Music
Meet Team Salut, the rising UK trio who are Afrobeats’ hottest property
Working from a converted church in South London, this "Afrowave" group are transforming the UK scene with productions that blend R&B, gospel, West African pop and UK rap. Will 2018 be their year?
When I turn up in Mitcham, South London, to visit the studio of production trio Team Salut, I find myself outside the doors of a church. I double check the address I’ve been given before ringing Gabriel – aka Mista Wood – and it turns out I’m in the right place. Up a flight of stairs is Team Salut's colourfully-decorated workspace, packed full of percussion of all shapes and sizes.
Team Salut – comprised of Mista Wood, GKP and Sidechain Manny – are part of an unstoppable movement in British music right now. In the same vein of artists like J Hus, Afro B and Kojo Funds, they make the kind of vibrant, melodic sound that’s informed by West African pop, but viewed through the lens of the UK streets.
Just like ‘Eskibeat’ or ‘sublow’ to grime in its infancy, there’s a multitude of labels given to this sound – ‘Afrotrap’, ‘Afroswing’, to name a couple – but Team Salut are firmly in the ‘Afrowave’ camp.
“It's all the same branches from the tree, so no-one's wrong or right,” says Mista Wood, “but the sounds keep changing, like waves. No wave is the same.”
The self-taught instrumentalists met long before that sound started popping off – around the age of 12, at the church we’re sat in. As South London boys, they grew up with fellow Mitcham-dwellers Fuse ODG, Clement Marfo and Michael Dapaah, and Fuse even premiered Azonto in the hall below us, before it went on to smash the charts. Raised on the music of their family parties that spun sounds from Sierra Leone to Ghana to Nigeria, as well as the gospel music of their church, they clicked instantly. “The connection was already there. We understand each other musically,” Sidechain Manny says, “we've got that chemistry.”
Team Salut in Red Bull Studios
© Jeaniq Amihyia
Mr Wood of Team Salut lays down a bassline
© Jeaniq Amihyia
Team Salut's Sidechain Manny on the drums
© Jeaniq Amihyia
Team Salut's GKP on guitar
© Jeaniq Amihyia
We understand each other musically. We've got that chemistry
The trio constructed their studio themselves, intending it originally to be a rehearsal space for other musicians, and completely remodelled its four walls for acoustic quality. “G almost killed me and him,” laughs Sidechain Manny. “I was on a ladder trying to hold up the wall while it was coming down – we were missing one screw!” says GKP.
2016’s Dance For Me, which Team Salut produced for Eugy and Mr Eazi, sent a seismic shock through the industry, establishing them as fierce production talents. Since then, they’ve been responsible for Tion Wayne’s Minor, Anne-Marie’s Heavy, and have even been helping Cheryl Cole secure a comeback, but they’re now stepping into the spotlight as artists in their own right.
And the whole artistry thing seems to be coming naturally – sing-a-long hits like Hot Property have made their way into all the right playlists. As a group, they bring democracy to the production process, taking votes on the arrangements of the keys, guitars and melodies. “There's three of us, so if one person's outnumbered then it is what it is,” says GKP, joking: “There can be some dead chords though!”
With the sound they’re channeling ever-changing, where do they see it going next? “I think the collaborations with artists will start to change,” suggests Mista Wood. “So where you start to see more Africans getting involved, with Mr Eazi, Davido, Wizkid, I think there'll be more coming through and changing the sound...”
They switch on their speakers to play me Lover, a summer-summoning cut with live guitars, stamped with their signature uplifting vibe. It’s the instrumental they’ve contributed for Raise The Bar – a UK-wide competition in which MCs can drop into the Red Bull Studios booth and spit 16 bars. Team Salut are then tasked with picking their favourites, which will then go to the public vote on RedBull.com.
What are they looking for in a performance, then? “I like flows, melodies and lyrics,” says GKP. “If the three are present, and there's a story told, then I'm sold…” Whereas, for Sidechain Manny, “if there’s a melody, I don't mind what you're saying!”
Raise The Bar is just the start of what looks to be a banner year. They'll be continuing their Mango Drop residency at Dalston’s Birthdays, plotting ways to expand their live show, and have just released slow-burning new single Wagon with scene stalwart Naira Marley.
With a mission statement EP on the way too, it looks like 2018 is going to sound like Team Salut.
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