Coco Maria is fast becoming a voice for Latin American artists and a migration of post digital sounds through re-discovering her roots as a Mexican national. Her curious ear for honest global music delivered via Coco’s Worldwide FM show, Breakfast Club Coco, has awoken listeners to contemporary musical treasures that defy borders. 2021 Club Coco on Bongo Joe, released her debut single “Me veo volar” from somewhere between family trips through the Chihuahuan desert and migration to Europe in the early 2000’s.
Following her Australian tour, multi-faceted artist Coco Maria has given us the opportunity to talk about her growth as an artist and a Mexican migrant.
Read the interview in full below...
COCO MARIA, INTERVIEW By Carlo Xavier
"These sounds are important to me because at that time when I became an immigrant it was a way to reconnect to Mexico, where I am from.”
Coco Maria and Club Coco on Worldwide FM is a bit of a household name when it comes to roots Latin American sounds, you’ve really won the hearts of this next generation of global music enthusiasts. Tell us how you first got into collecting records and why these sounds are so important to you?
Thank you for the kind words and introduction.
I have always found happiness, delight and healing in music. When I was in kindergarten I started getting my own cassettes, CDs and recordings from radio shows.
I started to take this vinyl collection affaire more seriously when I moved to London in 2009. My friends were all passionate about music. Most of them were musicians, DJ´s and record collectors, so my weekends involved plenty of concerts, parties with live music and DJs playing music from all over the world on vinyl.
These sounds are important to me because at that time when I became an immigrant it was a way to reconnect to Mexico, where I am from. An attempt to recreate the atmosphere of my family reunions, the streets, and the sounds from my childhood that I was missing and needing so much at that time.
Your DJ sets contain a wide variety of vintage Central and South American sounds, particularly from the 60’s & 70’s. What are some major influences?
I would say major influences are the sounds of the street of my hometown Saltillo, my parents and family parties with my dad playing guitar and singing songs from Venezuela, Cuba, and Ecuador. Also, the music from the Golden age of Mexican cinema: films that I watched with my grandparents on Sundays. Also, the sound came out of the radio while my grandmother was cooking and we (the children) were playing in the garden.
In the last decade I have also had the great chance of travelling the world and living in different countries: France, Germany, England, and now the Netherlands. These experiences have allowed me to create my own fusion where there is a pinch of all these cultures, combined with trips and the music my friends from around the world listen to.
Digging is a word that gets thrown around a lot but growing up in Latin America it can be quite an art and very rewarding with such a large and diverse recording industry. Have you got any adventurous record-digging stories growing up, or in recent times?
“The experience, the rush, going on the back of a pickup all thirsty for records through the desert, getting all dusty and excited was worth it. Even my mom got into it.”
Concerning digging I am not so intense. I would say I am more casual, I will go with the flow of the situation and not push too much. A digger on the go.
My dad is from a small town in Durango, a state in Northern Mexico. It is in the middle of the desert and once in one of those family trips to visit relatives while speaking to his cousin who owns a shop, he told me that he was in possession of the jukebox of an old cantina (bar/pub) and I could take them all!
I would like to impress you and say that the findings were mind-blowing and I found pure rare gems, sadly, half of them were melted by the desert sun; the other part was safe but not my cup of tea. The experience, the rush, going on the back of a pickup all thirsty for records through the desert, getting all dusty and excited was worth it. Even my mom got into it.
You have guest hosted some Bandcamp Weekly shows for Andrew Jervis recently, which tend to focus on newer sounds. How have the vintage sounds influenced what you would select for something like this?
Yes, I hosted Bandcamp weekly twice and it is always a pleasure (thanks Andrew!)
There are a lot of contemporary musicians around the world exploring and recreating those older, classic and timeless sounds into new productions. They keep the essence and roots alive and at the same time, they innovate with new technologies and little bits from other parts of the world.
The recent Club Coco release on Bongo Joe is another good example of contemporary music with an old world sound. The compilation has some really forward thinking Latin music coming out of Colombia from masterminds like Eblis and his adventurous genre bending groups such as the Meridian Bros. Have these groups and producers influenced your debut solo release and who did you work with on “Me Veo Volar”?
Yes, I love everything those guys do.
And I am so happy and honored about the response that “club coco” received from the global community.
The first time I got into composing and recording was with the encouragement of Daniel Haaksman. He is a great producer and DJ based in Berlin who has been pioneering global bass since the early 2000s. We met once at an event and he asked me to sing for his new album. He planted a seed in my head. We have two songs together.
Around the same time and also in Berlin, my friend Max Weissenfeldt (Philophon/The Poets of Rhythm/ The Whitefield Brothers) and I started playing with the idea of making a jazz album. Kraut -Mexican-jazz :) We got a few ideas going on, “Me veo volar” was the first one… but the pandemic and other things are making the process slower than planned. The good news is we just resumed working on new songs and can´t wait to see what happens!
Post Club Coco compilation, can we expect to see more compiling from yourself and more importantly, more Coco Maria compositions?...
Coco María compositions and Club Coco II on Bongo Joe are coming very soon!!!