Biography

He may be the man behind salsamuffin, an obvious and yet innovative blend of reggae and salsa – two of the most important musical styles to come out of the Caribbean. And OK, so he did usher in a number of other similar blends along the way (reggaeton in particular) which are now setting Latin America on fire from one end to the other. But there’s no getting away from the fact that Bruno “Sergent” Garcia’s catalogue does much more than stick to a formula – magic and original though it may be.

Bruno still has a tendency to want to shatter anything resembling convention or habit – a legacy from his years playing guitar with the cult punk rock group Ludwig Von 88. His first four albums all met with international success. The self-produced Viva el Sargento was followed by the album that established him – Un Poquito Quemao, with its large ensemble band, so reminiscent of Fania’s finest hour. Next came the more refined Sin Fronteras, just ahead of La Semilla Escondida, a back-to-basics album in search of his Jamaican and Cuban roots. And now Sergent Garcia is back, three years and a greatest hits album later, with Mascaras, his most accomplished and most uninhibited work to date.

“I wanted to find some way of linking everything I had experimented with on my previous albums”, says Garcia. “Being on tour for the last two years – either with an ensemble of musicians or on my own with just a sound system – has enabled me to play and travel throughout the world. And to find out that there really is such a thing as urban music, a ‘big town’ sound that’s part of a worldwide, universal wave – although it has its roots in different local traditions. With this album I wanted to get back to a more modern and more urban sound. I wanted to use machines again, while at the same time keeping that raw, unprocessed flavour that traditional instruments provide”. This was the global, all-embracing ambition that was the motivation behind the twelve tracks of Garcia's new opus. The whole album was written over a period of two months in Valencia and Paris, and features the collaboration of percussionist Ivan Montoya.

For the album’s production, the Sergent sought help in the shape of Toy Hernandez, one of the most prominent contemporary producers in the world of Latin music.“I was aware of the work he had done with Control Machete (one of the most successful Mexican rap groups, both domestically and abroad until its split – they counted the Beastie Boys among their fans) and his expertise in hip hop”, Bruno continues. “But I’d also noticed – through his other production work and his DJ sets – that he had a genuine understanding of how to use acoustic instruments. He’s very au fait with traditional styles, particularly cumbia, which was one of the main ingredients for the songs I had in mind. Toy knows how to weave the sound of an accordion played from a street orchestra into a completely electronic riddim. And I found the idea of going to Mexico to record the album appealing - it’s a country that seems to function much more capably than others as both a cultural and a geographical junction between tradition and modernity”.

Although on a number of tracks the Sergent reminds us how comfortable he is with styles in their purest form - whether it be roots reggae (as on the love-themed "Non Words" or "Les 5 sens du guerrier"), rocksteady (as on “Guantanamo City” and the message its lyrics convey), the most sizzling salsa (as on “Eres tu” or “En este mundo de locos” – a cover of a track by Cuban group Sur Caribe), or even ballads (Yaité Ramos duets with him on “Tantas Cosas”), the general mood of Mascaras is much more of an unpredictable mix of explosive styles. “Dulce con chile”, the first single, oscillates between cumbia and hip hop, as does “Si solo fuera yo un pajaro”. “Toi tu es là bas” is a blend of reggae and rap, while “Pintame” weaves mambo brass with a reggaeton beat. And for “El camion no para”, the Sergent has pulled out all the stops, fusing all the highly explosive musical ingredients he has to hand into a carnival of rhythms that culminate in a high-energy instrumental, a mix of funk, afrobeat and salsa for a track that is set to be one of the high points of his tour which kicks off in early summer 2006. The new album is a festive cross-section of some of the sounds that make our planet rock, bringing together the streets of Mexico, Barranquilla, Los Angeles, Kingston, Lagos, Paris and Valencia.

And what about “Mascaras” (masks), the title of the album? “It’s a tribute to lucha libre, a kind of wrestling that is very popular in Mexico”, explains Bruno. “The sport’s biggest stars wear distinctive masks. They never go out in public without them, and some are even buried with them. I like the aesthetics, the design of the masks. And it’s a way of reminding us that basically, we all wear a mask. That nothing is quite as it seems.” Of course it may be a nod in the direction of Zorro, Sergent Garcia’s inevitable alter ego…