Chile’s Kali Mutsa Shares An Inter-Galatic Folkloric EP
“Mesmer is my soundtrack for a futurist Latin American cabaret from the distant past.”
Photo by Rocio Aguirre
Founded by telenovela star Celine Reymond, Kali Mutsa is a Chilean group that breathes intrigue, and is named after a mythical part Inca/Roma persona. Born in the 1920s in the Valley of Pachacutí, Kali Mutsa supposedly disappeared for several decades until mysteriously returning in the 21st century to bring us the smooth blend of folkloric Andean and Roma music, bhangra, and electronic sounds. Since her "reappearance" in 2011, Kali Mutsa has been touring around the world and creating projects that kaleidoscope the ancient with the electronic. The latest is Mesmer, a new EP of celestial futurist sounds deeply anchored in South American folkloric music (listen in full below).
"The album was inspired by Franz Mesmer, a physician during the French Revolution who pioneered spiritualism in medicine," Kali Mutsa told The FADER over email. "He was the first to uncover the secrets behind sleep-walking and tried to use magnetized water and harmonies in glass to heal pains. I wanted the album to sound like a vintage recording. With my producers Pablo Stipicic and Erasmo Parra, we infused the songs with samples from '40s and '50s cinema and mixed it with violent beats and deformed vocals. Mesmer is my soundtrack for a futurist Latin American cabaret from the distant past."
