Issues

Changing tides

Q&A
Driving force

Mayor of Dallas
Eric Johnson

Mayor Eric Johnson, who was elected in 2019, is a Democrat in a Republican state. On his watch, a reform of the police has been enacted that has seen violent crime fall.

Is this a liberal or a conservative city?
It’s not an overtly political town. We’re pro-business and want people to be the best versions of themselves. There are no natural resources that would have warranted there being a city here, so it’s a place built on ingenuity and the wish to make something of nothing. That spirit defines Dallas.

How has the city changed in your lifetime?
The private sector is helping address Dallas’s historical inequities. This is a southern city and it’s had an arc in terms of race relations. Tremendous progress has been made.

A lot of people are moving to Dallas. How do you manage that growth?
Affordability is becoming a challenge. We’re trying to grow incomes by developing the workforce through education. We’re building in the city centre and creating green spaces. But the house with a white picket fence is still achievable here.

Fixer uppers
Renewed fortunes

Dallas was, for much of the 20th century, a nexus for Texas’s oil magnates. But after the 1980s recession many of the banks left and it became a drive-in, drive-out city. “You could roll up the sidewalks at 17.30, they were so empty,” says Jennifer Scripps, CEO of Downtown Dallas Inc. The non-profit organisation is recognised for its neighbourhood renewal work and focus on improving safety – in the early 1990s, there were 200 people living in downtown Dallas while today 15,000 people call the city centre home.

Shawn Todd, founder of Todd Interests, led investors to acquire The National in 2019. The building had sat vacant for almost a decade when Todd set about restoring its pinstriped marble façade. In 2020 he opened a hotel and residences within it. Today it’s the centrepiece for downtown’s change of fortune, and the Todds are rejuvenating the historic East Quarter.“There’s something about lasting architecture that gives you a sense of place,” says Todd. “You’re seeing people move because there’s a way of life they wouldn’t get elsewhere.”

Reconnecting the city
Going green

The defining feature of the city’s landscape is the web of freeways that surrounds downtown.The network was built through many lower-income areas, cutting them off from the urban core. But that dominance is slowly being unpicked: Klyde Warren Park, which opened a decade ago, sits atop one of these vast freeways sending cars underground and connecting the Arts District with Uptown. It’s part of a growing collection of verdant oases that weaves through the city centre. “Dallas has built 23 acres of parks inside the freeway loop in 20 years,” says Robert Decherd, chairman of Parks For Downtown Dallas, which transforms disused plots into green spaces. The foundation’s work includes Carpenter Park, which opened in May 2022. Meanwhile, the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is set to undergo a $2bn (€1.875bn) expansion. The project will create a new entertainment district to straddle the interstate and reconnect neighbourhoods in the less affluent south of the city with downtown.

Getting around
Making tracks

Dallas is a city where the car is king. However, a shakeup of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) – the longest light-rail network in the US, which extends from downtown to the suburbs – is underway: there’s talk of a new subway system while urban planners want to link the historic trolleybus network with the streetcars that ply Oak Cliff. After much delay, the proposal for a high-speed rail route that would connect Dallas to Houston in 90 minutes is gathering steam – but teasing Texans out of their trucks will still be a challenge.

Preserving the past
Urban revival

In the rush to modernise, many US cities lose sight of what’s on their doorstep: in 1936, Fair Park in south Dallas played host to the Texas Centennial Exposition, an event marking one hundred years of the Lone Star state’s independence from Mexico. Today, the area’s esplanade and “Texanic” monuments represent one of the largest collections of art deco structures in the US. Now the city is trying to do more with Fair Park’s extraordinary architecture and a public referendum in November could see it gain a $300m (€281m) investment.

Back in business
Crowd pleasers

As Dallas city centre has revved back to life, it has caught the attention of big businesses looking for a new home (low tax and state incentives also help). The telecommunications giant at&t relocated in 2008 and last year opened its vast Discovery District campus downtown. The company’s new base spans four blocks and includes a video wall that has transformed the area into a public square. Digital artwork is shown as well as Dallas Cowboys games, regularly drawing a crowd of deckchairs. It proves that if you build it, they will come.

Urban upswing

There’s a particular kind of southern heat that greets you as you step out of the airport in Dallas. It’s a warm welcome that comes in over the wide, flat prairies that extend to the Texas horizon and – as we’ve discovered – the world is increasingly keen on catching that breeze.

Dallas, together with its neighbour Fort Worth, was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the US last year. People are coming for the plentiful jobs as global companies relocate their headquarters to a city that’s affordable but also has ample space to grow. With this shift has come a new cache of places to eat and art galleries to peruse that are reinvigorating overlooked neighbourhoods and kindling fresh energy in a city steeped in American history.

