Between the beaches of the rainforest and the bustling streets of São Paulo, M.Takara and Carla Boregas channel the flow and complexity of water into "Grande Massa D'Água" by seamlessly blending jazzy improvised percussion and experimental electronics.
Interview
Miguel Buenrostro (MB): Könnt ihr etwas über eure Backgrounds erzählen, wie ihr dieses gemeinsame Projekt begonnen habt und wie ihr euren Sound definiert?
Mauricio Takara (MT): I come from a very musical family, my father and both my brothers were (and still are) musicians and sound engineers. That's why I started playing in bands at a very early age. Carla and I started playing together in 2018, originally with the idea of exploring ways to combine drums and synthesizers without having a specific sound in mind. From there, we started to further explore the combination of textural electronics and drums to compose open-ended pieces that are always flexible and reactive to new sounds and ideas.
Carla Boregas (CB): I was born in São Paulo, in a working class neighborhood, and my parents were never artistic. I was interested in art and music from a very early age and when I was in high school I got involved with punk and DIY. That encounter opened a big door in my life. And although I've always been present in the São Paulo music scene, it wasn't until I was 27 (2011) that I started playing, when I formed my first band called RAKTA.
MB: Much of your music is influenced by your surroundings in Brazil, especially the water - "between a waterfall and the ocean", to be precise. It seems that your music speaks of a flowing, watery, even earthly poetry. The titles of your two albums refer to such elements, from your first "Linha D'água" to your latest "Grande Massa D'Agua", how are these elements shaped in your music?
MT : As I mentioned before, our music is open by nature and influenced by our environment. By chance (or not), water became a very present element in our sound for our first album (Linha D'Água - "Water Line"). And when it finally came out, we moved from São Paulo to a small beach on the north coast. From then on, water literally became a constant companion in our lives and our music.
MB: How does your new home in Berlin influence your sound? Do you feel a change in the way you shape your sound?
MT Hmm... I think it's hard to say how that affects it, but it definitely does. For example, I think in Brazil we have a lot more daily contact with popular music and culture, and that's maybe something I miss a bit here in Berlin, so maybe we've been bringing a bit more of that "feeling" into our music lately, but I'm not sure how...
CB : In a city as chaotic and energetic as São Paulo, there is a sense of urgency that I feel very differently from here. This city encourages a different kind of listening, it's much calmer than the city we come from. I would say that this also has an effect on our sound.