Percussivo Mundo Novo is not your typical electronic band. Leader Mikael Muti and his colleagues hail from Salvador in Bahia, one of Brazil’s largest provinces, where percussion instruments hark back more than 500 years to Africa. Muti has combined the old and new cultures in his ensemble of re-designed computer-operated drums that makes its Kennedy Center debut on Tuesday.
“I’ve worked with electronic music since ’96 and have always tried to get the flavor of Brazilian percussion on the keyboard, so I began wondering if I could do it with video game controls, ” Muti said. “When I finally was able to achieve that with a touch-screen and Guitar Hero controller, my percussionist friends couldn’t believe it. We began working together to perfect the idea.
| Onstage |
| Percussivo Mundo Novo |
| Where: Kennedy Center Millennium Stage |
| When: 6 p.m. Tuesday |
| Info: Free, 202-467-4700 or kennedy-center.org |
“On my guitar I have an iPod, a video controller and a telephone. Each button on the phone makes a different sound. The idea was never to replace the real instruments but to find interesting ways of using new technologies to enhance them without losing our roots.”
Because Bahia originally was a major destination in the slave trade, it is today the largest African state outside the continent. The African-Brazilian religious culture colors all aspects of society there, none more than the traditional street party, where Muti and his ensemble first exhibited the concept that had sprung to life in his studio.
“I kept hearing a voice inside my head telling me we had to perform to give something back,” he said. “After we played at the street party, the spiritual master said we had just done something important for our gods. I hadn’t realized that we were performing a religious ritual. Now that I know to respect my internal voice, we’ll get so much more from our music.”
The samba rhythm leaps to life on the instruments Muti and his percussionists re-imagined. One drum, the Brazilian surdo, is double-headed. Its two skins have different tunings mating the powerful bass sound with the loud, high sound of the timbau of African origin that’s played like a Cuban drum. Another instrument adding flavor to Muti’s keyboard and the drums is the berimbau, a single-stringed bow with a twanging sound. It arrived in Bahia with African slaves and dates far back in time.
Muti is so excited about his electronic discoveries that he has approached companies making video controls only to find that they simply do not understand what he is talking about. He plans to continue canvassing them until he meets someone in the business who sees the logic.”
“I want my audiences to discover that it’s possible to look to the future without losing the past. It’s all right to have friends on Facebook, but we must never forget the real value of gazing into the eyes of a friend or meeting with one for a meal. Don’t e-mail me when you can ‘friend’ me in person.”
