Two Milestones, One Design: AMÉMÉ Lands 'Chulo' as Cova Santa Closes

The afro-house artist times a studio release and the end of his first Ibiza residency to land together, capping a summer built entirely around the idea of community.

An Idea That Outgrew Its Party

Start with One Tribe, because everything else hangs off it. AMÉMÉ founded the collective in Brooklyn in 2017 as a way to connect people through afro-house, and what was a grassroots event series has since become a genuinely global operation with a boutique label attached. Its five-week run at Cova Santa this summer, stretching from late July into late August, gave it a proper Ibiza base for the first time, and stands as its boldest chapter to date after showcases in Amsterdam, Berlin, London and New York. Tellingly, the residency was curated around breadth rather than star power, weaving newer artists through established ones like Honeyluv, Kitty Amor, Da Capo, LP Giobi and Coco & Breezy across the venue's open-air floor.

The Man Who Built It

That instinct for community traces back to Hubert Sodogandji's own route in. He came to rhythm as a child in Benin through mixtape contests with his siblings, discovered electronic music via imported French house tapes, and put in time in banking before leaving it for the booth, a numbers background he says shaped how methodically he's grown his scene. He learned to DJ on a basic controller in New York before relocating to Berlin to immerse himself in the culture. His sound carries that span, folding afro-house, tribal percussion and deep house into records that jump eras, from the warm "Wait For You" with Franc Fala to a 2026 reimagining of the trance anthem "Greece 2000" with Baggi and Three Drives.

Where 'Chulo' Fits

Against all that, the release itself is almost the least surprising part. Long before it carried an official date, "Chulo" was doing its work in the dark, tested night after night in his sets until crowds started arriving already knowing it. Putting it out on Altra Moda Music, then, doesn't introduce anything so much as it settles a debt, giving a record that lived on dancefloors a fixed form people can finally take home. Dropping it in lockstep with the residency's final night was the tell: two releases wearing one intention. And it arrives at the end of a year that rarely let him sit still, a 2026 that moved him between Miami, Barcelona, New York and London and put him on bills at Hï Ibiza and UNVRS next to names like Marco Carola and David Guetta.