NAWALI — Ancestral Sound & Electro-Organic
NAWALI is a duo formed by Mexican musician and composer Dan Vera and French musician Thibault Martinet. Based in Lausanne and Mexico, the project is an immersive encounter between the ancestral memory of Mesoamerica and the sonic languages of the 21st century.
The band's name is inspired by the Nahuatl word nahualli — the animal double, the ability to transform in order to access other realities. True to this metaphor, NAWALI explores metamorphosis as an act of sonic creation. Their music blends voice, guitar, clay flutes, ocarinas, and percussion with modular synthesizers, samplers, and electronic textures. At the heart of their performance lies La Máquina Sagrada (The Sacred Machine): a third digital sonic body that multiplies and intertwines their acoustic instruments to create organic, hypnotic, and deep soundscapes.
Inspired by 16th-century Nahuatl poetry, the work of Carlos Castaneda, and global musical cultures, the duo has released two albums: InCuikatl (2012), a musical setting of ancient Nahuatl poetry, and Fuego Nuevo (2021), blending rock, son jarocho, and Latin American rhythms. Currently in production of their third album, they fully integrate electronics into their live performances, offering a contemplative and powerful experience suited for world music festivals, electronic stages, sacred spaces, or museum venues.
