Pioneer of the global bass movement, producer, percussionist and DJ, Maga Bo returns with "Amor (É Revolução)," his first solo album in 10 years, furthering his on-going exploration of Afro Brazilian music, set for release on his own label Kaxambu Records on May 27th.
Internationally renowned for his production work on labels like Ninja Tunes, Tru Thoughts, ZZK and Soundway, Maga Bo has long been blowing the bass bins with his global mesh of digital roots music. On "Amor (É Revolução)," it's to Brazil - where the US-born/naturalised Brazilian has been residing since the late 1990's - the energy is channelled, on a powerful homage to the country's and his own, rich and spiritual connection to the drum.
Collaborating with a veritable cast of singers, musicians and percussionists, contemporary and traditional, from north and south, on "Amor (É Revolução)" Maga Bo reconnects with some of his peers he worked with on his 2012 Quilombo Do Futuroalbum; artists like Russo Passapusso and Roberto Barreto from BaianaSystem (Salvador), singer Rosângela Macedo (São Paulo) and rapper Bnegão from Planet Hemp (Rio De Janeiro). He forges new connections with key names in Brazil's contemporary scenes like Felipe Cordeiro (Belém) and Jeru Banto (Rio De Janeiro), and introduces to the world to some percussion and Afro Brazilian musical purveyors like Mestre Antonio Carlos de Xangô (Porte Alegre).
The title of the album "Amor (É Revolução)" translates to "Love (Is Revolution)" and could well serve as a conceptual veneer for both Brazil and the world's ills in this moment. Maga Bo's refreshing take goes deeper, "to love is an action and conscious choice that embraces the transitory nature of life and recognizes that all is energy in transition, from micro to macrocosmic, always in revolution."
"Amor (É Revolução)" has taken Maga Bo years to complete, with multiple visits to studios, dwellings and temples across Brazil, always with his digital backpack, a modest recording set up, ready to record.
In recent years Maga Bo has been busy touring the world as a DJ, remixing artists like Mulatu Astatke, Bomba Stereo, Asian Dub Foundation and BaianaSystem and is currently in the production stage of a new album with his project Sociedade Recreativa in collaboration with artist João Selva and dancer Tereza Azevedo.