Banding together: Matuto band members, from left, Rob Curto, Ze Mauricio, Ayneley Powell, Kevin Hamilton and Clay Ross, will be bringing their unique sound to Bangkok next weekend.
In an industry where many artists dumb down their work in pursuit of mainstream fame and fortune, Clay Ross and Rob Curto stand out from the pack.
With more than 22 years of experience as a professional guitarist, Ross is acutely aware of where his passion in music lies, and wants to make the most of it. He is a “been there, done that” kind of guy, a career musician who’s travelled the globe, honing his craft with influences as diverse as rock ‘n’ roll, jazz and blues.
Ross left his South Carolina home in 2002 and moved to New York, hoping to tap into the city’s vibrant arts scene and pursue a career in jazz.
The move worked, but took him in a direction he hadn’t expected: just a few years later, Ross he found himself in Recife, Brazil, immersed in the region’s folkloric music.
Returning to New York, Ross began seeking out his musical soul mate and soon stumbled upon accordionist Rob Curto. Curto had spent years living and playing in Brazil, completely absorbing and interpreting the country’s musical traditions.
Born in New York, Curto is widely regarded as the foremost ambassador for forro — an accordion-driven style of roots music from northeastern Brazil — in the US.
COUNTRY ROAD
Matuto is a Brazilian slang word for “country boy”, which is broadly reflective of the type of music the band are now playing. Matuto are a full-time touring collective built around the core of Ross and Curto. They usually tour as either a quartet, quintet or sextet alongside a cast of New York-based collaborators.
Ross and Curto have been able to meld their individual styles and interests into something truly unique: Ross with expertise in jazz, blues and bossa nova, and Curto — who has a strong background in North American swing music, bebop piano, funk, rock and blues — with his long interest in Brazilian music like forro, chorinho, samba, maracatu and frevo.
Ross and Curto applied for a Fulbright grant in 2009 to learn more about the music culture in Brazil, and it was in that year that they performed live for the first time in front of thousands of Brazilians as the band Matuto.
The collection of instruments on stage — from guitar and bass to accordion, cavaquinho, zabumba and triangle — combines to generate some solid party music guaranteed to get hips swaying.
Tapping New York’s diverse jazz, roots and world music scenes, Matuto have recorded three highly-regarded albums including most recently The Africa Suite, a series of original pieces based on the band’s engagement with the people, sounds and traditions on the road.
But on stage the focus is on improvisation, meaning audience members will see something a little different each time.
SECRET LANGUAGE
Ross is a very passionate musician. Whenever he performs, he says he feels like he is in his own world. As a professional guitarist, he sees music as the best tool to connect people from different backgrounds and bring them together without having to speak the same language or share the same culture.
“Music is like a universal language. No matter who you are, when you listen to music you will be automatically connected with other people even though you don’t know them. It is the most special tool of communication,” Ross said.
It’s a sentiment echoed by Curto, who sees music as part of his life. As a person who travelled all over the world seeking musical inspiration, Curto has learned to appreciate local culture everywhere he has visited.
“Since music is my whole life, I want to spend it seeking new knowledge in roots music to get myself and others inspired,” Curto said.
For their 2016 tour which brings them to Bangkok next weekend, Matuto have three other band members joining them: Ayneley Powell, Kevin Hamilton and Ze Mauricio. Each of them have special talents to contribute, but they all share a common interest in jazz and roots.
Hamilton described that music, for him, is a “secret language”. Each person can interpret it in their own way according to their experiences. Meanwhile, Powell and Mauricio think music has a spiritual connection that connects people.
“It’s love, it’s passion, and it’s spiritual. That how I can sense it every time I’m on stage,” Powell said.
MUSICAL LESSONS
But Matuto’s tours are not just about performing; the band also hopes to give back to each community they visit by offering free youth music workshops, developing skills which also sharing their passion for Brazilian roots.
In Bangkok, Matuto will visit Triam Udom Suksa School before they fly to Chiang Mai to run a workshop for students at Dara Academy.
The band members will teach the students how to play roots music and offer them a few techniques to improve their musical skills.
But the workshops are a two-way street — the band members will also be asking the students to teach them about Thai traditional instruments and music in return.
“Learning about local musical instruments will open our minds more to world music,” Ross said.
“I want to be inspired by different types of music and learn how to integrate local instruments into our band.”
Curto said the unique sound each instrument has can help create different moods and tones in Matuto’s music, and learning different types of instrument allows him to understand other cultures more deeply.
“We will ask the students to demonstrate a musical instrument that they think can reflect their culture well. I’ve learned that Thailand has a different culture between the Central and northern regions, so I expect to learn a lot of new techniques on our tour,” Curto said.
Matuto revels in cultures colliding and in the ongoing exchange of ideas. They know its history is not without tension, but those very tensions can fire creative expression and good times.
“We’re questioning the boundaries and borders of the present and past,” muses Ross. “We can’t always answer these questions, but we can let them guide us towards new possibilities through music.”
SWING TIME
Matuto will perform free concerts this weekend, with shows on Friday and Saturday at Tha Maharaj community mall in Bangkok. Chiang Mai residents can also expect the same fun on May 30 at Think Park.
The band members said all their Thai concerts will be free of charge, but everyone is required to bring an open mind, free spirit and a willingness to have a lot of fun.
Even though the concerts are being billed as a salsa dancing theme, Ross said anyone who wants to join is more than welcome.
“You can come and dance the way you prefer. You don’t have to be a salsa dancer to be able to enjoy our music. It’s freestyle and it’s up to you to decide how you like to have fun,” Ross said.
“It’s Bluegrass meets Brazil. It’s an unlikely combination on paper, but on the dance floor, it just feels right.”
“We will be on stage showing you a type of music you may not have heard before,” Curto added. “One thing I can guarantee is that you will go home with a new definition of music.” n
Sound investment: The band run music workshops in communities they visit, and the learning goes both ways.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.