*announcing* Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly - MESTIZX // out May 3rd
*announcing* IARC0079
Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly
MESTIZX
LP/CD/DD out May 3rd 2024
co-release with Nonesuch Records
Today, Bolivian-born singer and multi-medium performer Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and renowned Chicago expat jazz drummer Frank Rosaly announce MESTIZX, their debut album as co-composers, arrangers and musicians. The album’s lead single “DESTEJER” is available today on all music platforms, along with a video filmed near Ferragutti’s hometown in Cochabamba, Bolivia, by director Espectador Domesticado.
((( Photo by GUMO )))
Partners in both marriage and art, the Amsterdam-based Ferragutti and Rosaly dove into the sounds of their respective ancestral roots in Bolivia, Brazil, and Puerto Rico to create a deeply personal meditation on decolonization and the defiant power of ritual and protest. They chose the title MESTIZX – a non-gendered version of the sometimes slurred Spanish colonial word for a “mixed person” - as a means of both challenging and embracing the liminality of their identities and artistic practices.
Rosaly says: “I grew up quite Puerto Rican in my home, but was taught to mask it outside my home. I wasn’t allowed to speak Spanish, so the drums eventually became my language, secretly tying together my own feeling of connection to mi tierra. This record is the first time I actively give voice to the nuance within myself, allowing me to take ownership of this in-between, which is what this album communicates for me… There is this unusual place that exists between these two cultures, of which I am both. There is a complex story in that sliver of in-betweenness, worthy of giving voice to all of us that live in-between.”
Ferragutti adds: “My personal understanding is one that stems from being placed in between lineages that carry the colonizer and colonized, the oppressor and oppressed, the demon and the angel… thus by definition is tied to post-colonial social constructs which we as Bolivians have to step in, like a 500 year novel that goes on and on… We have access to many memories and traditions, but not really, because we don’t fully belong to any of those… This makes us feel we're in a constant state of being the “visitors” and “outsiders.” On one hand, we are never truly part of one lineage. On the other hand, it makes us a travelers of worlds, storytellers in between multiple languages, cultures, and worldviews. We chose MESTIZX for this work as an act of recognizing the mixed state of being as a difficult and yet powerful one.”
(( For further reading, the artists wax eloquently and poetically on these subjects in their liner notes for the album. ))
((( Photo by Alejandro Ayala )))
The album was produced and recorded primarily at International Anthem Studios in Chicago, where Ferragutti and Rosaly were joined by a community of musicians and beloved friends including Matt Lux, Avreeayl Ra, Ben LaMar Gay, Daniel Villarreal, Bill MacKay, Rob Frye, and Mikel Patrick Avery, with addditional contributions from Chris Doyle, Guilherme Granado, Viktor Le Givens and Fredy Velásquez.
The music creatively infuses Latin rhythmic patterns and oblong swing from pre-and post-colonial Latin America into a collision of avant jazz, art punk, Chicago post-rock, bomba, plena, cumbia, Andean, minimal, electronica, and folk. A wholly original but undeniably universal sound – both of-the-moment and alluringly futuristic - MESTIZX contains points of reference and resonance for fans of Juana Molina, Café Tacvba, Max Roach & Abbey Lincoln, Liquid Liquid, Arto Lindsay, As Mercenarias, The Ex, Tortoise, Tom Zé, Elza Soares, La Mecanica Popular... It’s a vast, vibrant and encompassing spectrum of sounds, but at its core MESTIZX is a lucidly conscious collection of auto-biographical statements from Ferragutti & Rosaly on the deeply personalized effects of colonialism on geography, history, and identity. Despite its heavy subject matter, however, MESTIZX finds a lifeline in communal, celebratory, soul-bearing and movement-inducing music.
((( Photo by Omaira Tapia )))
“DESTEJER”
Available on all DSPs today, the album's lead single “DESTEJER” is a perfect introduction to the sound world of MESTIZX, with propulsive rhythms led by Rosaly on drums with guest percussionist Mikel Patrick Avery, piercing cornet leads from Ben LaMar Gay, flutes from Bitchin Bajas’ Rob Frye, and Ferragutti’s soaring, sonorous vocals. Sung in Spanish, her refrains translate to: “Mending my words, I embrace the knowledge of my body, unweaving the homogeneity… Tentacular roots, they take me to my ancestors… Tectonic ancestors.”
“DESTEJER” is also released today via a stunning video filmed at Corani Lake near Ferragutti’s hometown in Cochabamba, Bolivia. In the video, Ferragutti and Rosaly pose still or move slowly in harmony with wide shots of the epic Andean landscape.
Bolivian director Espectador Domesticado says about the work: "We were interested in thinking about time, the dialogue with it, building in Corani Lake our own imaginary, our own temporality, a kind of limbo, where these two wandering characters wander without any apparent purpose or direction. We wanted to give a lot of space for contemplation in editing, during the filming days we were seeking to capture that unexpected gesture, prolong the small actions, give voice to the landscape as if it were just another character. We invented a ritual where Ibelisse can recover certain memories of the territory, through a ritual, as an alchemist where she melts some pieces of tin that she finds in the lake, and when and it solidifies they can read in the silhouette of this metal, as a record of the past."
