Blog September 24, 2013
Maga Bo Interview: From His Home In Rio De Janeiro
One of the first things you notice when DJ, composer, producer, drummer and laptop musician Maga Bo opens the door of his modest top floor apartment in Rio de Janeiro is that there is not one whiff of ex-pat to him. Though he is Seattle-born and raised, one doesn’t imagine him glued to CNN quaffing cheeseburgers or cheering in front of the Super Bowl. His mellow Carioca vibe even extends to his conversation. His English has different phrasing, the extended or shortened vowels in some words. It’s quite obvious he speaks more Portuguese than English these days. Even his name is transglobal: Maga Bo - meaning “skinny Bo” in Jamaican patois - a nick-name he was given in Jamaica. It’s crystal clear that he feels perfectly at home in other cultures with the ability not only absorb them, but to be equally absorbed into them. Last year Bo released Quilombo Du Futuro: traditional rural roots music grafted onto urban rhythms and midwifed by a DJ raised on a diet of dub, reggae and hip hop. Maga Bo is an eternal student of different rhythms and musical cultures from far flung regions of the world.Want to hear the audio from the interview? Check it out (and FAR more) HERE.
