WHITES CAN DANCE TOO

Kalaf is on a bus bound for Oslo where his band, Buraka Som Sistema, is due to perform at one of Europe's largest music festivals. But two border control agents become sceptical when he presents them with a Portuguese foreign residency card and an expired passport from Angola, and he is arrested at the Norwegian border on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant. As he sits in his cell waiting to be interrogated, Kalaf thinks about the events that have brought him there: why he was forced to travel by bus in the first place, and all the sacrifices he has had to make in the name of promoting Kuduro music - a dance music genre created in the streets of Luanda, Angola's chaotic capital.

Like his music, Epalanga's writing bends and fuses genres. WHITES CAN DANCE TOO embraces autobiography, essay and travel writing to produce a truly modern novel: cross-border and cross-cultural. The book deals with thought-provoking and timely issues, of racism, identity, migration, but with a lightness of touch and a delicious understated humour running through the work.

Também os Brancos Sabem Dançar was first published in Portugal (Editorial Caminho, 2017) and Brazil (Todavia, 2018). A Spanish translation (Temas de Hoy, 2020) has the title Tambien los blancos saben bailar.

Kalaf Epalanga is an Angolan musician, writer, and member of the award-winning band Buraka Som Sistema. He has written for the newspapers O Público, GQ Magazine (Portugal) and Rede Angola. He is a columnist for the Brazilian magazine Quatro Cinco Um. His non-fiction books include LOVE STORIES FOR KIDS OF COLOUR and THE ANGOLAN WHO BOUGHT LISBON (AT HALF THE PRICE). Visit his website here: https://www.kalafepalanga.com. Kalaf recently became the first writer in residence at T-Michael's T-Yard in Bergen, Norway: http://www.t-yard.com