A deep and experimental jazz album is the musical creation of multi-medium performer Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and Chicago expat jazz drummer Frank Rosaly.

The wife and husband team – Bolivian-born singer Ferragutti and Rosaly of Peurto Rican heritage, are co-composers, arrangers and musicians, on the MESTIZX LP for International Anthem & Nonesuch – channel their ancestral roots for this unique fusion that also harvests Latin rhythmic patterns and oblong swing from pre-and post-colonial Latin America, art punk, Chicago post-rock, bomba, plena, cumbia, Andean, minimal, electronica, and folk. Check the single DESTEJER and track TURBULÊNCIA. 

When Rosaly introduced the rhythm of TURBULÊNCIA, Ferragutti was immediately reminded of Dutch anarchist punk band The Ex.

Amsterdam-based Ferragutti and Rosaly regularly collaborate with Andy Moor of The Ex, writing the chugging guitar riff of TURBULÊNCIA (which is performed here by Chicago-based Drag City recording artist Bill MacKay) with them in mind. Ferragutti cites The Ex’s “physical, contagious, urgent and playful” sound as a major inspiration, and says that TURBULÊNCIA is, in a way, “an ode to everything they gave us”. 

The couple also explored the sounds of Brazil to create MESTIZX, as well as Bolivia and Puerto Rico. The name is a non-gendered version of the sometimes slurred Spanish colonial word for a “mixed person”, enabling and inspiring the artists to further hone their focus on colonialism, geography, history, identity and perception.

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.

Frank Rosaly

Ferragutti says: “My personal understanding is one that stems from being placed in between lineages that carry the coloniser and colonised, 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.

Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti 

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.

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.

Ferragutti & Rosaly are currently preparing to tour 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, with Ferragutti on vocals, keyboards, and Rosaly on drums, percussion, with both on 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)

Get the music here: MESTIZX