340ml

In a musical scene dominated by just a handful of starkly hewn genres, 340ml brew a music concoction that pulls down boundaries with ease and is set to make a lasting impact on the global music scene.

The southern African four-member group, currently based in Johannesburg but with its roots firmly planted in Mozambique, has already released an album that’s earned it critical praise and opened the doors to a seriously busy gigging schedule (among their gigs in 2005 was a very well a received slot at the annual Cape Town International Jazz Festival). Titled Moving, the album is one of the most effortlessly evocative recorded in South Africa during 2003, casting a musical glow that speaks of hazy beach sunsets, languid afternoons and blissed out summer fun.

But don’t think that 340ml is only about the slow jam.

Paulo Jorge Chibanga (drums), Rui Soeiro (bass), Tiago Paulo (guitar) and Pedro Pinto (vocals, sampler) are all skilled musicians with an eclectic approach to playing that makes for compelling listening. It’s not for nothing that Paulo and Tiago are an integral part of the off-kilter, jazz-inflected hip-hop created by Tumi and the Volume. Simply put there are few drummers playing in the sub-continent today who can create beats in the way Paulo does and Tiago is a gifted guitarist, for sure.

Part of 340ml’s ability to create music that’s fresher than an early morning sea breeze comes from their collective youth, spent in Maputo where a sure-footed belief in their ability to be something special threads through their early lives.

“The main reason that so many musicians come out of Mozambique is that our entertainment – and even that of our parents – revolves around music, whether it’s on the radio or on television,” explains Paulo, who came with his mother on a trip to South Africa when he was a teenager solely to buy a drum kit. “But when we were kids it was pretty hard to get hold of CDs or get the music that you had heard about – that’s changed a bit now.”

An organic musical influence on 340ml’s members was unquestionably Latin music. “Here in South Africa it’s seen as something exotic but at home it’s everyday stuff,” says Tiago. “It definitely makes you more aware of rhythm – the way it’s part of everyday life. I mean if someone is listening to music in Maputo they don’t do it passively – even if they are not a musician they will be drumming on the table with their hands.”

Traditional Mozambican music (“Marrabenta”) is another influence – although subtle. “For me, Mozambican music is very folk,” says Paulo. “It’s about the marimba and the acoustic guitar – although groups like Kapa Dech have taken it to more an Afro-jazz level.”

Taking it to another level is what 340ml is all about. “It would be easy enough for us to become say a rock band – we’ve got the musical ability,” says Pedro, “but there are enough Limp Bizkit soundalikes in the world and we wanted to create music that was unique and true to us as a group. You have to represent where you come from.”

It’s hard not to see that a great deal of 340ml’s musical sensibility come from an obvious seeking intelligence that streaks through each individual member. In fact it was to pursue academic paths that the four ended up in Johannesburg in the mid-90s. Paulo in fact had designs on being an architect, Rui studied a BCom, Pedro’s career lay in Industrial Psychology and Tiago was headed for a career in economics. All four currently freelance in their areas of expertise (with Paulo now branching out into a different area of design, through his Dubstars clothing label which is fast becoming a must-have with Joburg’s hip crew) – although focusing on 340ml is where they want to be. And soon.

In spite of their weighty academic qualifications, the sway towards music was undeniable – first in Maputo and then when Rui and Paulo joined a band led by their art teacher at St Martin’s school, in the south of Johannesburg. That band was called Panic Orange – a surreal name that was being pulled more and more towards rock by its South African member. In the late 90s Panic Orange earned a semi-final place in the annual Emerging Sounds competition but it was already turning in a Ska direction and the group dropped its name (and it’s rock playing member) mid-contest. “I think it became a bit of a battle,” says Paulo, “and when we hooked up with Tiago and Pedro it just worked. We were dying in the rock mode because we always wanted to do other things – different things.”

The four had known each other from living in Maputo – with Tiago and Pedro playing together in a “Rage Against The Machine”-inspired rap-metal cover band as teenagers in the mid-90s. (The group says a noticeable aspect of Mozambicans youth is how boundry-less they are when it comes to music.) “We also had other bands including a three-piece, Tiago and I,” reveals Pedro. “We had this friend who had a recreation room at his Dad’s construction company, with instruments in and we would go there every Saturday morning and play for hours. We were called CCR – the R being for rock.”

It was an inspired choice when the group – after many false-starts - took its name from the ubiquitous measurement on beverage cans when it finally formalized itself in 2000! But it’s the music that really speaks – as Moving reveals. The album was co-produced by the popular Jazzworx production team and is, in parts, dub, reggae, jazz, Brazilian, rock and more (“just call it southern African contemporary,” says Paulo) and it’s bound to get 340ml noticed nationally, if not globally.

“Music must be art,” Tiago says. “It must be active thing – being passive and doing covers is not what it is about. It’s about being creative and pushing it all the time.”

Writing songs has become a propulsive force with 340ml – many of the songs on the album were penned close to five years ago (“Early Morning” for one) but others were crafted when the band was in the studio in 2003. 340ml’s approach to songwriting is fluid – sometimes the inspiration arrives with a force, other times the band has to work hard on a song. “I’m very critical of the lyrics I write,” says Pedro, “but we all give input, perhaps a bass line will be the start or a beat, and then we layer it and flesh it out.” The lyricist’s way with words is part quirky, part jive-talking – there are few vocalists who can sing lines like “you knock me over with your kung-fu smile” with such ease!

340ml has many more songs than appear on Moving – as songwriters, they are impressively prolific. And live, the group bounces and flick-flacks through songs with a loose-limbed ease that comes from a confidence in what they are creating. The group’s music is all about plump bass notes, beats that get even those non-Mozambican fans tapping the table, guitarwork that’s just the right balance of melodic and low-key and vocals at times seem like another instrument in the musical mix.

2006 will see 340ml taking their music to fans – both in South Africa, Mozambique and beyond (keep up to date with gigs by going to www.myspace.com/340ml). “It’s all about spreading our music,” Rui says, “to an appreciative audience that’s hard to classify. We have people of all ages coming to our gigs, and they may be fans of other genres like hip-hop but they also just get what we are doing.”