by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Hankering for chutney? No, not the spicy Desi relish, but the musical styles from Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. Chutney, explains globetrotting music man Maga Bo, is “a mix of music from immigrants from various parts of India which then began to be combined with Caribbean influences. Today, there are a number of sub-genres—chutney dancehall, chutney ragga, chutney soca.”

As a DJ and, with his partner Filastine in the Sonar Calibrado Sound System, producer, as well as a sound engineer for documentaries, Internet-radio programmer, mix-CD compiler, blogger, ambient sound gatherer and freeform ethnomusicologist, Rio de Janeiro’s Maga Bo has made finding new sounds his calling in life. The call came loudest, lately, from Guyana, from whence Bo’s just recently returned.

“The most interesting thing I found in Guyana was the mobile soundsystems in Georgetown. Customized carts on wheels with car-stereo systems and built-in speakers line the streets of downtown, near the central Stabroek market. They sell mostly pirate copies of compilations of Jamaican music, soca from Trinidad and R&B from the USA. It’s also common to hear the latest Bollywood hits blasting out. I spent some time circulating among the various sound carts, picking up a whole stack of CDs. I’m just beginning to sift through these. So far, I liked it better when it was pumping out of a distorted bass bin on the street, with car horns and hawkers shouting all around.”

You may well hear some chutney jams when Maga Bo guests at the year-end Baile MTL party at Zoobizarre, alongside the favela funk of his home base Rio (also the starting-point sound for the Baile MTL nights), bhangra, jungle, raï, grime, kwaito, dubstep, reggaeton, you name it. The tunes might come from anywhere, they just have to meet Maga Bo’s stringent standards. And what does Bo go for?

“Anything that makes my heart beat faster. Bass. Drums. Vocals with good flow. Clever, computer-based production. Soul. A certain raw grittiness. Like somebody was really feeling it when they made it. As much as there is a time and place to tell everybody to ‘put their hands in the air,’ I look for tracks that describe and communicate the human condition—in whatever language.

“I wouldn’t say that I’m very up on the latest thing out—as a friend once said, when I get to know it, it’s new to me, so for all practical purposes, it’s new. Basically, these sounds are tracks made specifically for the dancefloor in musical subcultures around the world, and I just look for the ones that I like the best.”

That said, one can’t resist asking Maga Bo what, after Buena Vista, Bollywood and Brazilian booty beats, promises to be the next big thing in world music. The Balkans, maybe?

“All of these musical styles existed long before their ascendance in Western marketing and consumer culture, and will continue to thrive when they lose Western favour—thankfully. Balkan sounds have been very popular in Europe for a couple of years. Kuduro from Angola is now gaining more and more exposure in Europe. Champeta is all the rage in Colombia, kwaito is huge in South Africa. This phenomenon of modern international sounds being exported and hip-ified in a foreign environment will continue—in every direction. All of these genres pale in comparison to 50 Cent, Eminem and Sean Paul on an international scale. These names are as widespread as Coca-Cola—which is almost as well distributed as water.”

With Ivory Temple and Masala at
Zoobizarre on Friday, Dec. 29, 10 p.m., $5

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