While many American cities have watched their downtowns wither over the past decade, Dallas is turning the tide by enticing people to live and work in its urban core. “The Big D” is again assuming its famously broad stature among Texas’s metropolises, and while the place has sometimes struggled to shake off an image of being a buttoned-down trading town, we’ll show you how it’s ironed out a few kinks, attracted top-class chefs and built an impressive design district. There’s still much to be done, of course.

Despite the association with tycoon JR Ewing, Dallas never had any oil of its own and without natural resources, you’ll often hear it said, there’s a special ingenuity to the Dallas character. Locals are proud that their ‘hood is on the up, so don’t be surprised if you hear a little yee-haw now and then.

Dallas in numbers

1.3 million
City of Dallas population
(9th largest in the US)

230
Days of sunshine per year

$62,000
Median household income (Dallas County)

9
Pulitzer prizes for The Dallas Morning News

64
Number of touchdowns by the Dallas Cowboys in 2021
(1st in NFL)

Getting around

1.
Alto is a Texas ride-hailing app, offering a service that’s a cut above

2.
The DART light rail gets you downtown from the international airport in 50 minutes

3.
The tangle of freeways at the city’s entrance is nicknamed the High Five; avoid at 17.00

1.
Dallas Love Field

It’s a 20-minute dash to this regional airport, which is perfect for connections across the US

2.
Trammell Crow Park

The Trinity river weaves through this vast green belt. Keep an eye out for the marble cows.

3.
Bishop Arts District

Walkable streets of quaint bungalows with verdant garden bars and craft markets.

4.
Highland Park

The grand suburbs are home to luxury retailers and the respected Southern Methodist University.

5.
CBD

The place to start: seasoned retailers, rodeo bars and a vast arts district, which have sparked downtown’s second life.

6.
East Quarter

Dallas’s new mixed-use neighbourhood is home to ambitious restaurants, designers and tech businesses.

7.
Deep Ellum

The “deep” end of Elm Street has the best live-music bars in town. Club Dada is an institution.

8.
Fair Park

This 1930s “Temple to Texas” is primed for a revival.

Running the city

The Comment
Fitness — Mumbai
Running the city

Prasad Ramamurthy on the joggers stretching their legs in congested Mumbai.

It’s 05.30 on a Thursday. The sky starts to turn purple and Mumbai begins to stir. In a carpark in the coastal suburb of Bandra, a group of nearly 50 people, ranging in ages from 21 to 73, stand chit-chatting, high-fiving and back-slapping. All are members of Bombay Running, one of a growing number of running clubs in a city not well known for such pursuits. Today’s run will follow a stretch of seafront called Bandstand. It’s one of those rare spots in this city of 20 million souls where residents can come to open their lungs and stretch their limbs.

Over the past 10 years there has been a steady increase in the number of Mumbaikars taking up running. Their city has been slow to adapt: Mumbai has been ranked 27th of 30 in a survey of pedestrian-friendly Indian cities. This is unsurprising when you consider that only 30 per cent of the city’s streets have pavements. Add to this a traffic density of 2,150 vehicles per kilometre, very poor air quality and an astronomical construction boom and it doesn’t seem like a runner’s paradise.

What the city does have going for it are pockets of respite – residential neighbourhoods with green cover, large public parks, seaside promenades – and a growing population of hardy joggers. “The city could have better infrastructure and dedicated lanes for runners,” says Bombay Running’s Deepak Oberoi, who has been pounding the city’s streets for almost 20 years. “But when life gives you lemons, you learn to adjust.” That means timing a run to coincide with less traffic and lower temperatures: early mornings and late evenings. Runners also vary the length of their runs based on the season – shorter through the summer and monsoon, longer in winter.

Another factor is the day of the week. Shops and commercial establishments in different areas shut on certain days, which gives Mumbaikars a chance to run undisturbed. Puspamitra Sahu likes to go on Sunday jogs through the downtown financial district, home to her office at India’s central bank as well as two Unesco World Heritage sites. “When you’re at work, you don’t have the bandwidth to look around,” she says. “At the weekend, streets are empty. We can appreciate the area’s art deco and Indo-Saracenic architecture at our own pace.”

Becoming more aware of her surroundings is a by-product of her runs, says Shweta Bhalerao, who uses the time to explore Khar, the suburb where she lives. “I might have passed a shop or a beautiful bungalow and not noticed it because I was inside a car,” she says. “But now, because I’m running, I’ve learned to appreciate my neighbourhood more.” Lifelong Mumbai resident Gaurav Bangera agrees. “When you’re running, your body is at work,” he says. “But your mind is free to observe and remember. Running past public parks, I’ve remembered how my parents would take us there on picnics. That makes this city feel even more like home.”

Cold comfort

Founded near Porto in 1927, Super Bock is a Portuguese brewery which knows that less is sometimes more. Its miniature 200ml brown-glass bottles are a perfect summer staple for beaches, picnics and terraces as they stay cold longer than their larger cousins. It’s the same idea as the smaller schooner glass used in Australia (a pint would get too hot) but rather cuter in execution. Now, a toast to the warm weather and keeping cool as the mercury rises.

