Maktub is a Seattle, Washington-based music group formed in the late 1990s that combines elements of hip-hop, rhythm and blues, soul, and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

, with a sprinkling of jazz and rock.

History

Maktub was formed in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

when Davis Martin called

Reggie Watts Reginald Lucien Frank Roger Watts (born March 23, 1972) is an American comedian, actor, beatboxer, and musician. His improvised musical sets are created using only his voice, a keyboard, and a looping machine. Watts refers to himself as a "disinf ...

, a student at the Cornish College of the Arts at the time, to come jam with Kevin Goldman, Alex Veley, and himself. After only 5 minutes of jamming, the band hit it off, and by day's end wrote their first song. After realizing their potential, the four planned to commit to each other, calling themselves "Maktub". According to their website, ''Maktub'' is an Arabic word that Reggie got from Paulo Coelho's novel '' The Alchemist'', which translates to, "it is written", or, "destiny". In August 1999, they released their first album, ''Subtle Ways''. There was an immediate response as the album hit number one on KCMU and later on the soul and urban charts at MP3.com and earned them "Best R&B Album" at the Northwest Music Awards".Best R&B Album at the Northwest Music Awards
After they released the album, Alex Veley decided to leave the group to pursue other projects. In

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, the group added a new sound to their music by recruiting Thaddeus Turner on guitar and Daniel Spils as their new keyboard player. With the new members of the band, they began recording demos with a handheld

MiniDisc MiniDisc (MD) is an erasable magneto-optical disc-based data storage format offering a capacity of 60, 74, and later, 80 minutes of digitized audio. Sony announced the MiniDisc in September 1992 and released it in November of that year fo ...

and small button microphone. In

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

they recorded '' Khronos'' in only two weeks. A year later (

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

), after selling more than 20,000 copies, Velour Music in New York City took notice of their success and re-released ''Khronos'' nationally. With this new national recognition, they embarked on a six-month tour in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, traveling all around the United States. Upon their return to Seattle, they begin to write new songs and record new demos, most of which are done with their minidisc recorder and single button microphone. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, they recorded their third album, ''Say What You Mean''. The album was released in April, 2005 and was followed by a three-month tour around the continental United States. 2007 saw the anticipated release of ''Start It Over''. This album marked a new trend in the band's deeper interaction with its followers. It was funded by the members of their fan club, M.A.R.C. 7.

References

{{Authority control Rock music groups from Washington (state) Jam bands Jazz fusion ensembles Musical groups from Seattle