Grupo Pilon

With a career spanning four decades, Grupo Pilon has weathered a century, a millennium and countless fashions, but they’re still going strong! The Funaná pioneers from Luxembourg and Cape Verde invite you to celebrate the release of their fifth album “Nu Sta Li” (We Are Here) at Grounds.

Grupo Pilon is a Cape Verdean band formed in the 1980s in the Gare district of Luxembourg City by children of the first Cape Verdeans who settled in Luxembourg in the 1970s. Their musical style Funaná, originating from the island of Santiago, is the music that was once banned during the time of the Portuguese colonizers because it was considered rebellious.

The new LP “Nu Sta Li” focuses on the roots of Grupo Pilon. With this album, the band pays tribute to their illustrious ancestors who knew how to raise their music to an excellent level. For a long time, Funaná was only played by the farmers of Santiago, who used an accordion and an iron bar to indicate the rhythm. But Grupo Pilon, together with the band Bulimundo and their mentor Carlos Alberto Silva Martins alias “Katxas”, gave Funaná a new face by mixing the traditional sounds with electronic instruments. Grounds will swing!