4 to Watch: Pacha Massive

Hometown: The Bronx, N.Y. (via South America and the Caribbean)
Members [L-R}: Maya (bass, songwriting; born Maya Martinez, Colombia); DJ Nova (keyboards, guitars, production, songwriting; born Ramo Nova, Dominican Republic)
Fun fact: The man who brought Nova and Maya together, songwriter Iván Benavides has written for Colombian pop superstar Carlos Vives.
Why they’re worth watching: Pacha Massive’s bilingual (Spanish/English) music has warmth, whimsy and wide-open sense of adventurousness—not to mention the sweet, hummable melodies.
For fans of: Morcheeba, Kinky, Massive Attack

The great culture critic, Henry Louis Gates Jr., once wrote, “No human culture is inaccessible to someone who makes the effort to understand, to learn, to inhabit another world.” The mission of boundary-jumping electronic duo Pacha Massive—a play on the term Pachamama, or Mother Earth—is to invite listeners into a world where human cultures collide like atoms, forming new textures with each successive bounce. “We’re about making people realize that we are all interconnected,” says Maya. “We think music is a good vehicle to do that.”

And how did this 26-year-old become so globally minded? “I think it has to do with fact that I was born outside of the U.S. and I have certain influences from my country,” says Maya, who played in bands that fused jazz with Colombian folk styles before teaming up with DJ Nova. “But I was raised in New York City, where you’re always moving in new circles and you live a creative lifestyle where you're open to all sorts of music, all sorts of cultures and all sorts of art.”

Her 31-year-old musical partner already knew about taking elements from one musical project to spice up the next. In the late ’90s, Nova worked with King Changó, which blended dub and drum ’n’ bass into its mix of ska and rock en Español. He met Maya during rehearsals for a solo project by Sidestepper vocalist/guitarist Iván Benavides.

“Living and working in New York, you’re more aware of all these different cultures,” says Nova. “You just develop this mentality where you adapt to everything around you and absorb it like a sponge. We just take it all in and spit it out again.”