M.A.K.U Soundsystem is a visceral, politically charged 8-piece band based in New York City, with most of its members hailing from Colombia. M.A.K.U draws on both traditional Afro-Colombian rhythms such as cumbia, as well as a mosaic of other genres: afrobeat, punk, hip-hop, and jazz. "We not only take our cultures with us," says M.A.K.U singer Liliana Conde, who immigrated to the US in 2001 and went to high school in New York, "but we also pick up on everything that surrounds us.? Mezcla is a relentlessly honest record. The music hits the feet and the hips, powerful and overwhelming, while the lyrics reflect the lives the band members live. There?s the giddy flirtation of a summer Saturday night on ?Haitiana? and the thought that comes from looking around somewhere so different and asking ?What Do You Wish For.? But it also embraces darker political questions that don?t have easy answers. The opening track, ?Agua,? for instance, wonders why some people own the seeds that should be for everyone ? who are those who have and who are the dispossessed? And ?De Barrio,? the warm, inviting waltz that closes the disc, examines the journey so many coming from Latin America to the US undertake.
Tracks:
01. Agua
02. Thank You, Thank You
03. Let It Go
04. Positivo
05. La Inevitable
06. La Haitiana
07. What do You Wish For
08. Happy Hour
09. De Barrio
