"the [sic]Brazilian street-beat connoisseur Maga Bo (celebrating the release of his new Confusion of Tongues mix-CD on Soot).... - Time-Out New York, January 4 - 10, 2007

Bo-fidelity >> Mondo-tronic music man Maga Bo finds hot sounds all around

Hankering for chutney? No, not the spicy Desi relish, but the musical styles from Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. Chutney, explains globetrotting music man Maga Bo, is “a mix of music from immigrants from various parts of India which then began to be combined with Caribbean influences. Today, there are a number of sub-genres—chutney dancehall, chutney ragga, chutney soca.”
As a DJ and, with his partner Filastine in the Sonar Calibrado Sound System, producer, as well as a sound engineer for documentaries, Internet-radio programmer, mix-CD compiler, blogger, ambient sound gatherer and freeform ethnomusicologist, Rio de Janeiro’s Maga Bo has made finding new sounds his calling in life. The call came loudest, lately, from Guyana, from whence Bo’s just recently returned.
“The most interesting thing I found in Guyana was the mobile soundsystems in Georgetown. Customized carts on wheels with car-stereo systems and built-in speakers line the streets of downtown, near the central Stabroek market. They sell mostly pirate copies of compilations of Jamaican music, soca from Trinidad and R&B from the USA. It’s also common to hear the latest Bollywood hits blasting out. I spent some time circulating among the various sound carts, picking up a whole stack of CDs. I’m just beginning to sift through these. So far, I liked it better when it was pumping out of a distorted bass bin on the street, with car horns and hawkers shouting all around.”
You may well hear some chutney jams when Maga Bo guests at the year-end Baile MTL party at Zoobizarre, alongside the favela funk of his home base Rio (also the starting-point sound for the Baile MTL nights), bhangra, jungle, raï, grime, kwaito, dubstep, reggaeton, you name it. The tunes might come from anywhere, they just have to meet Maga Bo’s stringent standards. And what does Bo go for?
“Anything that makes my heart beat faster. Bass. Drums. Vocals with good flow. Clever, computer-based production. Soul. A certain raw grittiness. Like somebody was really feeling it when they made it. As much as there is a time and place to tell everybody to ‘put their hands in the air,’ I look for tracks that describe and communicate the human condition—in whatever language.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m very up on the latest thing out—as a friend once said, when I get to know it, it’s new to me, so for all practical purposes, it’s new. Basically, these sounds are tracks made specifically for the dancefloor in musical subcultures around the world, and I just look for the ones that I like the best.”
That said, one can’t resist asking Maga Bo what, after Buena Vista, Bollywood and Brazilian booty beats, promises to be the next big thing in world music. The Balkans, maybe?
“All of these musical styles existed long before their ascendance in Western marketing and consumer culture, and will continue to thrive when they lose Western favour—thankfully. Balkan sounds have been very popular in Europe for a couple of years. Kuduro from Angola is now gaining more and more exposure in Europe. Champeta is all the rage in Colombia, kwaito is huge in South Africa. This phenomenon of modern international sounds being exported and hip-ified in a foreign environment will continue—in every direction. All of these genres pale in comparison to 50 Cent, Eminem and Sean Paul on an international scale. These names are as widespread as Coca-Cola—which is almost as well distributed as water.” - Rupert Bottenberg, Montreal Mirror, December 21, 2006 - January 3, 2007

XLR8R, Beat Street, The New World Music Special, August 2007.

Article from La Presse, October 6, 2007 by Philippe Renaud.

"Maga Bo has a EP out to accompany his superb mix CD Confusion of Tongues on Soot, with two of the mix's most explosive tracks included. One is "3akel," featuring the ogre-voiced Bigg growling over extremely hard hip -hop beats. The other is the slinkier "Nakhil," featuring K-Libre on vox, and it fits more into the dubstep vein (lots of zap noises and dubby Egyptian piano lines), although it's got a distinct outsider vibe. The remixes are excellent as well, with ex-Asian Dub Foundation member Dr. Das laying a heavy bassline under "3akel," and Nettle adding strings and extra percussion for an intimate feel on "Nakhil."" - Kid Kameleon, XLR8R, January/February 2007