Ebb and flow

Stylist: Daphné Hézard
Hair & make-up: Yolette Bouchar
Model: Alexis Petit
Locations: Baptiste Viry

Pack it in

Meeting in the middle

What hits you first is the noise. Stepping out of a taxi in Wynwood on a Sunday evening (a Sunday!) your hair seems to flutter with the ruckus of bars competing to make their Cumbia music the loudest and the stretch monster trucks cruising by. Miami has always had a reputation as a party town, a place of ubiquitous hot pink where the 1980s never completely ended. Over the past two years, however, thousands of people have relocated to the city – in the year to July 2021, 260,000 more people arrived in Florida than left – and that has ratcheted the decibels up a notch.

Long a first port-of-call for people coming to the US from Latin America and the Caribbean, Miami’s recent population surge has been led by Americans, many of them New Yorkers seeking a sunnier spot on the East Coast. Partly, it’s because Florida never really shut down: Governor Ron DeSantis defiantly kept the state open for business throughout the pandemic. But what’s happening in Miami is more than just a Zoom boom.

Isabella Acker, originally from Atlanta, runs a creative agency in Little Haiti and last year turned her office into a tiny recording studio, hosting impromptu candlelit performances by musicians from around the world, pairing them with Miami-based artists. “Now we have all these recordings we’ve collected and we’re planning to turn them into physical records,” says Acker, who launched her label, Tigre Den Recordings, in March. She compares the musical boom to when early underground Salsa recordings were pressed in 1960s New York. “Everyone thinks of Gloria Estefan but the real sound of Miami is Afro-Cuban funk. What we’ve found is that global music fuses so well with that. If you can make people dance in Miami, you’re all set.”

Crypto is also upping the city’s tempo. The word is everywhere: on billboards, on the side of gleaming new skyscrapers. Even the home stadium of the basketball team, Miami Heat, has been renamed FXT Arena after a cryptocurrency exchange. The mayor, Francis X Suarez, has said that he wants to refashion the city’s “fun in the sun image” into a technology town and crypto hub. He even backed the creation of a “MiamiCoin”, although the value has tanked in the past few months.

With crypto, Suarez tied his city’s wagon to a skittish horse but it has had the desired effect: Florida added 2,715 new technology businesses last year, more than any other US state. “When Silicon Valley really was Silicon Valley, you wanted to be in the room and so you moved to Palo Alto,” says Pablo Quiroga, who moved from Las Vegas in November. “Miami is that place now.” His company Star Atlas has built a virtual universe where everything can be bought and sold on a blockchain; he talks dizzyingly about the millions of dollars of investment his company has attracted. Being in Miami kicked that into overdrive.

“I grew up in Orlando and Miami was always just a place for partying,” he says. “I only came here initially for a bitcoin conference but I could taste the opportunity in the air: capital, technology, culture.” Quiroga says that it’s the city’s tropical beauty that brings him back to earth. “In crypto, everything moves in seconds, so it’s healthy to step away and reconnect with nature,” he says. “I live in Coconut Grove and every day I run up Old Cutler Road, beneath the banyan trees that line the street. In Miami the ocean is always a step away.” He can’t resist a techie metaphor: “It’s nature on-demand.”

Coconut Grove bears some of the construction-related marks of the new technology money that’s washed into Biscayne Bay over the past couple of years but it’s still a peaceful neighbourhood of cafés and strollable pavements shaded by palm fronds. Josh Hackler’s Krüs Kitchen on Main is a new restaurant and mini-market selling products from Miami start-up producers – sesame butters, hand-milled granola and chocolate bars packed with toasted coconut. “I feel like the city has gone from being a teenage party animal and is now rolling into its mid twenties,” says Hackler, who came to Miami in 2018. He sees the artisanal products on his shelves as a sign of how entrepreneurial the city has become. Hackler runs Krüs with Pili Hackler and Colombian chef Sebastián Vargas in an art deco building where light pours in through a wall of glass blocks. Californians and Australians who have moved to the city are bolstering a healthy trade. Diners come for Vargas’s signature coconut rice – a taste of home – and line-caught fish from the Jupiter inlet. “I don’t necessarily look at this as a boomtime,” says Hackler. “I just think more people are realising how interesting Miami actually is.”

Sensing opportunity, Argentinian architects Leonardo Militello and Fernando Hitzig opened a satellite office in 2021. Their studio in Buenos Aires has earned awards for bar and restaurant designs, and in Miami they say there’s a surfeit of work to be won.

“It’s a place where people need to have fun,” says Militello, noting that there’s a shared culture, which can open doors with some developers. “We always say that Miami is not in the American south but is the north of Latin America; we understand each other in a way that only Latin Americans can.”

