Today I’ve been enjoying La Mecanica Popular on WNYC’s Soundcheck and their live in-studio set! Band director Efrain Rozas (aka DJ Oshun) discussed his fascinating academic work at NYU, re-imagining music technology beyond western hegemonic logic:
“I’m doing a PHD about how music technology has been developed with a western logic of rhythm…that’s why it’s hard to make Latin American music without losing that flavor, the syncopation…it’s about how to develop the social/political implications of technology being written under one logic (Western hegemonic)…music is one aspect of that, how we understand our bodies, how we dance…and building instruments with an Afro-Caribbean logic is a political statement…”
Listen to the set and interview HERE.
“The band combines experimental circuit-bent synths with Peruvian chicha-style guitars and tough salsa dura arrangements, never losing clave.” – Wax Poetics
Check the band’s latest video Guajiro and support their debut album out now on Names You Can Trust: