Interview with Cabrakaän.
Cabrakaän are a Mexican folk metal band formed in 2012 in Mexico City however are currently based in Canada all answers by Marko.
Alicia
Can you Introduce the band?
Marko
I’m Marko, the drummer for Cabrakaän. We originally formed our band in Mexico City, but we now call Canada our home. The band was formed by Pat Cuikani (the vocalist) and I. She came to my recording studio for a different project and we found a lot of overlapping musical interests. Even though I wanted to form a death metal band at the time, she had a background and formal training in opera. From there, we created a style of music that fit both our interests. It was her idea to incorporate pre-hispanic themes in our music, and it was an idea that ended up defining who we are as a band, which has been incredibly rewarding. We’ve released two studio albums since then: Songs from Anahuac (2014) and Cem Anahuac My Home (2019) and another on the way very soon, Aztlán (November 17th, 2023).
Alicia
Where did the name come from?
Marko
Our band name, “Cabrakaän”, is an adaptation from the Mayan god, Cabrakan (alternatively spelled Caprakan). The name Caprakan originated from a book called “Popol Vuh”, which could be considered the Mayan equivalent of the bible: it’s their creation story where they describe and depict all of the Mayan gods. Cabrakan was the god of earthquakes and mountains. Of course, when you think of earthquakes and mountains, there’s an easy connection to make with the idea of powerful music and metal, just as the Norse gods we read about in Viking history. Cabrakan was known for being very powerful. According to myth, his power brought out his arrogance and vanity. We wanted to leave this part behind and carry the name forward to symbolize power and strength because it represents exactly what we want to do with our music. As well, the name has a lot of power in terms of phonetics. The original name we chose was “Kaprakan” - we changed it because “Cabrakaän” is more easily pronounced in the Spanish Language.
Alicia
Your album just came out can you tell us about the recording process?
Marko
On November 17, we’ll release our third album, Aztlán. This is our most ambitious release to date, representing our perseverance to continue onward with our music despite many challenges and setbacks. It gave us the opportunity to create something important and beautiful and to share a piece of our culture with the world. It’s been a challenge to complete this album for many reasons, and I’m so incredibly proud of what we created together. The album is thematic and based on events/mythologies leading up to, and following the Spanish Conquest. On this album, you’ll find that our new sound includes folkloric elements, enchanting orchestral arrangements, operatic vocals, and of course, a lot of heavy thrash- inspired sounds. We hope you love it. We also recently released our documentary, Journey to Aztlán, and our first two singles from the album (Mictlán and Fuego). The documentary is meant to share more of our culture and the reasons we feel it’s important to mix folklore with metal, especially to broader audiences that might not know as much about our history. It also follows our recording process. For anyone interested in checking it out, it’s streaming on our YouTube channel
Alicia
Do you have plans to tour this release?
Marko
We’re in the planning stage right now. Our album will be released on November 17, and we’re working on some big plans for 2024. We’ll be sure to update our bands on social media as soon as we know more!
Alicia
Can you tell us about the music scene where you’re from?
Marko
We’re from Mexico City, and there’s a huge, vibrant metal scene there. There’s an unbelievable amount of talent in Mexico, and it’s a shame that a lot of it doesn’t reach an international audience. Most of the bands have been in Mexico City’s metal scene for some time and found that there’s a sense of competition between bands - something you don’t see here in Canada. It happens because there are so many of us, so much talent, that bands end up competing with each other for attention. In Canada, the metal scene is much smaller and close-knit. It’s harder to play shows and tour, but the people in the scene are so welcoming and supportive of us. That’s why we moved to Canada after performing here: even though we weren’t known, people supported us and motivated us to keep going. I would encourage anyone not from Mexico to do a bit of exploring in our country’s metal scene because there’s a lot of great stuff there.
Alicia
Was music something you’ve always wanted to do?
Marko
Since I was a teenager, I have always wanted to make music for a living. I think it’s important to find what you’re good at and use it to send a message or tell a story about yourself, so this has always been my biggest goal. Forming Cabrakaän has been such a rewarding journey for me personally because I have the opportunity to explore my heritage through music with the goal of finding an audience that feels represented or takes something positive away from it for themselves.
Photo by: Raul Aheral
You can check out Cabrakaäns music and social media below