Not often a “cinematic tribal fusion project” knocks at our doors, but we’re a broad church and embrace diversity in all its forms. And there’s even more to Mexican band MUVA. Their Facebook quotes – “Fusion/World/Cinematic/Prehispanic/Epic/Modal/Shamanic/Ethno Fusion/Tribal/Prog/Metal/Glitch”

They recently the band MUVA unveiled the video for their single Sin Un Adios, a poignant collaboration with the Mexican singer Iraida Noriega. A third single, Quimera, is a captivating partnership with the Armenian duduk virtuoso Arsen Petrosyan, both of which will grace their forthcoming album.

We spoke with the leader and producer Chatrán González of MUVA about the enduring legacy of Sepultura and how its influence has subtly yet profoundly shaped the compositional aesthetic of MUVA.

ARISE

My introduction to Sepultura came with Arise, yet in those days, my ears were still imprinted by the echoes of classical music, the language instilled in me by the conservatory’s halls. It wasn’t until the sonic tempest of Chaos A.D. in 1993 that a true detonation occurred within my mind. Listening to Sepultura’s sonic proposal was a seismic experience, a sonic cataclysm that shook the foundations of my musical understanding. I didn’t grasp the nature of that force that pierced through me; it was as if a supernova of sounds exploded inside my head, illuminating dark corners and opening up an unexplored panorama before me. It was an abrupt awakening, an auditory epiphany that, without my realizing it, sowed the seeds of what today flourishes as the sound of MUVA.

Their sonic proposal transcended conventions; it was a river of sounds without dams, where the currents of the past intertwined with the vibrant colors of the present. They didn’t limit themselves to the palette of the ethnic; instead, they explored the deconstruction of classical pillars, anticipating the aesthetic of glitch with a visionary audacity. They played with the elements at their disposal to evoke industrial sonic landscapes, where metal resonated with the fragility of broken glass, creating textures as rough as they were fascinating.

A CONTEMPORARY VISION

What I previously perceived as irreconcilable colors, like oil and water on the palette, now danced before my ears in a surprising harmony, imbued with a proactive spirit that defied the invisible chains of commercial stereotypes. Their reappropriation of their own culture, that ancestral treasure resonating in the now, became their distinctive stamp, a sonic fingerprint both familiar and completely original. They were echoes of their childhood, latent melodies in the air of their memories, resignified with a contemporary vision.

I even came to understand, much later, the subtlety of that specific rhythm on the acoustic guitar in Kaiowas. It was a veiled melodic quote, an invisible bridge laid towards the ancestral rhythm of the berimbau, that primal heartbeat of capoeira. It was as if history itself whispered through their strings, connecting generations and traditions in a single sonic gesture.

TRUE INNOVATION

Their music taught me that true innovation is born from the fusion of seemingly distant universes, that sonic memory can be a springboard to the future. They showed me that there are no pre-established limits, only the infinite possibility of creative interaction. Their legacy in my sound, in the very essence of MUVA, is that license to explore without restrictions, to allow the echoes of the past to dialogue with the nuances of the present, thus creating something unique and deeply personal.

Our thanks to Chatrán for the detailed insight into the inspiration of Sepultura.

MUVA online: Facebook / Instagram / Youtube / Bandcamp

You can read more from our extensive archive of Why I Love pieces from a wide array of artists on an even wider array of subjects, here.

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