"Maga Bo dans le plus grand marché de produits piratés de Rio, le Mercado Uruguaiana.
Il habite Rio depuis sept ans. Mais son coeur et sa musique se promènent dans les rues de Ouagadougou, du Cap ou de Casablanca. Le musicien, DJ, réalisateur et ingénieur de son Maga Bo s'intéresse à ce qui sort des haut-parleurs dans les rues des grandes villes du monde. Et son travail lui permet d'aller lui-même repêcher ces sons un peu partout sur la planète avec son enregistreuse ou par l'achat et l'échange de cassettes et de disques gravés...." - Étienne Côté-Paluck, Le Devoir, December 29, 2006

"The globe-trotting beat purveyors at Six Degrees Records are kicking off 2007 with "Stateless," a monthly party bringing emerging and experimental international artists to the Rickshaw Stop. January's installment features a live DJ-laptop set by Maga Bo, Rio's foremost digital contortionist. Mixing street sounds to gritty, booty-shaking perfection, Maga Bo's music isn't a melting pot: it's an intercontinental riot. Working with beats from Brazil, Morocco, Senegal, India, and beyond, Maga Bo creates a divinely borderless mashup of batucada, rai, capoeira, bhangra, and skewed electronic beats. Think transcendental globalization." - Mirissa Neff, San Francisco Bay Guardian, January 10 - 16, 2007.

"Remember that time you stepped out of your Bombay hostel and heard a bizarre sitar tune with a raved-up jungle beat playing on a street vendor's radio? You just shrugged and moved on, but Brazilian [sic] Maga Bo is the type of DJ and producer who hunts down a haunting track's creators and records a session with them on his laptop studio. For him, the backpacker trail is a pomo Silk Road for importing breakbeats into Third World rhythms. Having combed through India, Morocco, Senegal, and Jamaica in the past, he's just back from his latest scavenger trip, this one to Zanzibar. This evening, Maga Bo will be forging hip hop and drum 'n' bass out of sounds culled from at least five continents, creating a travelogue considerably rougher than any Rough Guide...." — Darren Keast, SF Weekly, Jan. 10, 2007

"Finally, I do have to give a quick shout to an album and a mix. If Soot’s your sound, don’t neglect firebrand Maga Bo, whose vibe stretches the limits of musical definitions in a way only matched by his Sonar Calibrado Sound System partner Filastine. But where Filastine trades in emotion, Maga’s mix has the spirit of Lil’ Jon somewhere behind it!" - Kid Kameleon, XLR8R June/July 2006.

"Maga Bo – has a new mix on Blentwell – this is one of the most exciting mixes I have heard in aaages. And I sell records for a living.
An incredible mix of grime, hip hop, wierd eastern stuff and broken up beats. Seamless." - Cal Wilson

"On a recent excursion to Lisbon (biggup the Stellar crew) I ran into Seattle bred, Rio-Based producer/DJ Maga Bo. A resident of Rio for the past six years, Bo's production work displays the influence of the Baile Funk movement, while maintaining an autonomous blend of Ragga, Hip Hop and Funk. Collaborating in a variety of mediums, he represents one half of the Sonar Calibrado Sound System and in his experiments with found sound, he represents one third of the AudioFile Collective. His music on Tru-Thoughts has been remixed by Quantic and TM Juke and has been re-released on several compilations. Bo is also producing music for Piveti (ex-Pavilhão 9), collaborating on tracks with Marcelo Yuka, doing remixes for B Negão and Digital Dubs Sound System as well as producing tracks for Mr. Catra and Speed Freaks.
Travelling to Senegal, Bo spent the late spring producing beats and recording local MCs and musicians via his Powerbook-based studio in the Village ds Arts in Grand Dakar. His collaborators include Pee Froiss (Xuman, Koc6 and DJ Gee Bayss), ALIF,(Attaque Libératoire de l'Infanterie Féministe), Wa BMG 44, Omzo, Eskadron 113, Daddy Maky, Mell Nenen Crew, Edouard Manga and Modou M'Baye, representing a broad cross-section of Dakar's current hip-hop scene. Tracks in Wolof and French make up the majority of the production, with a few jams in English, Mandinka, and even the wolofolatino patois of Eskadron 113." - Karl Injex, Straight No Chaser, Summer 2005

