São Paulo – The moment the music starts playing, one can recognize that there’s an Arab undercurrent going on. But that’s far from telling the whole story. The sound comes from eastern instruments combined with Western ones, creating a breezy rhythm that’s at once folk and modern. The band Mutrib plays the sounds of Egypt, Palestine, Greece, Turkey, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Israel, etc., a fusion of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans.
“The Balkans area received a strong influence from Eastern music,” says Mutrib founding member Gabriel Levy. He rememorates historical events from the region, such as the Ottoman Empire rule. “It’s European music,” he asserts, adding that he means an Europe that’s infused by these influences. “We run the gamut of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Greece,” Levy says.
The name Mutrib references the choir of the Sufi, followers of the mystical school of Islam. The word is the name of the place in church where the choir stands, and also what emanates from this gathering of musicians. The songs are traditional, but not simply reproductions of classics; they carry much of the group’s own touch and ad-libbing. “Eastern music relies on improvisation heavily,” Levy explains. Gypsy culture, which straddles all of the abovementioned countries, is also a part of Mutrib’s work, according to the musician.
With Mutrib, Levy plays the accordion. The group also employs Eastern and Western wind instruments, percussion, and the tuba – which replaces the bass. Besides Levy, the players are Roberto Angerosa, Valéria Zeidan, Eder “O” Rocha, Mario Aphonso III (aka) Ma3, and Tristão. They are all part of other art-related groups, including Arab music ones, and they all rank among São Paulo’s top-tier musicians.
Mutrib has one CD out, Primeiras Viagens (First Journeys), from 2013. The group began to form about ten years ago, after Levy played a concert with Sami Bordokan, a household name of Arab music in Brazil. The American clarinetist and music researcher Stewart Mennin was in the crowd and told the accordionist they should form a group. They recruited other players and the band was up and running. “The idea was to play a sound that’s out-of-the-box for Brazilian audiences,” says Levy. Mennin não se apresenta mais com o grupo.
But Mutrib is not all about making music. Admirers of the Palestinian scholar Edward Said, to whom the West has a stereotyped view of the East, the band also strives to show other aspects of the East in Brazil, and to make the region’s culture “friendlier” to Brazilians. “When you don’t know anything about something, it’s like that something doesn’t exist; you just don’t care about it,” the musician says.
Mutrib performs often to communities of descendants from the countries whose songs they play, but they also play to the general public. “We usually play for specific communities or for audiences that are hip and into hearing different things.” The band’s next show will be on Sunday, August 7 at Sesc Sorocaba; after that they will play in São Paulo on August 12, and then at Espaço Jazz nos Fundos, in São Paulo’s Vila Madalena neighborhood.
Quick facts:
Mutrib in concert – August 7
Sunday, 5pm
Sesc Sorocaba
Rua Barão de Piratininga, 555 – Jardim Faculdade – Sorocaba – SP
Free of charge
Find out more: http://www.sescsp.org.br/programacao/100529_MUTRIB
Mutrib in concert – August 12
Friday, 9:30pm
Espaço Jazz nos Fundos
Rua Cardeal Arcoverde, 742 – Vila Madalena – São Paulo – SP
Price: BRL 25
Find out more: http://jazznosfundos.net/
Email: contato@jazznosfundos.net
Phone: +55 (11) 3088 0645
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
