÜHN   
Mastered by FREDERIK DEJONGH  at JERBOA MASTERING  
Design & Illustration by LM Lambrechts 
Alpacas Collective are: 
Stan Hennes  - drums | Frederik Kühn - percussion | Steve Vandervoort - bass | Robby Swiggers - guitar & vocals | Jeroen Ollevier - keys | Alexander Dingens - alto & tenor saxophone | Marc Jans - baritone saxophone &  trombone | Sander Vos - percussion & xylophone | Hans van Scharen - baritone, alto & tenor saxophone | Jérome Swevers - flute, trumpet | Joël Van Roode - sitar 
Guest musicians: 
Neg Madnick - vocals (Movéfèzè) | Zouratié Koné - ngoni (Boyoma) | Geert Claes - trumpet (What Could I Do) | Alain Louie - vocals (Big Words)
​

​

​Tracklist :

1. ​Gunkali
2. Boyoma 
3. Big words 
4. Movéfèzè 
5. Bhimpalasi 
6. Surrounded 
7. What could I do