Miami’s image is not exactly changing, it’s just that the city is revealing itself to more people. The arrival of Art Basel in 2002 was a watershed moment and today there’s a rich gallery scene. Small, ambitious spaces are popping up in Jupiter; the artist studio complex Oolite Arts is planning a vast $30m (€28m) headquarters; and there’s a new museum called Superblue dedicated to immersive installations. In 2010, Craig Robins founded the Design District, a high-end retail quarter with an enviable public sculpture collection.

When we meet, he’s doing a re-hang in his own offices, debating whether a Cy Twombly or a young Miami artist should take pride of place in the foyer. “We’ve seen a much higher migration to the city in a short time and that has created a critical mass of business and technology coming from around America that has catapulted Miami into another category,” says Robins. He’s excited about all the new energy but adds that housing, schools and infrastructure will need to catch up. Indeed, rents are soaring: a recent survey by property site Realtor found that Miami rents will eat up 60 per cent of the typical household income.

Mitch Kaplan opened Books & Books 40 years ago. He grew up in South Beach when it was a rundown part of town, and remembers sailing catamarans to Fisher Island, which today has the highest per capita income in the US. “If you look at the old postcards of the bathing beauties in South Beach, we’re always about pumping ourselves up,” says Kaplan, adding that the place has oscillated between boom and bust for much of his life. “But this idea of style over substance, I’ve discovered, is a myth. There are very solid people living here, I see them every day coming to the bookshop.”

At the Coral Gables branch of Books & Books, Kaplan and his son Jonah are preparing the reading room for an evening talk by Douglas Stuart, a recent Booker Prize winner. “What troubles me is that the sizzle always gets all the attention when it comes to Miami,” says Mitch, pointing to the confluence of literary luminaries from around the world who made their names in the city and now line his shelves. “You have an amazing community that’s right here.”

The new wave

Spread across sunny spots all over the world, these retailers are detached from the mainstream fashion industry and bring new points of view on modern dressing. Working hand in hand with independent designers and artisans in their communities, they are experts in offering summer staples, crafted to perfection using high-quality, environmentally friendly materials. But their edits go beyond beach essentials to unique design pieces that work year-round, while also holding on to the happy memories of your holiday.

1.
Hotstep it
Escalier, Bali

Escalier at Bali’s famed Potato Head Beach Club mixes internationally acclaimed names such as Los Angeles-based Bode and Japan’s Sacai with local labels including Buru Studio, Ofninety and Zodiac. The multi-brand boutique is where Bali’s most discerning travellers go for inspiration and to discover the latest names. “We pick brands that are quite unheard of or have the potential to become huge,” says Emmelyn Gunawan, who co-founded Escalier (part of the broader Potato Head group) in 2009 with two friends. The owners have an eye for breakout hits: they brought Simone Rocha, JW Anderson and Jacquemus to Indonesia some seven years ago, before they were global brand names.

The shop’s buying, which extends to jewellery and home accessories, is overseen by Gunawan and co-founder Resida Irmine, who make a point to keep the brands they stock on rotation. The likes of Comme des Garçons are among their longest-standing partners but the owners will still not hesitate to skip a season or two before reintroducing labels back in shop. As a result, regular customers, whom Gunawan describes as “the collector type”, can always expect a surprise when they walk in. “They have hobbies; they buy records; they ride skateboards even in their late thirties and forties,” she says. “They still wear their old Stüssy tees and they probably only buy their Converse sneakers in Japan.”

Escalier likes to collaborate with Balinese creatives too. In-house label Vacation, which makes Hawaiian shirts, is produced with pop-culture-inspired prints from illustrator Angela Judiyanto. “It’s seriously out of this world and I think that’s why we have a cult following,” says Gunawan of the sellout in-house collections.
escalier-store.com

2.
Holiday heaven
Diária, São Paulo

Diária is a multi-brand shop in São Paulo’s leafy Pinheiros neighbourhood, dedicated to what it calls “vacation lifestyle”. Founders Raphael Dias, who grew up further south in the city of Curitiba, and Raffaele Asselta, who is a Pinheiros native, designed their shop for anyone who has travel in mind. From beautiful artwork to the perfect pair of shorts, Diária prides itself on selling independent Brazilian brands. “We are always trying to find new names from local makers,” says Dias. As well as stocking surfwear labels such as By the Sea and Lyria, they also have their own brand, Nøgen, which is Danish for “naked”. It’s known for its simple pieces in earthy or pastel tones.

Although Brazil has been living through turbulent political and economic times, Dias says that the creative scene is resurgent in the city. “I see lots of new business, especially in our neighbourhood of Pinheiros but also in places such as Barra Funda and Santa Cecília,” he says. “Those places are becoming vital for the independent fashion, art and gastronomy scenes in Brazil.”
casa.diaria.co

3.
Wear craft
Agora, Ibiza

“It’s like a magazine telling stories about responsible fashion – and everything happens to be available to buy,” says Tiffanie Darke of Agora, a concept shop she co-founded with Daniela Agnelli in the north of Ibiza. Their boutique is part of the new Six Senses resort and mirrors its bohemian flair and commitment to environmental responsibility.

