Maga Bo

Historically a quilombo was an autonomous community of Africans who fled slavery. Here, the Quilombo do Futuro Remixed is a meeting place where a pan-American roster of musicians go to blend sounds from various cultures, creating a multilingual, transnational, musical pilau.

To approach this album expecting to classify it or judge it based on similar sounds would be a fail. Maga Bo’s latest is free of the limitations – like genre, locale, and even time – that we love to place on music.

Portuguese songs delivered by Angolans and Brazilians, Caribbean dancehall vibes courtesy of Guyanese- and Panamanian-Americans, berimbau toques, and heavy, heavy bass are just a few of the pieces in this puzzle. And although it was released in 2012, like the name suggests Quilombo do Futuro Remixed combines traditional rhythms with contemporary electronic elements to create an album that is otherworldly and, in a way, timeless.

Once you fix the pieces of your mind back together and accept that it is what it is, it becomes easier to respect the fact that this album is all over the place. It’s in the terreiro and the roda; a live hip-hop concert and that grimy after-hours spot we’ve all been to; danceable, rhythmic–and above all–brave.

- Alison Isaac