Tarraxinha

Tarraxinha is a dance and musical genre that originated in Angola in the province of Benguela during the 1980s. Tarraxinha means “little screw in a bolt” in portuguese.

Tarraxinha music started out as slowed-down Kuduro with pioneers such as DJ Chico Max, DJ Znobia and DJ Madabaya. As a dance, Tarraxinha is very sensual and requires very few steps as its more about the “paradas” (=“stops”). At its basis, there is the “ginga” (the sensual movement of bodies that is necessary, in different amounts) and body rolls.

During its inception Tarraxinha was criticized for being too liberal with its ginga but as the dance gained popularity amongst the youth it became more common for DJs to play Tarraxinha music during the end of kizomba parties when mostly young people were left. In recent times more tarraxinha dancers have turned to music styles such as Ghetto-Zouk music as very few tarraxinha music is produced. Alongside Kizomba, Tarraxinha has been the influence of Urban Kiz.

Tarraxo and Tarraxa

Tarraxo is both a dance and musical style that originate from Tarraxinha. Tarraxo music appeared in early 2010s in Lisbon in the Angolan/Afro Portuguese communities with pioneers such as Dj BeBeDeRa and Dj Matabaya Moreira who had the intention of the music being “a more raw and dark version of tarraxinha”. In contrast, Tarraxo dance appeared in late 2010s and varied from Tarraxinha in that you were able to move around more.

Tarraxa is another word that has been used to refer to Tarraxinha (the dance) as well as Tarraxo (the dance and music) which has caused some confusion.