Interview with Innovative Argentine Folk Artist Mariana Masetto

Musician, singer-songwriter, educator, and author Mariana Masetto was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has released various recordings including La Bumbunita (2010); Soy libre (2012); Mientras viva yo iré cantando (2014); Ela e o mar, Narciso (a 7″ vinyl single in 2016); Abro (2018); Uno (2021); and Ciclo (2022).

Notably, her album Soy libre received nominations for Best New Folklore Artist Album at the 2013 Carlos Gardel Awards and Best World Beat Album at the 13th Independent Music Awards. Her song “Solcito” from the same album earned a nomination for Best World Beat Song at the 14th Independent Music Awards in 2015. Additionally, “Jaguar del monte” was nominated in the same category at the 15th Independent Music Awards in 2016, and “Agua del cerro” received a nomination at the 16th Independent Music Awards in 2018.

Beyond her musical achievements, Mariana Masetto is the author of the book titled “Our Voice Has a Body,” which offers a unique approach to singing through yoga. This book serves as a testament to her innovative singing training method.

Mariana’s artistry extends to her live performances, where she skillfully plays the Venezuelan cuatro and percussion instruments. Her repertoire features a captivating mix of her original compositions and traditional songs from Argentina, Latin America, and around the world. Through her music, she invites audiences to explore a rich acoustic universe filled with diverse timbres, textures, nuances, and ancient sounds. This sonic tapestry is a result of her years of disciplined practice and dedication to yoga, which has profoundly influenced her artistic expression.

In addition to her vocal skills, Mariana Masetto plays a wide range of musical instruments such as the bumbutro (a modified cuatro), Celtic harp, bombo legüero (Argentine drum), jembe, udu, caxixi and ocean drum (frame drum).

In September 2023, Mariana Masetto released a new album titled Numina, an alluring and breathtaking work that combines traditional music forms with modern elements and innovative vocal techniques. Mariana Masetto talked to World Music Central’s Angel Romero about her career and Numina.

Have you received any formal training to hone your musical skills?

Yes, I took seminars with Eugene Rabine and took classes with teachers who used the method. I also studied for several years in a bachelor’s degree in choreographic composition, mentioning body expression. I took private lessons with different academic singing, piano and percussion teachers. I studied classical and modern dance.

I am a professional Yoga teacher and I created “Our Voice Has a Body,” my own singing method associated with yoga postures which has a book published in 3 languages through Amazon for everyone. I trained in the French, English and Portuguese languages, taking international master’s level exams in each one.

What was the first song you learned?“

“Redemption Song,” a song by Bob Marley & The Wailers, and when I was little I remember singing the songs of an Argentine composer called María Elena Walsh.

What elements do you prioritize in your music creation process?

Initially the story. The lyrics lead me to tell what I feel and think, then the rhythmic thing comes to me where I start to listen and play different instruments until I find what matches the lyrics, with the flow of the song. Much later comes the melody and additional seasonings but the basic thing is the story itself. I like to talk about nature, which is my greatest inspiration and is associated with my life, my own story.

What inspired you to pursue a career in music, and when did you realize it was your calling?

I remember, when I was 9 years old, I frequently visited the house of a school friend whose father was a lyrical singer. Her living room was full of academic instruments such as grand pianos, violins, sheet music and mirrors. That context impacted me so much that I remember for no reason starting to sing and he, surprised to hear me, told me that my destiny was music. That he had the conditions of an artist. That moved me a lot and encouraged me to follow the path of art.

Can you describe your creative process and how you come up with a new song or composition?

In general I like to travel, I have a higher degree in tourism and my idea has always been to see the world. Every trip I take and without excuses leads me to think of a new song, a new story, a new melody. Travel is essential for my musical creation.

During the trip or upon arrival, the first descriptions or stories emerge that will compose a new song. The good thing is that maybe it’s not just one story, sometimes I write more than one different situation. Then each one will transform into a new song. In this last album Numina I liked the idea of playing with languages, which are also generally situations that one experiences when traveling. I always start with the story, then add the rhythm and thus arrive at the end with the melody and the arrangements.

How do you balance preserving musical traditions and pushing boundaries to create something new and innovative?

