Accents: Wet Bed Gang brings back Vialonga

Over the last decade, Vialonga's "fantastic four" have become a true reference in national hip hop and urban music. Since they debuted in the country with the single Não Tens Visto , released in 2016, Wet Bed Gang have established themselves as stars in the new generation of Portuguese rap, alongside peers such as Slow J, ProfJam, Plutonio, Dillaz, Bispo, Piruka and Holly Hood. This was the generation that rose to the mainstream , that managed to quickly become professionals, that musically absorbed the new trend of trap and crossed it with several other aesthetics.

Today, 10 years later, more mature and settled, Wet Bed Gang are giving back to the community and the neighborhood where it all began: V-Block, as they immortalized in so many of their songs. It is in Vialonga, part of the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira and a suburb of Lisbon, that they are organizing Sotaques for the first time, a large-scale music festival that will take place in the Parque Urbano da Quinta da Flamenga between Friday, May 23rd and Sunday, May 25th. This is a partnership with the local city council and is the first time that a group of rappers from the outskirts, especially the new generation, organize an event of this size in their neighborhood.

Wet Bed Gang themselves, of course, are the headliners. The rest of the lineup includes rap references (Regula, Força Suprema, Phoenix RDC) as well as new phenomena in urban and African music (Soraia Ramos, Deejay Télio, Djodje, Mizzy Miles, Nenny, SleepyThePrince) and established names that appeal to older generations, such as fado singer Mariza and singer Bonga. A series of local rappers, the Orquestra Geração de Vialonga and Grupo Unido Batucadeiras de Vialonga also feature, in a lineup that focuses on strengthening ties between the community, bringing many locals on stage.

The idea began to take shape after the release of Wet Bed Gang's latest album, Gorilleyez, due in 2023. The group, made up of Gson, Kroa, Zizzy Jr. and Zara G, performed a presentation concert at Campo Pequeno in Lisbon — as well as touring the country from north to south — and from there other ambitions emerged. “We started thinking about doing something bigger,” Kroa told Observador. “Maybe an Altice Arena, maybe crossing the border and doing something abroad. And how can we turn this into a concept?”

They then developed the idea of ​​celebrating multiculturalism and the many accents that make up the audience and community from which they come. Afro-descendants born and raised in Portugal, Wet Bed Gang wanted to do something in their own image. However, unexpectedly, they received an invitation from the Parish Council of Vialonga to play a concert in the area where they had grown up — it was the first time they would perform at home since their meteoric rise to prominence; until then they had only performed small amateur performances during their adolescence. They combined their idea with the invitation they received and gave shape to the Sotaques Festival, which will now be realized. “It is the best way to give back to our community what helped us achieve,” says Kroa. “It is our cradle, our origins, the place where we grew up.”

Phoenix RDC, Vialonga's most veteran rapper and someone who sponsored Wet Bed Gang when they first started, is one of the artists on the bill — playing at home — and also a Winner who managed to become a professional. “I never imagined that one day I would make a living from rhymes/When I least expected it, I shone/And found myself in a van”, he sings in this motivational and autobiographical single that became one of his biggest hits.

When he was little, he recalls that the current Parque Urbano da Quinta da Flamenga — which serves as the venue for Sotaques — was a farm, with trees and sheep, where kids would jump over the wall to “go and steal loquats”. In the same area was the old Hospital da Flamenga, “which gave birth and cured many people there”, closed since 1999 and now in ruins. A resident since he was little, since his family came from Angola in the 1980s to escape the civil war, Phoenix RDC has lived in Vialonga since the days when there were no tarmac roads.

“It was the forgotten part of the Vila Franca de Xira district. There was a lot of investment in Póvoa de Santa Iria, in Forte da Casa, in Alverca. We are the area that doesn’t have a municipal swimming pool, that doesn’t have a synthetic football pitch. ‘Those won’t do anything, shit on that shit’. Vialonga grew a lot and the only thing that appeared were supermarkets. Dormitories and food. No, we don’t just want that, we want more than that.”

Phoenix RDC argues that it was the lack of activities and distractions that also made creativity blossom. “It came because we had nothing. We had to grab a rock and use it as a microphone. Maybe if we had been busy with that pool, that synthetic pitch, playing PlayStation, maybe we wouldn’t have been so successful, maybe we wouldn’t have been the elite, the real rap elite. We came from that place, that social housing estate, that everyone thought would never shine, whether in music or in sport. We are the forgotten ones of the Vila Franca de Xira municipality, but we are the forgotten ones who shined.”

In addition to being able to present their community with a free-entry festival featuring concerts by all these artists, the idea is also to bring people from outside to Vialonga, in order to break down stigmas and prejudices. “People will get to know our community, and our people will have access to concerts that, otherwise, might be very difficult to access,” says Kroa.

Along with Wet Bed Gang and Phoenix RDC, the other name with roots in Vialonga making a name for itself as a professional musician is Nenny. Marlene Tavares, raised in the neighborhood and launched into music by Wet Bed Gang, with whom she has a close connection, has also become a reference in her own right and will be on stage at the Sotaques Festival.

