Robin Denselow 

Metá Metá: Metal Metal review – Brazilian fusion stars with a punky, jazzy, danceable sound

Sao Paulo-based Metá Metá are tipped as one of Brazil's most exciting new bands, and their fusion sound is certainly quite something, writes Robin Denselow
  
  

Metá Metá
Constantly changing direction … Metá Metá. Photograph: Crewactive Photograph: Crewactive/PR

The band are from São Paulo, but the major influence on Metá Metá's extraordinary fusion style comes from further north up the Brazilian coast in Bahia, the centre of Candomblé, the Afro-Brazilian religion that has links to back to west Africa and the slavery days. The album starts with an edgy, wailing religious chant, but then switches to new songs dedicated to the gods, or orixás, in which the music echoes anything from punk rock to freeform jazz and samba. The band constantly change direction, from easygoing dance passages and rippling, African-influenced guitar work through to sudden waves of sound, with the cool but dominant vocals of Jucara Marcal matched against furious passages of jazz saxophone and percussion. The legendary Nigerian Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen makes an appearance on two tracks, and has described the band as "inventors for the new music scene in Brazil". He's right.

 

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