Mabe Fratti
{{Short description|Guatemalan musician (born 1991)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Mabe Fratti
| image = Mabe Fratti in Warsaw (2024.09.25) 1.jpg
| caption = Mabe Fratti in Warsaw (2024)
| birth_name = María Belén Fratti Sierra
| birth_place = Guatemala
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1992|2|13}},
| genre = {{hlist|Avant-garde|experimental}}
| instrument = Cello, vocals
| current_member_of = {{hlist|Amor Muere|Titanic}}
| website = {{URL|mabefratti1.bandcamp.com|Mabe Fratti}}
}}
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.{{Cite web |date=5 March 2024 |title=Chasing the Goblin With Mabe Fratti, the Guatemalan Cellist at the Heart of Mexico City's Avant-Rock Scene |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/profile/chasing-the-goblin-with-mabe-fratti-the-guatemalan-cellist-at-the-heart-of-mexico-city-avant-rock-scene/ |access-date=5 April 2024 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}} 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.{{explain |date=May 2024}} 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.{{Cite news |last=Snapes |first=Laura |date=6 November 2023 |title='Doubt is exciting': cellist Mabe Fratti on chaos, curiosity and climbing volcanoes |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/06/mabe-fratti-cellist-on-chaos-curiosity-volcanoes-mexico |access-date=14 April 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite web |title=Mabe Fratti: "Sometimes my dad brought home new age animal music. Like wolf sounds" |url=https://www.loudandquiet.com/interview/mabe-fratti-sometimes-my-dad-brought-home-new-age-animal-music-like-wolf-sounds/ |access-date=5 April 2024 |website=Loud And Quiet |language=en-US}}
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 {{ill|Libertad Figueroa|es}}, Gudrun Gut and Julian Bonequi, and got involved in the Mexico City improvisational music scene.{{Cite news |last=Snapes |first=Laura |date=6 November 2023 |title='Doubt is exciting': cellist Mabe Fratti on chaos, curiosity and climbing volcanoes |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/06/mabe-fratti-cellist-on-chaos-curiosity-volcanoes-mexico |access-date=14 April 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} She met future members of Amore Muere and her partner Héctor Tosta, then of La Vida Bohème.{{Cite news |last=Kalia |first=Ammar |date=9 September 2022 |title=Mabe Fratti: Se Ve Desde Aquí review – cathartic and powerful experimentation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/09/mabe-fratti-se-ve-desde-aqui-review-cathartic-and-powerful-experimentation |access-date=5 April 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Citation |title="Cuerpo de Agua" by - The Wire |url=https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/btr/below-the-radar-37/16 |access-date=5 April 2024 |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Willems |first=Jasper |date=19 October 2022 |title=The Conversation Within: An Interview With Mabe Fratti |url=https://thequietus.com/articles/32217-mabe-fratti-interview |website=TheQuietus.com}}
In 2019, Fratti produced her first album, Pies Sobre La Tierra, citing W.G Sebald's The Rings of Saturn as inspiration.{{Cite web |title=Mabe Fratti: Será que ahora podremos entendernos |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/mabe-fratti-sera-que-ahora-podremos-entendernos/ |access-date=14 April 2024 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}} 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".{{Cite news |last=Kalia |first=Ammar |date=28 May 2021 |title=Mabe Fratti: Será Que Ahora Podremos Entendernos? review – soundscaped cello, synths and nature |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/may/28/mabe-fratti-sera-que-ahora-podremos-entendernos-review |access-date=14 April 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Fratti's subsequent 2022 album Se Ve Desde Aquí has been referred to as "mind blowing" by fellow experimental artist Oneohtrix Point Never.{{Cite news |last=Bromwich |first=Kathryn |date=30 September 2023 |title=On my radar: Oneohtrix Point Never's cultural highlights |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/sep/30/on-my-radar-oneohtrix-point-never-daniel-lopatin-cultural-highlights |access-date=14 April 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
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".{{Cite news |last=Kalia |first=Ammar |date=13 October 2023 |title=Titanic: Vidrio review – joyous Mexico City duo are unbounded by genre |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/oct/13/titanic-vidrio-review-joyous-mexico-city-duo-are-unbounded-by-genre |access-date=14 April 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
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".{{Cite web |last=Life |first=Sound of |title=Amor Muere, a Unique Collective Centred in Mexico {{!}} Sound of Life {{!}} Powered by KEF |url=https://www.soundoflife.com/blogs/mixtape/amor-muere-interview |access-date=14 April 2024 |website=Sound of Life |language=en}}
Discography
Solo
- Pies Sobre La Tierra (2019)
- Será Que Ahora Podremos Entendernos (2021)
- Se Ve Desde Aquí (2022)
- Sentir Que No Sabes (2024)
Titanic
- Vidrio (2023)
Amore Muere
- A Time to Love, a Time to Die (2023)
Other collaborations
- Phét Phét Phét – Shimmer (2023)
- Mabe Fratti & Concepción Huerta – Estática (2022)
- Gudrun Gut + Mabe Fratti – Let's Talk About the Weather (2021)
- ''Belafonte Sensacional – {{ill|Soy piedra|es}} (2019)
References
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Category:Experimental musicians