Alexandre Francisco Diaphra is a Portuguese beatmaker, MC and multimedia artist of Bissau-Guinean and Angolan descent. He creates a music which mixes rhythms from West Africa, poetry, jazz and hip hop influences. He took part to the albums and European tours of Batida, an Angolan afro-electro. In july 2015, he released the first album of his solo project :
Diaphra’s Blackbook of the Beats on the Swiss label Mental Groove : « One of those concept albums that you listen in one go, slightly magic and organic, which leads us in a psychedelic journey across experimental jazz, abstract beat, aerial hip-hop, while allowing tryout and mistakes. The sweet voice of AF Diaphra delivers words coated with Portuguese poetry by speaking, rapping or singing. » (Djolo).
He shows his whole creative process in his 30 minutes film produced by Manuel Bello and himself which comes along with his album. Half documentary and half imaginary, the video depicts the artist, his words and his wanderings in Lisbon streets.
AF Diaphra is currently preparing for the release of « EVMS », a new album conceived in the aesthetic and narrative continuity of the « Black Book of the Beats ».
Pursuing an identity quest connected both to Yoruba culture and Portuguese saudade, he depicts an intimate and universal portrait of a young man of African background evolving in a multicultural and bustling city.
The multimedia artist is now working on a new project : a series of live, interactive
performances around the world called #FolhasBrancas (#WhitePages) culminating in an exhibition in 2020. A transdisciplinary narrative which emerged during a residency at the Center of African Arts and Culture of Iwalewahaus in Bayreuth and the wanders of AF Diaphra through its collections of films, sounds, and objects.
