Maga Bo

Maga Bo is a producer/DJ based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His work spans the breadth of international urban bass music from hip hop and kwaito to baile funk and jungle ragga to dub, grime and dubstep with ares of samba, rai, bhangra, cumbia, skewed electronic beats and loudspeaker jitter.

His live performances are a hybrid mix of DJ set and live PA where he mixes diverse sounds culled from pirate cassettes bought on the street in various parts of the world, MP3s from the internet, obscure vinyl found in underground shops, original beats, unreleased remixes and exclusive tracks. Divergent sources are combined and mixed live in a dubwise fashion with a DJ's feel for the dance oor and the hip hop mentality of creating by re-contextualizing. Projected video and photo images from his travels and recording sessions bring an extra visual dimension to the music.

Playing lower proles guerilla gigs such as an industrial complex in São Paulo, a boat in the North Sea or an improvised pirate powered sound system on the street during carnival in Rio de Janeiro, some of his more visible appearances have been at Club Transmediale in Berlin, The Sydney Festival in Australia, Fabric in London, Turntables on the Hudson in New York City, The Chicago World Music Festival, Pop Montreal in Canada and the Clandestino Festival in Sweden.

His musical collaborators are spread out over an equally vast geographic area - Xuman of Pee Froiss in Dakar to Teba and Max Normal in Cape Town to Mr. Catra and Marcelo Yuka in Rio de Janeiro, Kalaf of Buraka Som Sistema in Lisbon or Moroccan hip hop masters Bigg and K-Libre to Barcelona-based luddite laptopist Filastine.

Traveling often and widely, he stays weeks at a time connecting and collaborating with local musicians and vocalists. His methods are simple and eective. Armed with a laptop and a microphone, a $6 hotel room anywhere turns into a recording studio. Electronic acquaintances and friends of friends, in person, become musical conspirators, teachers and friends. Over time, a deep musical landscape is being creating that is the collective imprint of this community.

World music is music with truly global reach - 50 Cent, U2, Shakira. This is the other thing - emissions from the flip side where vocals recorded in one room studios on a microphone taped to a refrigerator in lieu of a stand get released on the internet and over local sound systems the same night. By the next day, the track has been sampled again by guys on the other side of the world and mashed up with whatever local concoctions they've got going on. Maga Bo is tapped into and part of this weird new sonic zone.