Musical and cultural contexts pass through us. My impulse is not to change anything but to add my own ideas that undoubtedly come embedded with all my ancestral information, not only regional Argentine, but also what comes to me through my ancestors who are European. Today everything is open and the map became much larger and connected on a musical level. I started singing folk music, beautiful songs, but I realized that I was representing something that did not coincide with my life, that’s why I started writing my own story.

What are some of your musical influences and how have they affected your work?

I have listened and listen to a lot of different music from around the world. I started in my adolescence listening to a lot of reggae, Bob Marley and an Argentine group called Los Cafres, I liked to go see them play live, I was excited and began to think about being an artist. I also listened to Paul McCartney, The Beatles, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Amadou et Mariam, Salif Keïta, Lhasa de Sela, Lila Downs, Naná Vasconcelos, Tribalistas. I think that many of that music has left rhythmic and melodic traces on me. These songs have undoubtedly been a model of what I listened to, as did everyone else. We have danced and sung with these artists. My hope is to leave my musical mark in this aspect so that someone will sometimes remember me as the seed of a new song in the world.

What do you hope listeners take away from your music and performances?

My songs have messages and my idea is to raise awareness or awaken both humanistic and naturalistic reflections. I intend with my songs to open minds a little through this beautiful musical language that I always say is what has saved us and will save us as humans. Live, I also usually show projected images, videos of the songs or the environments where I travel and from where my songs have always been shot. For me, trips are the beginning of a new song. So I also show what I like most in life besides making music, which is traveling and being able to communicate in several languages to perceive different cultures and thus continue growing and evolving.

Can you share a particularly challenging moment in your music career and how you overcame it?

I was nominated with my second album Soy libre at the Gardel Awards as best new folklore artist in my country, that made me see where I stood and the responsibility I had to continue growing. Also with the same album I was nominated at the Independent Music Awards in the USA. From there I understood that I had to continue perfecting myself and shortly after I began to think about writing songs to express my thoughts, my emotions. I continue on the path of artistic construction, now with this idea of writing in two languages as a triggering and unifying resource as a human being.

How do you stay motivated and inspired, even in times when creativity doesn’t flow as freely?

I do many activities that in some way are connected to my music, one is to continue learning languages, that leads me to know not only different ways of speaking, singing or saying, but it leads me to the history of peoples, to wanting to know how This wonderful world in which we live was put together. That, added to the fact that I have to have my moment daily to practice a new instrument to expand my horizons. I love percussion and that has always led me to not having enough shelves to store each new instrument I find, of course then comes its history, its form, why and what music it was used for.

Finally, when it seems that nothing flows between all these activities plus my students whom I train with my own singing method associated with Yoga, one day I wake up, and a lyric appears, a new song, a new idea. My life is music in every act I carry out.

How do you see the music industry evolving in the coming years and how do you plan to adapt to these changes?

I think the music industry should no longer be called that since there is no more format, I believe the industry existed when there were factories of objects that one could listen to such as vinyl, cassettes, CDs. Today there is no longer a format as something massive. For me, it seems like the illusion of still wanting to make a few albums because I love seeing my CD and understanding that my music is inside. The new generations no longer have that way of seeing music, this makes it difficult. Today, 170,000 songs are released in the world per day according to Spotify, which is the pinnacle of streaming stores. It is difficult to understand how it is possible that all that music can last for at least a week without being old. The only way out I see is to continue making songs, many of them, to advance in being able to show them on video and live whenever I have the opportunity. With my profession I have been able to give seminars and workshops with my book “Our Voice Has a Body” adding at the end of these a show as a bonus to show my music.

Can you tell us about a memorable performance or concert experience that has stuck with you over the years?

The most beautiful experience I remember is the first time I gave a concert with only my own songs as the main repertoire. I was very anxious about what the public who had always heard me sing versions of other authors would think, however I received great acceptance and that helped me continue stronger, since the new songs were tailored to me, they talked about me and that made me feel more comfortable, more secure.

How has your musical concept evolved from your first album to your latest recording, Numina?

I started making and recording folk music from my country and some from around the world, I did it only with percussion and voice, I was very attracted to being able to sing with only one rhythm. This led me to think: How to represent them? How to ensure that songs that had not been thought only with percussion were represented in this way. Already in my second album, looking for how to grow musically, I integrated harmonic instruments by inviting other musicians. Then, album by album, I studied more and more one of the instruments that I like the most to accompany me, which is the cuatro. A 4-string instrument that is widely used in Venezuela and Colombia and that in other countries perhaps has another name and tuning, such is the case of the ukulele or the tiple.

