Mabe Fratti (born 1992) is a Guatemalan cellist and vocalist. Fratti works in a wide variety of genres. Her work includes collaborations with artists such as Belafonte Sensacional, and she is part of avant-garde music collective Amor Muere.
Life and career
Born in Guatemala, and raised in a Pentecostalist family, Fratti was classically trained in cello and limited to listening to either Christian or classical music by her parents until she discovered file sharing through LimeWire.[1] Also more avant-garde elements were introduced to her like a György Ligeti record "randomly" brought home by her father, and a DVD by cellist Jacqueline du Pré she found in a record store.[further explanation needed] She began creating her own music as a teenager, and upon leaving the church expanded into playing styles as varied as reggae, blues, and funk, with the cello she uses now being a gift from her school.[2][3]
In 2015, a Goethe Institute residency took her to Mexico to work on her music. Through this residency and move she performed with more musicians such as established artists Libertad Figueroa [es], Gudrun Gut and Julian Bonequi, and got involved in the Mexico City improvisational music scene.[4] She met future members of Amore Muere and her partner Héctor Tosta, then of La Vida Bohème.[5][6][7]
In 2019, Fratti produced her first album, Pies Sobre La Tierra, citing W.G Sebald's The Rings of Saturn as inspiration.[8] This was followed up by Será Que Ahora Podremos Entendernos in 2021, collaborating for album with composer Claire Rousay and the experimental band Tajak, and the album being described as "referending Arthur Russell".[9] Fratti's subsequent 2022 album Se Ve Desde Aquí has been referred to as "mind blowing" by fellow experimental artist Oneohtrix Point Never.[10]
She went on to collaborate with partner Hector Tosta as Titanic in 2023, producing Vidrio, an album described as "somewhere between jazz and chamber pop".[11]
In 2023, Amor Muere released A Time to Love, a Time to Die. Fratti had formed this musical collective with artists Concepción Huerta, Gibrana Cervantes and Camille Mandoki, creating works over a period of years. Due to each member's existing work it has been described as an "experimental supergroup".[12]
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