Matuto, with its rolling drums and quicksilver accordion licks, earthy vibes and thoughtful reflections that mingle on the latest refinement of their Appalachia-gone-Afro-Brazilian sound, is coming to Colebrook on Sunday, March 6, hosted by the Great North Woods Committee for the Arts. The concert is scheduled at the Tillotson Center on Carriage Lane Road in Colebrook. Matuto's songs can sway hips just as easily as spark insights. On stage, instruments (accordion, guitar, bass, drums, cavaquinho, zabumba, and triangle) whirl around the core of Matuto's sound: the syncopations of Brazilian music and the folk traditions of the American South. It is Bluegrass meets Brazil.

The band features eight musicians: Clay Ross (who performed for the Great North Woods Committee for the Arts a few years ago when he was touring with renowned fiddler April Verch), Rob Curto, Ze Mauricio, Aynsley Powell Jordan Morton, Mazz Swift, Richie Barshay and Michael Loren Lavalle. Ross said the "defining moment" for the creation of the band was in 2009 when he had received a Fullbright grant to perform in Brazil, and had invited the Portuguese-speaking, forró expert Curto to join the project. They had played together in various configurations around Brooklyn's wildly cross-cultural music scene, but had never worked together so closely. "There, on that massive stage, during the apex of Carnaval, through our jazz-influenced originals and bluegrass barnburners our 'little project' became the new center of our musical worlds," recounts Ross. "Feeling that crowd stomp along, with their Brazilian dosey-doe and joyful abandon, was truly special. Since then, we've toured the world recreating that moment." It was that moment when Matuto (Brazilian slang for "country boy") knew they were onto something.

That serendipitous, dance floor-friendly something remains delightfully open ended, a question the band poses about culture's mutability and migratory habits, about what it means to embrace and treasure sounds from outside the musical world you were born into. It's a question that's unfolded throughout many centuries of African and European co-mingling in the Americas, from Brazil to the American South.

"Here's something new for local audiences who like their music just this side of the exotic," said GNWCA President Charlie Jordan. "It plans to be a lively night, for sure."

Tickets are $15 each and are available in advance at Fiddleheads on Main Street in Colebrook or at the door the night of the concert. For more information on this and other upcoming GNWCA shows, visit www.gnwca.org or all 237-9302 or 246-8998.


Posted 2/26/16