Mozambican saxophonist Moreira Chonguiça sharpens the rhythmic focus of “Dá Ou Não Dá”, a 2021 composition by vocalist Mr Kuka reinterpreted in a new 2025 version. Based in Maputo, Chonguiça has long operated at the centre of pan-African jazz, and this release draws him into direct conversation with pandza: a contemporary Mozambican style shaped by marrabenta, dancehall and hip-hop.

The track sets Chonguiça’s alto saxophone against Mr Kuka’s vocal phrasing in an easy mid-tempo loop, trading lines with a looseness that never slips into clutter. The drums remain steady but treated with a light touch, while syncopated rhythm guitar holds the centre. Chonguiça resists harmonic flourish in favour of clean, melodic sax runs, occasionally veering into brief improvisations before snapping back into the track’s cyclical call-and-response form.

Chonguiça uses “Dá Ou Não Dá” to foreground the rhythmic tension between idioms. Pandza’s raw bounce meets a jazz approach grounded not only in American modalism, but also in the phrasing of African horn players like Manu Dibango and Hugh Masekela, key figures in Chonguiça’s musical formation. The result is a generational dialogue embedded in Mozambique’s own music history.

His first major single since Sounds of Peace (2022), “Dá Ou Não Dá” signals a pivot toward groove-oriented collaboration, with a focus on real-time exchange and street-level cadence.

Stream, listen to and download the single HERE