Swiss-Uruguayan duo Sparrow & Barbossa are heavily committed to pushing traditional African influences through their club-primed house productions.
Their past works have come via labels such as Cacao Records and Stereo Productions, and they have recently become co-founders of Inward Records alongside their partner, Pippi Ciez.
The latest sound to come from their studio also comes via Inward Records, and we got the chance to chat with them about what the EP means to them, how they became involved with Pippi and Inward, what they have coming soon and more.
Your new EP for Inward Records, tell us about the tracks? What was the thought process in the studio?
African music is our true passion, we spent hours and hours listening to some inspirational traditional music and this is what led us to the creative process of Ngomo and Ngbona, both are very good examples of how we try to transmit this cultural legacy into modern music.
And it includes a great remix from Pippi Ciez, how did you react when his final version came through?
We were amazed by his remix, we went all crazy and dancing in the studio, his remix is definitely one of the most solid remixes ever done of our music.
You have also released your music with Stereo Productions, Milk & Sugar and Cacao Records, what kind of things do you look for in a label?
When dealing with labels, what we really look for is not necessarily big fish, but labels that really match with our values and take music promotion seriously and have a good reach with the relevant afro house ecosystem stakeholders.
And can you share any information on which labels you might be releasing with soon?
On June 12th we released on the most notorious afro house label, MoBlack. We are releasing an official remix of Fatoumata Diawara’s Nterini track, part of her emblematic Fenfo album. This is something that we dreamed of for a long time and that finally came to reality, we are really excited.
You recently became co-founders of Inward Records, how did that happen? And what vision do you have for the label going forward?
Pippi Ciez reached out to us to produce a remix for him, and we would say that music is what really made us brothers for life. We share common values and a common vision of the industry, and things have flown like we were brothers in another life ever since we did that remix for him.
What we are striving to do with Inward is to build a united family, focusing on quality and not on quantity while giving full creative freedom to all of our producers, music that truly represents each of the family members, music for the soul.
As a duo you’re half Swiss and half Uruguayan, but are now based in Madrid, how did you both end up in Spain?
Barbossa moved to Spain 10 years ago and has been part of the music industry here in Spain very actively ever since he arrived, especially in Ibiza where he was a resident for Space and Cafe Del Mar. Sparrow moved to Spain three years ago for personal reasons which led him to meet Barbossa and start this amazing project, he decided to stay after that, even if we are pretty sure that we are going to move again soon.
And lastly, tell us your favourite album, track, or EP right now? From any genre or era?
Our favourite EP is definitely our bro Pippi Ciez’s Wewe EP, forthcoming on Inward. We truly think people will be playing this music for years and are amazed by the fantastic collaboration that went on with Idd Aziz on that project.