"...right now KoB is going to give a huge recommendation to a certain Mr Maga Bo. For those of you who don't know....
Maga Bo is a hi-tech DJ based in Rio de Janeiro, and his groove is to weld beats and styles from all over the world. And in this case, that means ALL over the world; a true blend of unclassifiable beats and sounds liven up an already inspiring mix of cutting-edge ragga, dub and breakbeat, plus truly atmospheric samples from street markets in Senegal, pirated tapes, choice vinyl, banglabeat, Hindu chants and smoking Moroccan cuts. It has to be heard to believed, and has barely left KoB's headphones in the last 2 weeks as he's working out in the sweatshop. KoB isn't gonna snatch Maga Bo's bandwidth - his website is easy enough to navigate, and there are some KILLER tracks and mixes. But, in particular, you MUST check out Live Mix from Fez, Morocco, May 30 2005 and his work on the Brazil Network where every month this hardworking soundsmith produces a half hour show of the best of Brazilian music, old and new. Oh, yeah, Maga Bo has just released a twisted mix of found sounds and other madness at Blentwell's Blentcasts. You just have to check out the tracklist for the Fez gig; 49 tracks squeezed into 1 hour, including Marvin Gaye, Brazilian and mixed rhythms, spliced with pirate tapes and Senegalese madness! Personal favourite - the accordion-backed Portuguese rap (of course!)
Support the man - he's doing CRUCIAL work!
Respect and love, King of Bongo"

"É DJ? É produtor de música? É homem da radio? Investigador de sons do mundo? Radicado no Rio de Janeiro, o norte-americano Maga Bo é isso tudo, mas através do caminho que foi trilhado ao longo dos tempos pretendeu sempre dasafiar os preconceitos existentes na música contemporânea. Para os curiosos que queiram saber o que peremos esperar da sua actuação amanhã a partir das 23.30 horas (com entrada livre), no Olaria Bar (CCCongressos de Aveiro), eis o que nos informa o press-releases: ,,no contexto das contorções digitais de hip hop, batida quebrada e drum 'n' bass, ele amassa batucada, rai, capoeira, bhangra, dub e batidas electrónicas numa quebra-cabeça sem fronteirs de sons achados, e ritmos e melodias modificados do Brasil é Índia>>. Confusos? Então, não percam as linhas que se seguem, pois contam por onde este melómano tem andado. Um pouco por todo o planeta...
Diversas origens geográficas e musicais
O sol, a boa disposição do povo e os movimentos musicais que giram no Brasil são, normalmente, os factores que levam muitos artistas a instalarem-se naquelas paragens no sul da América. Maga Bo também o fez e juntamente com a curiosidade que move qualquer artista, rapidamente procurou a sonoridade que embalaria a sua mente e alma. Por isso, destacou-se com faixas como ,,Tanto Fazz.. e ,,Tudo Bem.., onde já era patente o reflexo da música brasileira em tons de fusão. A editora británica, Tru-Thoughts, lançou esses temas feitos em parceria com a voz de Tamy e, posteriormente, merecerem a remisturas de Quantic e TM Juke. Actualmente, ele é metade do Sonar Calibrado (que divide com Filastine), mas mantém projectos com Piveti (ex-Pavilhão 9), Marcelo Yuka (ex-O Rappa, agora F.U.R.T.O.) e Digital Dubs Sound System.
A rádio também é outras das suas paixões. <<Mundo Digital>>, programa transmitido na radio Anti-Combate FM 103.3 no bairro de Tijuca no Rio de Janeiro, é realçado uma viagem pelo hip hop, breakbeat e drum n bass misturada com jazz, funk e dub com os gostos regionais de todos os cantos do mundo. A investigação por sons ambientais, também é outra das vertentes de Maga Bo. A Índia e o Sri Lanka foram países que já mereceram a sua atenção." - Carlos Araújo, Diário do Aveiro, 19 de maio, 2005