M.A.K.U. SOUNDSYSTEM

Ordering Closed

M.A.K.U. Soundsystem is a powerhouse that’s been built over years of rehearsals and gigs, criss-crossing America from the Lincoln Center Outdoors -in their adopted hometown of New York- to Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto, Canada and around the globe to the Roskilde Festival in Denmark and onto the Atlantic Music Expo in Cape Verde. Everywhere they’ve won over friends: a storming appearance at globalFEST saw the band awarded a touring fund, while new outlets have kept heaping praise. Afropop Worldwide praised the “frantic terrain” the band explores. NPR raved about the “driving and gritty energy…this raw-edged, punk-tinged band explodes with the propulsive force of traditional rhythms and urban restlessness.”

M.A.K.U’s music derives from their immigrant experience, which is an opportunity to create, to find a voice that speaks loud and proud, to connect past and future. A chance to make history. That sentiment is felt strongly on their fourth album, Mezcla (Glitterbeat). ‘Mezcla” is in every way, a mix, an invitation to think and to dance. The band passionately elaborates, “The immigrant experience is complex. Though reasons and conditions for migrating vary greatly one thing we can certainly say is that it is a life-changing, identity-shaping experience. As a group of curious and creative people, our immigrant experience manifests itself through the playful exploration of our musical roots and cultural heritage, while making commentary on our day to day realities, inevitably reflecting our times. M.A.K.U has come together to practice communicating in multiple ways; musically, culturally, politically, and emotionally growing closer to develop a shared language. It’s not always a tight groove, but the point of our mixing is not to become homogenous. “Mezcla” is about us coming together through and with our differences, to create a musical experience where we can all be truly present as unique and essential elements of that mix.”

” What sets M.A.K.U. Soundsystem apart from the crowd is its unusual sound palette. Moog synthesizer lines snake through Afro-Caribbean rhythms and horn lines ripped straight from P Funk, resulting in a juggernaut of fun that must be great to see live.-Derek Rath, Afropop.org

“The group seeks to capture the mix of apprehension and optimism that drives the immigrant experience, and in mixing Latin American rhythms, call and response vocals, soulful horns, and jazzy organ swirls, they end up in a place that might just remind you of the late great Afropop pioneer Fela Kuti… though if you’re old enough (like me) to remember New York in the 70s, the band’s sound may recall earlier soul/funk/Latin bands like Mandrill” – John Schaefer, WNYC Weekly Roundup

“Playing tunes from their new album, Mezcla, (Glitter beat records), like “Agua” and “La Haitiana”, M.A.K.U. demonstrated why they are one of the best Latin fusion bands in America today and certainly the most joyful. The eight members of the band– are precisely practiced and wonderfully wild.”- M.A.K.U. Sound System: the United State of Dance, By Patrick O’Heffernan ( Review – August 2016)