Photo by Martin Fisch, via flickr
Junette Reyes & David Sanabria/FIUSM Staff
Comprised of frontwoman Cristina Elena Garcia (Cuci Amador) and instrumentalist Antonio Laurencio (Smurphio), Afrobeta is a local Cuban-American electro funk band that formed in 2006. Since their formation, Cuci and Smurphio have performed in several local venues and beyond, including Glastonbury Festival, Burning Man, New York Fall Fashion Week, Ultra Brazil, Space Ibiza, Camp Bisco and Identity Festival. Throughout their career, Cuci and Smurphio have also had the honor of performing alongside acts such as Trentemoller, Booka Shade, Hercules and Love Affair, The Crystal Method, Annie Mac, Holy Ghost!, Nero, Kaskade and The Bloody Beetroots.
Recently, Afrobeta performed on New Year’s Day in Bayfront Park for the MOOV Festival and on Saturday, Jan. 11 for the Electric City Festival which showcased several local acts involved in the indie/electronic music scene.
FIUSM recently got to sit down with Smurphio, the afro half of Afrobeta, to discuss the band.
What is the story behind the band name?
A friend of ours that we had in common gave us that name. We started playing without a name and then we sent a survey to our friends. And this one won. It was kind of a beta project and it was in development and it just kind of stuck.
Does the “Afro” in Afrobeta come from Afro-Cuban?
Afro-Cuban and the style of my hair. I have a big afro. But we are Cuban, so there are Afro-Cuban roots there.
Did the afro come before the band?
Yeah, oh yeah.
Is Afro-Cuban music an influence for your music?
Partly, indirectly, it can be a source of inspiration. Probably through osmosis since we grew up in this culture. It kind of seeped in. I played a lot of live music with many Latin bands in the 2000s, so I definitely have that influence.
What instruments do you use as Afrobeta?
I’m the keyboardist, guitarist, and synthesizer. Cuci is the vocalist and she plays this sampler thing on a toy guitar. It’s really cool. We put an iPad on a toy guitar strapped on with velcro and she triggers samples live.
Are you classically trained with the instruments you know how to play?
I am classically trained. I play jazz, I play almost enough of every genre. I play a lot of ragtime; that’s a big influence.
What else influences your music?
A lot of 80’s stuff, a lot of 80’s songs. I’m very influenced by 80’s songwriting.
Speaking of songwriting, can you give us an idea of how Afrobeta goes through the music making process?
There’s no real formula; we kind of dabble in all forms of songwriting.
Some of it is born sitting down with guitars and actually writing lyrics, just us two.
We’re an electronic group but we write our songs on acoustic guitars and piano. We then translate them into the electronic media so we can perform live with just us two without having to use a drummer, a bass player, or a guitar player. We do perform our songs acoustically sometimes. It kind of throws us in a weird place because we kind of can be folk-acoustic or we can be an electronic group. It gives us a little variety.
We also have segments in our shows in which we improvise. A lot of our material comes out from just improvising in front of people. Kind of remembering we did this live and that it kind of worked. A lot of our material is born that way. I consider improvising kind of like how an athlete goes to a gym to work out. Improvising for us is our musical workout. From there, we get better at what we do and it inspires new material.
What is your preferred setting or venue for live performances?
Festivals, especially electronic music festivals because the sound systems are so good and the production is so clean with all the visuals. But also, a good live music venue that is set up just for live music like Culture Room, or Revolution or Grand Central. I also like the more intimate settings; something like Bardot where you’re just on the same level as the people. I kind of like that too, where they can really see what you’re doing. I appreciate that also. There’s something always good about performing live, you just have to find what you like about it.
How would you say your music has evolved since you first formed in 2006?
When we first formed in 2006, we weren’t using computers. We were kind of a little more analogue. I would even say outdated just because of the technology that was around. We come from more of a live music organization with real musicians but that kind of changed over the years. We moved more into the electronic, dance realm of performing. So we use laptops a lot live. Now we’re even down to using iPads live. But there’s always place for our instrumentation. We are playing music live. We’re not just looking at a screen, moving a couple of sliders. We sing live, we play keyboard live.
What more can we expect from Afrobeta?
We are definitely releasing some new music. Not sure if it’s going to be an EP or an LP. We have tons of new songs. We’re just trying to find the right way to release it. We will probably also head out to the West Coast for a couple months after Ultra and the Winter Music Conference this year. Just tour up and down the West Coast, base ourselves out in Los Angeles and come back probably by October or November when it gets really nice in Miami. That’s what we have in store.
junette.reyes@fiusm.com
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