“I think what they’re doing is great, everything they’ve achieved, promoting the neighborhood and holding a festival there,” he told Observador. “It’s the dream of every kid who grows up there. Many don’t have that access, and in those days they can leave their house, walk five minutes and see all those concerts by their idols. I think it’s really incredible for our community, for them to give back all the love. And it’s for the whole community, from the old to the youngest.”

For Phoenix RDC, the importance of an initiative like Sotaques is evident in different ways. On the one hand, the rapper highlights the importance of a festival like this for the “old guard who planted the seeds many years ago”, who started rapping in that neighborhood during the 90s. “They are the people I also saw as role models. Today, those seeds have grown into big, strong trees. It is a victory for all of us, not just for those on stage. It is also for those who planted the seeds and now work in a store or at the city hall.”

On the other hand, the 43-year-old musician highlights the importance of recognition from institutions, considering the “forgetfulness” to which he feels his community has always been subject. “For a long time, our trophies were only given out at the African association that exists within the social housing estate. Now we have reached a level where, if a music school opens in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira, the people who have to go and cut the ribbon have to be the Wet Bed Gang. If a sports hall opens, the people who have to go and cut the ribbon are Ivan Cavaleiro, Yannick Djaló or Abel Xavier, who grew up in Vialonga. And we are not just from Vialonga. We are Portuguese, from the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira, who sing for Portugal and the world. I hope this is the beginning of our visibility.”

Finally, Phoenix RDC sees this “celebration” as an important act to bring other communities and populations to Vialonga, to bring the neighborhood closer to other areas on the outskirts of Lisbon. “The people who live around Vialonga will also be there, the invested ones, who will be applauding those who do not invest. That is very important. And to show that the picture that was painted, which said that there was only violence and turmoil, is more of a reputation than anything else. We are tired of hearing that.”

Kroa comments along the same lines, highlighting that it is important to “demystify” the idea that “we will be robbed or killed” if we enter the neighborhood. “The reality there is difficult, but there are other ways of seeing our community. That is why these initiatives are important, otherwise people will continue to be marginalized. The best way to include people is to bring people and show that you are open to learning about different cultures. Hence Sotaques. You go there, share your accent with others. You will learn and you will teach. It is to create unity. We will have batucadeiras, we will have funge, we will have kuduro, we will have folklore groups… It is a mix of cultures and breaking down the barriers that exist between them, to bring everything together.”

Everyone says that Sotaques also arrives at a time when Vialonga has been undergoing some kind of transformation. Social problems persist and in some cases may even have become more serious, but several possible horizons have opened up thanks to the success of local musicians and athletes — who, against many adversities, have managed to succeed and become examples for the community.

“This is very important because before we used to rap, but we thought it was impossible to make a living from it,” says Phoenix RDC. “Today, kids see that it’s possible. Even if they don’t have the technique yet, they have talent and they invest in it. And today we have a direct relationship with the public, we don’t need radio stations or people to filter us, there’s no possibility of boycotts.”

Nenny, for example, looks at her cousin and niece, who are still children, and identifies that their mentality has changed. “They grew up with music and understanding that it is possible, that they can do this in their lives. They already have these references. And the fact that they organized the festival is also a great initiative for the younger kids, perhaps, so they don’t think about going down other paths. And without a doubt, I also want to help the younger ones to succeed. If I can do it, they can too, everyone can. It’s about giving them a hand, giving them opportunities, and helping them go even further than we did. They are the future. Just as I look at Wet Bed Gang every day and see that it is possible, the younger ones will also look at us in the same way. And that’s how we will make the legacy live on and last forever”, says the artist, who is working on her first full-length album, after having debuted in 2020 with the EP Aura . “And it’s not just in art. My brother, Malyck Tavares, was a world champion in Muay Thai. This is also very important, to have this recognition that Vialonga is a diamond in the rough, in several areas.”

Phoenix RDC, who will also have a new album out after the summer, says that the existence of local references has created a different mentality in the community, which has brought people together and given them motivation. “When I walk around Vialonga, I used to see people with their heads down. 'When I grow up, I'm going to work in the factory or on the construction site'. No, it's not like that anymore, it's 'I'm going to be a giant artist'. The sparkle in people's eyes is different, it's a big change. The limit is the sky now.”

The rapper praises public policies that protect the most vulnerable and fragile in society, which in his case made all the difference in his ability to achieve social advancement. “My parents came from Angola, with nothing to do with money, and they paid 5 euros in rent in the social housing estate. If there hadn’t been this support, these laws, this sensitivity… And today we are giving back, we are putting large chunks into the state coffers, because we pay a lot. And it’s not just musicians, today there are doctors and lawyers who grew up in these conditions.”

For Nenny, Sotaques represents this success that makes the entire community proud. “Our classmates’ parents, who went to school meetings, saw us grow up, watched all the progress and out of nowhere they see those kids putting on a big festival, with lots of local artists. People are very proud and they pass this message on to us, saying that they believe in us.”