A friend of mine invited me to go to the Brooklyn Academy of Music to see this band, MAKU Soundsystem, and I was immediately intrigued because they are an New York based Colombian band, comprised of mainly Colombian immigrants. This intrigued me for reasons having to do with heritage, since I happen to be half Colombian. But they were beyond my expectations. At their set the entire band would stand on stage, which is large at seven members, very reminiscent of other Colombian folk bands, or even mariachi bands. It made me very nostalgic of the time I’ve spent in Colombia with family. But the band was also very unlike what I remember of Colombia. They’re sound is very modern and ‘edgy’, they make a lot of use out of their synthesizer to make a very psychedelic sound. But in the same stroke they’re sound is very characteristically Colombian, what with their extensive use of guitar and gaitas, which is a bagpipe-like instrument often used in Colombian music. Also though I cannot verbally express why, like most of other Colombian music, MAKU’s music is incredibly danceable. Its the type of music that you can feel with your entire body, and possess your body to move and sway.During the musical performance, MAKU had a projector going on that showed a video of Colombia. It showed streets in small town, the every present mountains, and people. The film was filmed at setting that could be most closely described as the ‘glow’ feature on a mac computer, which lent the video a very surreal aspect, as if you were in a dream. The sky appeared overly bright and the streets had a very vivid feel to them. In general I was nearly convinced that I had be some how teleported to Colombia. Which was probably the intention of the band, since they are all Colombian immigrants, who are probably simple homesick for their country. To me this music is a way to get in touch with my heritage with out having to leave the country, and it is a way in which I can be enveloped in emotion and simply live and dance.
If this art relates to anything we have done or read in class it would be the Walt Whitman poems. Walt Whitman is famous for celebrating the common man and everyday life. MAKU Soundsystem expresses this very same sentiment, not so much thru the words of their music but in their sound. There is something very human about their music, partially because it is so spontaneous, very much like jazz, and partially because the entire band acts as the chorus, giving a very community feeling in their sound. And their music is always a celebration, it is so lively and fun, that is possess the body of most listeners.
INFO
Members: Lilian Conde (vocals), Juan Ospina A.K.A Prodigio Arribetiao (vocals, bass), Camilo Rodriguez (guitar, gaitas), Robert Stinger (trombone), Lety El Naggar (clarinet), Pipe Quiroz (synthesizer), Andres Jimenez (drums)
Musical Group: MAKU Soundsystem
Formed: 2009-2010 to ongoing
Date of Performance: October 21, 2011
Materials/Medium: On top of simply the abovce stated instruments and sound, the group used a projector to display recordings of different places to go along with the music. For the most part as I could tell it was all footage of various places in Colombia.
Duration: 1½ hour
Genre: Music- Folk, Punk, Funk, Rock, Roots, Jazz
Location: Brooklyn Academy of Music
People?: I was with six other people, two Macaulay honors college students, Christina McCechern and Shanika Powell, one Thomas hunter scholar student, Margo, and a friend of a friend and his parents.
I was unable to get any pictures of this performance but this is their website. http://www.myspace.com/makusoundsystem
This is a good example of what I saw at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDNDRa3_oJM&feature=related
