en canto

Formed in 2011 beneath California redwoods at a North American celebration of Brazilian music, Seattle’s En Canto was set in motion by the relentless night and day tumult of sixty-seven zabumba.

These ever-present drums, along with almost every other instrument and stage at the camp, were dominated by men; the women in attendance were expected to sing, cheer, or act demure. As the male maestros learned then and as audiences and fellow performers in Rio, Alexandre Riberio, and Marcelo Caldi have learned since, the women of En Canto don’t do demure.

A multi-ethnic, female-led seven-piece, En Canto’s world pop music—a combination forró, samba, and choro-inspired originals and reimagined covers of classic Brazilian hits—commands attention and inspires movement. “We love this music because of its compositional brilliance, its original grooves, and its revolutionary nature … its roots in post-colonialism, in cultural battles for class and racial equality,” Accordionist Jamie Maschler, explains. “Why wouldn’t it also inspire gender-equality?”

Playing primarily in North American venues, En Canto currently channels its fierce independence into challenging stereotypes while also helping audiences expand their comfort zones. “We make people dance,” as drummer Adam Kozie puts it “We routinely open our concerts to a room full of shy, awkward faces, and we close them to a sweat-drenched melee of bodies and smiles. We experience real joy when we play these songs, and people feel that, and they respond in kind, regardless of whether they understand the words or know the ‘right’ dance moves. It was the same for each us at one point when we first heard Luis Gonzaga or Gilberto Gil—we were provoked and then captured by the music, and we feel honored to be able to offer our own interpretations of it.”

En Canto’s first LP, Solto Por Jeri