In this last album I have used the cuatro and I have even worked on processing its sound so that it does not directly sound like a four. There are many tools today to make sounds grow or change. I work a lot in production to find the best sound for each element that sounds. Combine different percussion instruments and even use the cuatro in tandem with them. This is how I came to produce this album, Numina with Ariel Gato.

What does the title of the album mean?

During the completion of the previous album called Ciclo I became interested in the archetypes of the Greek and Roman goddesses, the meaning that this has had and that reaches us to this day. Numina means “the representation of the formless divine, gods.” I then wanted to put together a song that talked about 4 goddesses in particular, Ceres, Minerva, Artemis, and Aphrodite. I was just traveling through a very particular place in Brazil where there is a lot of vegetation, sea, and lakes. Each of these places inspired me to connect these deities in a stanza, where I dedicated the meaning to me about them, culminating the composition after having read a lot about it.

I really like your singing style, with ethereal, exquisite voices. What effects and processes do you use?

I work a lot in the recording process, looking for style based on meaning. I think and practice while I write which would be the vocal register that best suits what I want to say and express. The theme itself often takes me to this state that luckily you like, the ethereal. I feel generally ethereal, I love birds, and in fact my record label has the name of a small dove from the north of our country called bumbunita.

Then I basically use a very high quality reverb, standard today in large productions from a very recognized brand. We have put together our own preset length and equalization that is generally what is heard, to this we often add a delay as a fantasy. There is very little compression at my request, I prefer that the voice is natural and that in any case there is more dynamic work in the mix, raising and lowering the volume when necessary. Today, since everything is automated, it is possible to use this technique to generate naturalness. I don’t use much equalization, that’s why I work a lot on the way the voice is delivered.

Another element that you use is that you mix languages in the songs, you make very beautiful transitions between Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, etc. How did that idea come about? Do you always do it or only on this album?

It is the first time I do it. In previous albums, I have composed in other languages but, as I said at the beginning, traveling made me realize what happens to us when we arrive at airports or other countries. At some point, more than one language passes through us in communication, then this new way of composing appeared. At the same time, I have been hearing for some time in the most massive music made not only in the USA but in Latin America, that English is fused with Spanish as something almost normal and I asked myself. Why not? So why not with French, with Italian that has affected us so much in Argentina or Portuguese that has also brought us some words that today are part of our Spanish. I found this game of combining concepts or repeating the same phrase in the other language as a teaching method very interesting.

Given that world music and roots music are underrepresented in mainstream media, how do you go about promoting your music to a broader audience?

It is complex, but luckily there are many ways to show music. I am also constantly looking for ways to be part of world music playlists, not only with music but with videos. What helps me the most is, in general, word of mouth and personalized search since, as you say, there is a lot in circulation and if we add to this what I mentioned before, Spotify releases 170,000 new songs per day on the air every day, it is complex. That is why I must continue producing more and more. I know that over time I will be able to reach a larger audience.

It also helps me a lot to be able to teach singing with my own method, where I can show the participants my own musical idea.

For beginners who may feel anxious about getting into music, what advice would you give them to help them overcome their fears?

Mainly that they learn to believe in themselves, this is the only thing that lights the fuse of success. Then they study, they perfect themselves, they seek to improve, they don’t get tired or frustrated because there are so many doing the same thing. Each one, each one, always was and will be different. If they believe in themselves, those who are afraid will always excel.

If you could collaborate with any musician or group, who would be at the top of your list?

I am very ambitious, hehehe, and it is difficult for me to respond with a first and last name, but a wonderful fantasy would be to go on stage to make a brief intervention; or perhaps a small support or chorus for Sting, Paul McCartney or Peter Gabriel. Maybe even just play a frame drum with one of them and be part of a similar scenario. It would be like one of those dreams I’ve ever had. Living on that side of professional music.

Can you give us a preview of any upcoming projects you have in mind?

Currently, I am already working on more songs that I don’t know yet if they will be bilingual, I only have the ideas, the stories, and the rhythms, but yes! New music is coming! I am also writing my second book about my singing method and looking to expand and develop this discipline for singers.

(headline image: Mariana Masetto – Photo by Ariel Gato)

More about Mariana Masetto.

Author: Angel Romero

Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.