Macanto is a European indie trio band with international musicians and is known for a mix of Funk, Jazz and Pop, with Latin elements; they’re instruments are piano, bass, guitar – with several guest singers and other musicians with a variety of styles, and new interpretations of commercial chart music and creative originals. Both instrumental, as well as with vocals, this band offers an extremely diversified sound.
Macanto are all about “free spirits” and love to experiment with their music. Adoring the creative process exploring something totally new and unseen/unheard, it’s what keeps them together as a band. Citing they only cover songs if they can give them a completely new touch, almost sounding like a completely different track on their series called #macantized which is available on YouTube.
The band's name was Alex’s idea, and the word Macanto originates from ‘Maca’; it's a root from Peru, also known as a kind of “superfood” bringing energy and health. They pursue the same effect for the listener as their music is loaded with positive energy adapting the name ‘Maca’ to sound more musical.
Macanto’s musical influences are broad as they say, “it’s almost impossible to name all of the influences.” Alex (band leader, piano) has Persian roots, so you can hear some oriental touches here and there. At the same time he loves gospel, funk and jazz. Tom (bass) was a classical jazz trombonist and leader of a jazz big band. He has always been into jazz, smooth jazz and funk. Georgi (guitar) comes from Flamenco. The styles of jazz and funk were quite new to him in the beginning. The mix of all those various influences makes our sound unique. To keep things interesting, the band doesn’t go too crazy with their arrangements as they stick more to the genres funk and latin.
They just released their new single ‘Brisa Del Verano’, and while discussing their backstory as a group thus far, they go further into their recorded material documenting a track called ‘Summer Breeze’ was the first song they ever recorded together. “ Although the song itself was fine, we were not satisfied with the recording,” they mention. They deleted the track from all platforms and re-recorded it later on as they improved. Meanwhile, they met various singers, such as Hernan Gipsy, whom they cite they have a good connection with. “We thought that the style of “Summer Breeze” fit more to a Spanish song, that's why we asked him to translate the lyrics... so “Brisa Del Verano” was born,” Macanto continued. They noted it seemed like the perfect time to release the song as the global pandemic of COVID-19 began to ease the restrictions.
Although they adore being in the band, they have jobs outside, noting, “The money we make as artists is ridiculous compared to our regular jobs,” as Macanto make music to express themselves. In-turn, this allows them to see how many people around the world resonate (or don’t resonate) with their music. Making people move is what drives them forward as a band, compared to the financial aspect that isn’t as important for them as if the audience enjoys the show they put on, it’s the highest honour for them as artists.
Speaking of the last year regarding the global pandemic of COVID-19, Macanto mention fortunately they survived it and were able to meet regularly for jam sessions and practice for about three hours every Monday to improvise or work on new songs/ideas.
Macanto wants listeners to listen to their music instead of consuming it. They want to have many tracks for many nuances and moods, especially when listening to indie artists. In contrast to commercial artists they have a message, transported not only in words but also in the chord changes and the whole mood itself. “We'd also like to encourage our listeners to widen their musical horizon and open up to genres they usually wouldn't listen to,” they continued.
Macanto put all their energy and effort into each project and try to make each thing a highlight in their musical journey together. They make a music video for each song, as they think the visual aspect is very important nowadays. As each project is different for them, they mention the measure in plays on their song ‘You’ll Be Mine’ which has been very successful for them, thus far. This particular highlight blends a commercial house beat with jazz influences in a way that people enjoy. “The song has been a good lesson for us on what our audience likes to hear,” they continue.
Closing out the interview, when questioned about what sort of projects we can expect from Macanto in the near future, they say, “We're starting to remake the songs we started with... “Smart People” is an extremely funky track, looking critically (but in a fun way) about people who always know better. At the moment we're arranging and recording the song, and we hired an amazing singer for it (we won't say the name for now).”
Words by Danielle Holian