In the middle of the Fifties Mau Mau were a liberation group who fought (during the so called Mau Mau uprising) against the presence of the British Army in Kenya. In Piedmontese dialect “mau mau” are called those who come from afar, maybe dark skin, with different look.
The Italian band was born in 1991 in Turin and their first song ever was “Tera dël 2000”, a sort of environmentalist manifesto which over the years has remained dramatically actual.
With the debut album “Sauta rabel” Mau Mau won the Tenco prize for the best album in dialect.
The British magazine Folk Roots has defined them “a rabble-rousing bunch of kick-ass ethno rockers" (a clique of simmering overwhelming ethno rockers) and "... among the best owners of roots music in Europe ...”.
Mau Mau did tours throughout Europe, North Africa, Japan, Iraq, Palestine, and performed also as a marchin’ band of 25 elements (Banda Maulera) or with an explosive caravan of Brazilian musicians in the line up (Dea tour).
The new album 8000 Km has been released on May 2016 for the label Godzillamarket/Universal.
File under: worldbeat, urban folk