System 7: 2012 & the Mayan Calendar's End Time

Steve Hillage chatted to Skrufff this week about System 7's new album Encantando and revealed that the record had been heavily influenced by time he and his partner Miquette spent researching ancient Mayan culture in Mexico.

"We were working on the album and we started getting into a Mexican vibe," Steve explained, "We've been there five times, twice to perform and three times on holiday and it was on our third visit to Coba, perhaps the most magical of all Mayan burial sites on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, that the inspiration for the album came from," he said.

The new album is called Encantado- Spanish for 'enchanted' or 'entranced' and though firmly centred around the ambient techno System 7 are best known for, includes lots of elements related to the Mayans.

"The really big deal is the Mayan calendar, that's what's really interesting as well as the fact that they had such a sophisticated calendar," said Steve.

"These people who were supposed to be sophisticated on some levels but savages on others, actually had this calendar which in some respects is more accurate than ours. It's quite amazing and the interesting aspect of it is that their grand cycle ends in the year 2012. The Mayan Calendar is going to become a hot topic soon," he predicted.

Encantado is out shortly on A Wave Records.
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