The pair have created a shop where stories of handcraft and provenance are front and centre in their sunny edits. They stock a selection of vintage and upcycled clothing, as well as fashion made from new materials such as Tencel (a sustainable fibre). Many of the brands on show are under-the-radar names producing collections made by people from around the world who are skilled in traditional crafts.

Agnelli, now a permanent Ibiza resident, points to the men’s label smr Days, known for breezy linens that are handwoven or tie-dyed by Indian artisans. Wooden sunglasses by French label Nordic Wood and shawls by Wehve, made by women in rural Uruguay, are other highlights. “We need to support communities that have been thriving on artisanal trade for generations,” says Darke.

4.
California dreaming
Summer, Arles

A slice of California might seem out of place in the South of France but husband and wife Stéphane and Sophie Sultana have channelled the Golden State’s laid-back spirit into their shop Summer. The brand’s first shop opened in 2012 in their hometown, Lyon, and after a decade of success they’ve expanded into a new outpost in Arles. Offering a mix of Japanese, French and Californian skate and surf brands, the Sultanas are doing their shop’s name justice. “We spent a lot of time in California; for us our shops should be symbols of all things sunny,” says Stéphane.

“We spent a lot of time in California, so for us, our shops should be symbols of all things sunny”

Specialising in menswear and lifestyle clothing, Summer mixes minimal linen pieces with brighter graphic T-shirts. “Our customer can be the guy working in the restaurant nextdoor, an artist visiting exhibitions or a tourist exploring the city,” says Stéphane. Popular brands include Common Projects and Japan’s Auralee. Arpenteur and Reception, two new Lyon-based brands, were added recently. They also invite neighbouring restaurants and florists into their world with a variety of creative projects, including co-branded capsules, and host a programme of events. “We want it to be more of an exhibition and social space,” says Stéphane. “We’re working with French photographers and planning events to coincide with the photography festival Les Rencontres d’Arles this July.”
summer-store.com

5.
Beautifully surfed
+351, Lisbon

Lisbon has become a popular stop-off in recent years for people who want to look good riding the waves along the Portuguese coast. One of the shops that caters to this surfing community, as well as anyone else on the lookout for laid-back summer staples, is 1351. Located in the city’s waterfront district of Cais do Sodré since 2019, this is a warm, inviting space created by the designer Ana Penha e Costa, a Lisbon native and avid surfer.

The shop offers a mix of Penha e Costa’s own designs for her 1351 label alongside a selection of accessories from other brands. “The vibe is very relaxed here in the shop,” says Penha e Costa, who has surfing in her blood and previously worked for labels such as Osklen and Billabong. “I often have surfing friends, some of whom hail from as far away as Colombia and Italy, coming by.”

Clients are drawn to the 1351 collection of T-shirts, sweatshirts and polos made in the north of Portugal using supersoft organic cotton. “I love designing great basics; essentials pieces done in fabrics that feel cosy,” says the designer, pointing to two-tone board shorts and long-sleeved cotton terry shirts as some of her must-haves. She has also collaborated with Portuguese footwear label Sanjo, incoporating 1351’s soft signature fabrics.

“The idea was to capture our enviable lifestyle here in Portugal, where we can work in the morning and head to the beach in the afternoon to chill or challenge the waves”

The shop is housed in a former hardware store and Penha e Costa uses the back room as an office and stockroom. References to the sea abound: there’s a fibreglass shark by Portuguese artist Sebastião Lobo suspended from the ceiling and striped cotton canvas beach chairs by local brand Lona. “The idea of the shop was to capture the mood of our enviable lifestyle here in Portugal, where we can work in the morning and then head out to the beach in the afternoon to chill or challenge the waves.”
plus351.pt

Summer’s soundtrack

Road trip
From breezy Aussie electro-pop to rocky riffs from Texas and smooth French hip-hop, put these tunes on and roll down the windows.

1.
Push It Up
Confidence Man

2.
Supermodel
Måneskin

3.
Steal My Sunshine
Len

4.
Night Drive
Shinichiro Yokota

5.
Le Banana Split
Lio

6.
Nouveau Western
MC Solaar

7.
Hell on Wheels
Cher

8.
Samurai
Cairokee

9.
É Proibido Fumar
Rita Lee and Gilberto Gil

10.
Summer in New York
Sofi Tukker

11.
Teardrops
Womack & Womack

12.
Texas Sun
Khruangbin and Leon Bridges

13.
Soaked
Benee

14.
Summer in the City
Quincy Jones

15.
I Got the Moves
Habibi

16.
Mediterranea
Irama

17.
A Gira
Trio Ternura

18.
I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)
Hall & Oates

19.
Lotta Love
Nicolette Larson

Apéro time
Slow down with Nigerian-Italian funk, Austrian chillout and vintage disco.

20.
Ease Your Mind
Darius feat. Devin Tracy

21.
Bells
dbn Gogo feat. Eltonk SA, DJ Stopper and tnk Musiq

22.
Juice
Muzi

23.
Think About Me
Hammer

24.
Lagos Connect
Aura Safari feat. Villy

25.
Holding on Too Long
Hard Feelings

26.
What Is It Like
Wolfram feat. Pam

27.
Negotiate With Love
Rachel Stevens

28.
Un Millón
The Marías

29.
Perfetta Cosi
Sam Rufillo

30.
Yo Yo
Mika

31.
Count What You Have Now
Vantage

32.
Pourquoi faire aujourd’hui
Lisa LeBlanc

33.
Arpoador
Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18

34.
Ride It
Regard

35.
Mourir sur scène
Dalida

36.
Le Reste
Clara Luciani

37.
Summer Night City
Abba

38.
Space & Sound
Oliver

Afternoon sunbathing
Scorching-hot tracks, from 1990s classics to Cali soul.

39.
Summer Blue
Bread & Butter

40.
Imizamo
Karyendasoul and Blaqrhythm feat. Nana Atta and Teezy Musician

41.
Dreams of Music
Aura Safari

42.
Enty Hayaty
Saad Lamjarred feat. Calema

43.
Vamos a la Playa
Miranda

44.
It’s So Nice (To See Old Friends)
Minnie Riperton

45.
Ain’t Nobody Straight in LA
Whale Island

46.
Instant Sunshine (Luke Million remix)
Lau

47.
Sheltered Life
Erlend Øye

48.
Western Wind
Carly Rae Jepsen

49.
L’âme-stram-gram
Mylène Farmer

50.
Calma
Marisa Monte

51.
French Waltz
Leon Ware

52.
Só Para Você
Juniper feat. Sango and Vhoor

53.
Together Again
Janet Jackson

54.
Se a vida é (That’s the Way Life Is)
Pet Shop Boys

55.
Breathe
Télépopmusik

56.
Summer Breeze
The Isley Brothers

57.
Everybody Loves the Sunshine
Roy Ayers Ubiquity

58.
Pick Up Your Heart
Paige Bea

59.
Rhythm to Ya Love
Sunni Colón

60.
Sunchyme
Dario G

Euro dance floor
Italo-disco, Cypriot salsa and Spanish pop tunes to transport you straight to a Mediterranean nightclub.

61.
Ciao Ciao
La Rappresentante di Lista

62.
Libre
Angèle

63.
This Girl
Kungs vs Cookin’ on 3 Burners

64.
Slomo
Chanel

65.
Je Survivrai
Régine

66.
Madame
Kings x Trannos

67.
On Your Mind
Doss

68.
You Could Be
Anz feat. George Riley

69.
Bamboo Fighter
Soichi Terada

70.
Cleo
Shygirl

71.
I’m Good
Betta Lemme

72.
Talk About
Rain Radio and DJ Craig Gorman

73.
Into the Groove (remix)
Madonna

74.
La Nuit
Diva

75.
The Summer Is Magic
Playahitty

76.
Bagno a Mezzanotte
Elodie

77.
1ul
Danny L Harle

78.
I Can’t Get Enough
Cazzi Opeia

79.
All Around the World
atc

80.
Kuuma Jäbä
Isaac Sene

81.
Turn Me On
Kevin Lyttle

82.
Caramela
Eleni Foureira

83.
Live Is Life
Opus

Brazilian sunset
Sultry, tropical beats to wind down to – expect moody jazz, samba and bossa nova from Latin-America and beyond.

84.
Dégaine
Aya Nakamura feat. Damso

85.
São Paulo
Julia Jean-Baptiste

86.
Pourquoi C’est Comme Ça?
Jacques

87.
I’m Not in Love
Karen Souza

88.
Paris Tropical (Kazy Lambist remix)
Minuit

89.
Brisa
Iza

90.
Sexy Yemanjá
Pepeu Gomes

91.
Midnight Cruisin’
Kingo Hamada

92.
Sove Lanmou
Zouk Machine

93.
Passarinha
Bala Desejo

94.
Give My Love a Try
Body Music feat. Xavier Smith

95.
Sensitivity
Ralph Tresvant

96.
Menino do Rio
Caetano Veloso

97.
Darling Come Back Home
Barbara Mason

98.
Freed from Desire
Gala

99.
Tutto Va Bene Quando Facciamo l’amore
Alex Rossi feat. Jo Wedin

100.
Smooth Operator
Sade

To listen to the playlist, search for Monocle 24’s account on Spotify – and make sure to tune in to our round-the-clock programming.

