December 20, 2004

THE RETURN OF MAKIZA
by: Juan Data

For many, South American hip hop is divided into two periods, before and after Makiza. That group that in 1999 revolutionized the way to make and understand rap in Spanish, then suddenly separated leaving all of us wanting more, have recently reunited.

It turns out that in 2001, Anita Tijoux, one of the groups voices abruptly abandoned her emcee career to go live in Paris, France the land of her birth. Seo2, the other emcee, and Cenzi, the producer, then formed the duo Nemesis and released two cd’s of pure hard, impeccable Chilean rap, however, they didn’t reach the explosive level of Aerolineas Makiza.

Anita Meanwhile, took two long sabbatical years in which she decided to perfect her singing, and upon her return to Chile in 2003 collaborated on a few international projects like the recent Control Machete cd: Uno, Dos, Bandera.

The big surprise came in March 2004, when Seo2 and some people from the Demosapiens collective decided to reedit and press to cd the first Makiza album entitled Vida Salvaje, which was only released on cassette independently around ’98 and is a collectors piece among fans of latino rap.

With the motive of the re-release they contacted Anita Tijoux to do a concert with them, which she accepted, and from there they began to practice once again, when they got the idea to reform Makiza.

Only two of the four original members are returning to Makiza’s ’04 line up. But they’ve also aquired two new members, MC Sonido Acido, and DF Coso. We anxiously await to hear the new Makiza material, one of the most promising Latin American hip hop groups.

Latino Hip Hop Radio