| Nyko Maca + Playground | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Manila, Philippines |
| Genres | sambatronica, afrobeat, drum n'bossa Experimental |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Labels | infectious Records (indie) |
| Website | Official website |
| Members | |
| Nyko Maca Madz Abubakar Alvin Cornista Richard Sanchez |
|
Nyko Maca + Playground is a Filipino band. Their musical influences are diverse and wide ranging, including SamBossaBatucada a brasileira, drum 'n bass, Afro-Cuban music, trip-hop, funk, progressive house, hard bop, Afrobeat and dub.
The sum is always greater than the total of its parts.
Hailing from a land of 7,107 islands where time paces at a rate closer to the heartbeat than to the clock, it’s always been natural for Nykó and PLAYgROUND to think holistically, play intuitively, and sound cyclical. Non-linear thinking may be out of the box for some. But in the Philippines, where beliefs in the supernatural are juxtaposed with everyday practicality, magic has always been real.
In order to make this invisible voodoo more tangible NykoMaca + PLAYgROUND (NMPG) boiled the spell down to touch-sensitive music: specifically, pushing pads and keys on sterile-seeming laptops and pedals that mysteriously weave electronic incantations.
It is to elevate the status of digital music-making to new artistic heights, beginning locally and looking globally. As fans of the possibilities afforded by electronic mediums, NMPG aims to demonstrate the ways in which organic instruments such as the voice, guitar, percussion, and horns can take on new dimensions with the aid of certain tools. At the same time as the potion is predetermined and structured much as a standard in the jazz idiom, the trademark of our expression is the ability to respond spontaneously to each other and to the audience in improvisational freedom.