Maktub is a

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

-based music group formed in the late 1990s that combines elements of hip-hop,

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

, 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 Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

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 Alex Veley is an American rock musician, soul keyboardist and singer. Biography He was a founding member of Seattle-based neo-soul band Maktub in the 1990s with lead singer Reggie Watts and co-produced the band's debut album, 2000's ''Subtle W ...

, 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 An alchemist is a person who practices alchemy. Alchemist or Alchemyst may also refer to: Books and stories * ''The Alchemist'' (novel), the translated title of a 1988 allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho * ''The Alchemist'' (play), a play by Ben ...

'', 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 Khronos may refer to: * ''Khronos'' (Maktub album) * ''Khronos'' (Rotting Christ album) *'' Khronos (game)'', a board game *Khronos Group, an open standards consortium *Chronos, the personification of time in Greek mythology. See also *Chronos (d ...

'' 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 Velour, occasionally velours, is a plush, knitted fabric or textile similar to velvet or velveteen. It is usually made from cotton, but can also be made from synthetic materials such as polyester. Often, it contains a percentage of elastane, ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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