Different beat

It’s 22.00 on a Saturday at the sold-out Coliseu dos Recreios and the crowd is waiting anxiously under the domed ceiling of this storied venue in Lisbon. There’s excitement in the air as people lean over the balustrades to get a better view of the stage. The auditorium chants in unison: “Dino, Dino, Dino”. They’re calling for Dino d’Santiago. Despite having been on Portugal’s music scene for the past 20 years, the musician became a star here after the 2018 release of his album Mundu Nôbu [“New World”]. On this record and two more he has released since, the musician (who grew up in an Algarve fishing village) revisited his roots as a son of the Cape Verdean diaspora, mixing rhythms from the African archipelago with electronic soundscapes and singing in Portuguese and Creole. “Good evening, family,” he says effusively, as he walks onto the stage in his shiny black outfit.

Smooth R&B vocals start floating over the galloping rhythm of Cape Verde’s high-tempo funaná, while hip-hop rhymes are sung over batuku, a percussion-led genre that is getting a synth makeover. The crowd goes wild when D’Santiago takes out a ferrinho, a traditional elongated metallic instrument played by rubbing a knife on it. Moments of euphoric singing are interspersed with sober storytelling as D’Santiago shares tales of the journey that led him to tonight’s glory, as well as historical excerpts recounting the hardships endured by Cape Verde’s inhabitants.

Still, the overwhelming sentiment tonight is of hope. “I am here to share my past and dream of the future with you,” he says. His track “Nova Lisboa” (New Lisbon) has become an unofficial anthem for a generation eager to turn the page on yesterday’s traumas and celebrate the unique mix of cultures that’s particular to this city.

D’Santiago might be the latest flagbearer for this movement but the roots of this “new Lisbon” aren’t in fact that new. Portugal’s colonial past has long created ties between the country, six African nations, Brazil and Timor-Leste – collectively known as the Lusophone world. In the past 50 years, waves of migration from these countries have made Lisbon a place where cultures come together. In music, these influences are now expressed by second-generation artists and foreign-born musicians who come to Lisbon looking to expand their careers after making it big on home soil.

“It’s a mark for an African artist to conquer Portugal and to fill arenas here. When they return to their home country their fees can double or triple,” says Angolan musician, producer and writer Kalaf Epalanga. As well as being the executive producer behind D’Santiago’s latest releases, he shot to fame as a musician in the early 2000s as part of Lisbon-based band Buraka Som Sistema. The group made thumping dance music by mixing Angolan kuduro with electronic styles borrowed from São Paulo and New York. One of Portugal’s most successful musical exports, the band showed the world a Lisbon different to the home of melancholic fado that was lodged in many people’s imaginations. Today, Epalanga continues to be involved with the city’s cultural scene and championing new acts; he’s also working with Angolan singer Toty Sa’Med, who has made the move from Luanda to Lisbon and has become one of the city’s most hyped up-and-coming acts.

In the past musicians from Portuguese-speaking Africa have come to Lisbon in search of the industry’s infrastructure – studios, labels and venues – as well as a wider market that can push forward their careers. They achieved success here with genres from singalong kizomba to avant garde jazz – today, for example, the likes of Calema, two brothers from the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, are making strides here with one catchy summer hit after another. But the industry is often quick to dismiss certain some of these dance-floor-ready tunes as fleeting pleasures and fails to capitalise on them.

“Portugal has a lot to gain from these careers,” says Epalanga. Keeping this talent in the country would make business sense (it’s still a sore point here that Cape Verdean icon Cesária Évora recorded in France after struggling to find recognition in Portugal). Many taste-makers, though, seem to believe that only certain genres should be considered a defining part of Portuguese culture and have been slow to embrace the music coming from Lisbon’s rich mix of communities. “One of the biggest Achilles’ heels of Portugal’s industries is not having the same diversity present as in the streets,” says Epalanga.

Musician and label-owner Branko, who used to play with Epalanga in Buraka Som Sistema, agrees. “People say we opened the public’s eyes to Lisbon’s music of African origin but the city has been consuming this music much before we came along,” he says outside Komum, the fashion shop he owns downtown. Before Buraka, a genre such as their up-tempo batida stayed in the shadows because it started in the housing estates on the city’s periphery where most African communities live. But the band’s international success has led many Lisboetas to start embracing this culture as their own.

Today the genre is so beloved that it is taking centre-stage at some of the city’s hallmark music events. It’s kick-off night at Sónar Lisbon (the first iteration of the famous Barcelona-born festival in Portugal) and producer-cum-DJ Nídia is in the middle of a dizzying set that has the room in a sweaty trance. Her music has won acclaim in clubs from London to Tokyo but it’s rooted in her experience of growing up in a multicultural household and neighbourhood on the outskirts of Lisbon. “There were the Portuguese of Portuguese origin, the Guinean, São Toméan and Brazilian – and we’d all be eating together and sharing music,” she says, as she cools down backstage.

