The effervescence of the Chilean music scene today connects to the rise of Latin American electronic music. The experimentation with production level technological elements and influenced by Native American culture in its composition, has resulted in a series of exciting new projects that stand out because of their versatility. One of these belongs to Matus, a band from Santiago who recently launched their record “Jallalla.”

This LP takes electronic bases to create atmospheres that transit through other genres such as ambient, psychedelia, shoegaze, and indie. This is achieved by using analog synthesizers, sequencers, guitars with effects and a mix of acoustic and electronic drums.

“Even though we began as a rock band, electronic music is currently a central element in our music. We always had an interest in creating an atmosphere and use ambient resources. Getting into electronic music really helped us in that sense,” states the music and producer Ariel Contreras, member of Matus.

“The synthesis, creating a sound and the fact that the timbre becomes so relevant to the construction of music are concepts from electronic music that really important to us,” he adds.

This album is already eye-catching because of its sound proposal, but the product finds completion with an exciting scenic, visual and educational dimension.

Educational Setting

“Jallalla” is a word originally from the Quechua-Aymara language that unites the concepts of hope, celebration, and good fortune. This is the concept Matus chooses to develop the themes in its most recent album. It is a conceptual record with 12 songs inspired in the world vision of the Aymara people, through which they aim to show elements of native culture to students from different schools.

The goal is to display a live setting directed towards students from the seventh to tenth grades. At the same time, the band Matus plays the album “Jallalla,” the technical team projects a series of explanatory videos for each song. This is accompanied by some activities, guides, and specific content so teachers and students can work on after the show. “We wanted to leave a little to the side the more egocentric part of being a musician and instead serve a concept, developing it,” the artists explain.

“En este caso quisimos profundizar en la cosmovisión del pueblo aymara. Cada una de las canciones y videos de “Jallalla” revelan una de las festividades del calendario agrofestivo”, complementa el actor Cristian Rodríguez, letrista y compositor en Matus.

“In this case, we wanted to deepen into de Aymara People’s world vision. Each of the songs and videos in “Jallalla” reveals a festivity from their agro-festive calendar,” adds Cristian Rodríguez, actor and songwriter in Matus.

This staging only got to be shown once, in mid-2019 at the Teatro Casona Dubois. After the “social out brake” in Chile, many activities were put on hold, which was one of them. Due to the COVID – 19 pandemic, the situation persists. Will we be able to witness the project soon?

“Definitely. Once the new sanitary normative is established, we intend to look for financing to take the show to educational institutions for free,” Rodríguez tells us.

“We aimed our projects towards education because we were a little tired of the monotonous routine of Santiago’s independent music scene. Playing in bars was fun for us, but we were looking for a more concrete purpose. Plus, this allows us to reach an interesting younger audience too,” he adds.

You can check out the full visual proposal of “Jallalla” :

Matus is formed by Cristián Rodríguez in lyrics and composition. Javier Urbina at the drums and percussion. And Ariel Contreras behind the synthesizers, guitars, samplers, and base.

“Jallalla” is a project developed in collaboration with Sello Oscila, and the Asociación Cultural Domo Creativo, a small cultural center, whose goal is to propel free education and social communication through artistic practices. It is located in La Florida, Santiago, and you can find out more about their work here .