((( photos by Saskia Ludden )))
<<< MESTIZX LIVE DATES >>>
Ferragutti & Rosaly are currently preparing a live iteration of the music from MESTIZX. The live ensemble includes Matthew Lux (Isotope 217, Iron & Wine, Exploding Star Orchestra) on bass, Ben LaMar Gay (Theaster Gates’ Black Monks of Mississippi, Joshua Abrams Natural Information Society) on cornet, vocals, and other instruments, Marta Warelis (Dave Douglas, Hupata!) on keyboards, vocals, and percussion, Ben Boye (Ty Segall, Bonnie Prince Billy) on keyboards, Ferragutti on vocals, keyboards, and other instruments, and Rosaly on drums, percussion, and other instruments. The MESTIZX band has several confirmed live dates with more to be announced soon.
MAY 29th - ANCIENNE BELGIQUE - BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - tickets
(with Ruth Goller and Bex Burch)
MAY 30th - DE DOELEN - ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - tickets
MAY 31st - PARADISO - AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - tickets
(with Ruth Goller and Bex Burch, presented by Space Is The Place)
JUNE 7th - CHURCH OF SOUND - LONDON, ENGLAND
(with Ruth Goller and Bex Burch)
((( Photo by GUMO )))
<<< Ferragutti & Rosaly >>>
Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti is an Amsterdam-based mutli-medium artist who has worked as a performer, theatre maker, vocalist, visual artist, musician and teacher. Raised in Bolivia within Bolivian and Brazilian families, Ferragutti describes their work as “deeply interwoven in post-colonial justice, the paradox and beauty between grief and celebration, Andean Cosmology as a source of reclamation, resistance and resilience. Embodiment embedded in sonic fabrics while speculating myths through word oracles. I am a neo-mestiza, a spiritual activist, a femme defender and a Moon lover.” Her notable musical collaborators include: Alabaster DePlume, jaimie branch, Ab Baars, Wilbert de Joode, Eric Boeren, Mary Oliver, Paul Koek, and The Paper Ensemble. Along with her partner Frank Rosaly, Ferragutti founded the DIY arts/music space MOLK FACTORY in Amsterdam in 2017. Learn more about Ferragutti here.
Frank Rosaly is a Puerto Rican drummer, composer, and sound designer with several decades of touring, performing, recording, and creating to his name. Born and raised in Arizona, Rosaly was known for his fifteen years of creative work on the Chicago jazz and improvised music scene, before moving to his current residence in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in 2016. He has been featured on over 150 recordings, and is in constant collaboration. Artists he has worked with include: Fennesz, Joan of Arc, Jeff Parker, Thurston Moore, Nels Cline, Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society, Colin Stetson, Rob Mazurek, Ryley Walker, jaimie branch, and many others. Since 2005 Rosaly has self-released recordings under the MOLK label, and in 2017 co-founded the DIY arts/music space MOLK FACTORY with his partner Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti in Amsterdam. Learn more about Rosaly here.
*Deluxe Vinyl Package*
RED MOON COLOR VINYL
MESTIZX in vinyl form is 140 gram disc (pressed at Pallas in Germany with lacquers cut by Daniel K at SST) inside a heavyweight gatefold jacket, with a large insert poster, IARC obi strip and poly-lined dome pattern inner sleeve.
We also have a limited edition color vinyl option for the first pressing only – and 444 copies of Red Moon color vinyl are available on our Bandcamp page.
The album is also available on classic black vinyl (same specs as above) and on compact disc in a deluxe 4-panel digipack with insert booklet.
Purchase MESTIZX as part of the
**Spring Mondo Bundle**
For the fervent, faithful collector of our output.
By the middle of April we will have announced five (5) new albums - IARC0078 (Ruth Goller - SKYLLUMINA), IARC0081 (Cassie Kinoshi's seed. – gratitude), IARC0079 (Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly's MESTIZX), plus IARC0076 (TBA), and IARC0080 (TBA) - that will be available on CD, classic black vinyl, and limited edition color vinyl. The Spring Mondo Bundle combines all five titles into a single, beautiful parcel. Save money on shipping (they all come at once, as opposed to five individual shipments) plus an additional 5.5% discount on the retail value of the albums as an extra *thank you* for your trust in us.
Order the Spring Mondo Bundle on limited edition color vinyl here.
Order the Spring Mondo Bundle on classic black vinyl here.
Order the Summer Mondo Bundle on compact disc here.
International Anthem x Nonesuch Records
North & South American distribution
MESTIZX is marketed & distributed in North & South America via our partnership with Nonesuch Records.
As Nonesuch is part of the Warner Music Group, MESTIZX will be physically distributed in North & South America by WMX. Stores, retailers, folks interested in wholesale purchases: please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions about where/how to stock these releases
Distribution via !K7 for Europe, UK, Australia, Japan, and ROW
This album will be distributed by our good friends at !K7 and their various territory partners in Europe, UK, Australia, Japan, and everywhere else in the world outside of North & South America.
If you are a retailer or store with questions about wholesale or are just looking to get some of our records... we'd like to make things as easy for you as possible, please do not hesitate to reach out!!!
