MESTIZX
MESTIZX is an eclectic and celebratory expression of post-genre, de-colonial latinx music. Bolivian-born singer/multi-instrumentalist Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and Chicago expat drummer Frank Rosaly’s 2024 debut on International Anthem and Nonesuch Records is “visionary music with boundaryless imagination and creativity” (AllMusic) that steers pre-and post-colonial Latin American rhythms into a collision with avant jazz, Chicago post-rock, minimalism, electronica, and folk.
Partners in marriage and art, the Amsterdam-based Ferragutti and Rosaly dive into their respective Bolivian, Brazilian, and Puerto Rican roots to create deeply personal meditations on decolonization and the defiant power of ritual and protest. They chose the title MESTIZX — a non-gendered version of the Spanish colonial word for a “mixed person” — to both challenge and embrace the liminality of their identities and artistic practices. Ferragutti’s notable collaborators include Alabaster DePlume, jaimie branch, Ab Baars, Eric Boeren, and Mary Oliver, while Rosaly has worked with Fennesz, Jeff Parker, Thurston Moore, Nels Cline, Colin Stetson, and many others.
With Ben Boye on keys, autoharp, and octatrack, James McClure on trumpet and synth, and bassist Nate McBride, MESTIZX’s “infectiously kinetic compositions” (The Guardian) are a movement-inducing lifeline of communal, celebratory, soul-baring music.