Young producers like her are pushing batida into new, exciting directions and many of them are signed with Príncipe Discos. The Lisbon-based label has earned a cult following for focusing on this speaker-rattling genre for more than 10 years. “It’s a sound that could only come from Lisbon, because of the concentration of immigrants their exposure to European culture and how they interpret the sounds coming from Africa through those lenses,” says label co-founder José Moura. Thanks to their efforts, batida is now a mainstay on dance floors all around Lisbon.

Back at Sónar, Nídia’s audience is filled with artsy, cosmopolitan types of all races. Still, Nídia believes that the success of the genre should go hand in hand with people’s awareness of its origins – and that cultural events that bring people together from all parts of the city would help. “It’s not just about consuming the music; it’s knowing the history behind it,” she says.

What all of these musicians share is a hope that Lisbon can be seen as more than just a host to different cultures but a fertile ground for new genres and musical developments too. Creating a strategy for this truly multicultural scene would help to attract a 250 million-strong market of Portuguese-speaking listeners around the world. Yet, so far, official institutions haven’t jumped at the soft-power chance. “There’s no collective organisation working on exporting the idea of Portuguese-expression music as a cohesive block, so that it can gain its own global territory,” says Branko.

Some independent players are taking matters into their own hands and organising small Lusophone collectives. Inside a light-filled living room, Brazilian musician Pierre Aderne is gathered with musicians rehearsing for a concert in Porto. Dressed in white linen and equipped with acoustic instruments from guitars to tambourines, the group chit-chats in between samba chords. There’s something of a bohemian, 1950s Rio de Janeiro atmosphere in the air – except if you listen closely, neither the songs nor the accents are entirely Brazilian. “We’re all drinking from each other’s cultures and it’s this fusion that I like to call ‘Lisbofonia’,” says Aderne. Ever since moving to Portugal in 2011 he has been holding informal jam sessions at his house to connect the city’s local musicians. These intimate sessions started being attended by distinguished musicians from Brazil, Portugal and Portuguese-speaking Africa; the blend of traditions such as bossa nova, fado, morna and funaná became Rua das Pretas, a band and musical project that’s all about showcasing the rich musical expressions of the Lusophone world. “Lisbon is more than [a place uniting] a musical diaspora. This mixture is giving birth to a new musical identity, which puts the Portuguese language above individual flags,” says Aderne.

While Brazil has always backed its musical production on the global stage (Lisbon is proficient at twerking, thanks to Rio de Janeiro funk, and samba-infused carnival celebrations get bigger every year), Portugal has struggled to see its own acts make it big abroad. Brazil’s behemoth musical output has kept it somewhat uninterested in what’s happening across the Atlantic. In Lisbon many still see making it big in Brazil as a crucial step for homegrown music to become a global force.

“The Spanish have been doing this very well, tapping into Latin America and the US; they’ve structured themselves to do so,” says Angolan Luis Montez, sitting in the wood-panelled office of his company Música no Coração. The music-promotion giant organises more than a dozen musical events in Portugal and Angola every year, from niche gatherings of fado and jazz musicians to big arena festivals featuring international line-ups. Those events, alongside the handful of radio stations Montez also owns, have played an important role in connecting Portuguese listeners to music from the rest of the Lusophone world. And Montez believes that there’s room to grow his audience further; the rhythms from Portuguese-speaking Africa could play an important role in opening doors to Brazilian ears. “Just like the US has been discovering Nigerian music, there’s a great potential for Brazil to discover music from Africa by way of Lisbon too,” he says.

It’s exactly a week from the performance at Coliseu dos Recreios and Dino d’Santiago is having breakfast at O Coqueiro, a Cape Verdean restaurant known for its Sunday cachupa stew and live music evenings. We’re in Cova da Moura, a disadvantaged neighbourhood that’s home to a vibrant Cape Verdean community but still considered by many as a no-go zone. “Lisbon should be studied: it’s a city of real ‘acculturation’,” he says. “It’s always been this way but I think it’s about time to officially assume this.”

We walk out on the narrow streets, past fruit sellers and the sweet smell of ripe mangoes, past colourful murals of Martin Luther King and Cesária Évora. Acquaintances stop to congratulate him with effusive words in Creole accompanied by kind smiles, fist bumps, hugs and a couple of demands for pictures.

At Kova M, a music studio nearby, D’Santiago sits down to give feedback on tracks recently recorded by teens from the neighbourhood. This studio is a community initiative that has given many young music hopefuls in the area the means to professionalise. “For our music industry to fully take off, we require above all political will; it’s about seeing culture as the great aggregator that it is, and investing in it,” says D’Santiago. “It’s time that this soil becomes a point of union. That’s the mission of this new Lisbon.”