Our new “Africa Suite” EP is now available on iTunes and Bandcamp!

The album is unique to our previous work and very much it’s own statement, but deeply connected to the rhythmic spirit of the Matuto sound. African diaspora is a common thread in the North and South American musical influences we’ve embraced since our inception. Working on this project allowed us to focus more deeply on Africa’s influence and to document a 5-week long tour that took us across Mozambique, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and Senegal in 2013. It features 5 different compositional voices, with one piece from each musical collaborator on the tour, and we are all extremely proud of this work. We’ve been amazed by the exciting travel opportunities that Matuto has provided, but our journey across Africa was singularly inspiring and deserving of it’s own voice in our recorded catalog. We hope this music will bring you a little taste of the joy we felt in the motherland. Please enjoy!

“If purveyors of the high lonesome sound had hunkered down in northeast Brazil, the result might be something like Matuto. Based in New York City and fronted by American-born fusionists Clay Ross and Rob Curto, Matuto builds on a foundation of forro, the accordion/percussion-based folk style popularized by the legendary Luiz Gonzaga, “The Soul of the Sertao” (“sertao” being the term for Brazil’s arid Brazilian hinterlands). Widely regarded as the foremost ambassador of forro, Curto takes the accordion to town in unlikely selections such as the traditional blues ballad “John the Revelator.” Matuto means “bumpkin” in Brazilian slang, but this band aims for the heights of world-music sophistication.” – Chicago Sun Times

We just got an exciting message from WorldMusic.co.uk. They’ve included us on their Top 20 Best World Music Albums of 2011 list! Here’s how they explain their choices: “In the opinion of the WorldMusic.co.uk team these awards represent the best new albums released over the last year taking into account overall enjoyment, creativity, musicianship, production, consistency, originality, vision and that elusive ‘duende’ that makes them stand out from the crowd.” We’re honored to be included in this!

Click here to see who else made the list.

Thanks to everyone who helped Matuto raise over 8k to fund our Oct. 27th showcase at Womex in Copenhagen.  We are so excited to share our music at the biggest world music event on the planet!  Check out the press release on the Rock Paper Scissors Website! The fundraiser is over, but you can still watch our video below.